I’ve hung doors before. I’ve hung pre-hung which couldn’t be easier, I’ve replaced door slabs which is still pretty easy since the old door serves as a template, but I’ve never hung a door in an existing opening with no pre-existing door. Since I have that job coming up soon, I gave some thought to the sequence of events.
This process assumes that door has already been trimmed to fit the opening properly in terms of height and header slope. The width can be trimmed after it’s hung.
I do not have a full length mortise template. I do not plan on getting one. I have the simple Porter Cable door hinge template. Here’s how I plan on hanging the door. Please feel free to critique.
- Mortise the top hinge on the door using the hinge template and a 4″ spacer (This sets the middle of hinge about 10″ from the top of the door).
- Mortise the bottom hinge on the door wherever it looks about right (in other words, unlike the top hinge, placement is not critical)
- Mortise the top hinge on the jamb using the same 4″ spacer PLUS a 1/8″ spacer. This sets the gap at the top of the door.
- Attach both hinge leaves to the door
- Attach the top hinge leaf to the jamb
- Hang the door from the top hinge and shim it into position.
- Insert the pin in the bottom hinge so the bottom jamb hinge swings free
- Using the free-swinging bottom jamb hinge, mark the location on the jamb.
- Remove the door and mortise the jamb for the bottom hinge.
- Re-hang the door (I know, I didn’t need to write this step, but it makes for an even 10 steps)
Sounds simple, right? All that’s left is the actual doing. It seems like that’s usually where the best-laid plans fall apart.
Replies
If I'm understanding correctly you are going to fit a door into an already cased opening. Does it have door stop installed? If so how are you going to use a router that close to the door stop?
If I'm understanding correctly you are going to fit a door into an already cased opening. Does it have door stop installed? If so how are you going to use a router that close to the door stop?
Only done it a few times, but freehand with a laminate trimmer.
Robert,When hanging custom doors I very seldom use a router. I use a marking knife, chisel and butt mortise plane. On one door, as described in the first post, the door could be hung with this method before a jig could be made.
Marking knife, chisel and a router. Mark it, free hand route up to 1/16" of all sides, clean with chisel. Do it production style not one at a time. When the rhythm gets going it can fly.
I really like my butt mortice plane.
Like you said, for a couple of doors, its a lot faster to do it with hand tools over setting up the router.
No jig involved.
Just a freehand laminate trimmer. If the stop is in place I usually just tack a scrap on both sides the same thickness for the base to ride on.
A little practice and it's easy to make nice clean consitant cutouts.
Like someone said earlier, if you've not done it before, be carefull near the edges as it might run away.
If you're doing a single door it's probably not worth the effort to do. If you have a few OR it's something you end up doing repeatedly........it's worth it.
The thickness of the porter cable hinge mortise jig is about 1/2", so the router will be above the stop.BruceT
Typically hinges are set at 7” from the top and 10” from the bottom of the door. The measurement for the top would be that the top of the top hinge would measure 7” from the top of the door. When you allow 1/16” clearance for the top of the door that would mean that the hinge on the jamb would measure 7-1/16” from the bottom of the head to the top of the hinge.
I was taught 5" and 9". Not that it makes a whole lot of difference.
That is one standard. The template I have owned since 1981 is set up for 7 & 10. In 1974 the man who taught me carpentry and got me started in business was 55 at the time and we built all our own jambs and hung every door. We never used prehung doors. Since that time I had a shop and built many custom doors. I have seen everything imaginable today including boring the latch height from the floor wrong. I have also seen the doors setup with the long distance at the top instead.
Edited 6/14/2009 8:07 pm by gb93433
Around here, it seems like a lot of the doors hinges are 5-9. maybe some kind of regional thing.
I learned to hang doors from my dad, and I've been doing it for over 30 years. Never got a commercial hinge jig; I've made several router jigs, tho.
We used to hang all our own doors, too. And I've bored a few lockset holes in the wrong place over the years. As well as cut the wrong end of the door LOL
When hanging a door from scratch, here's how I do it-
bevel the hinge side of the door. Some do, some don't. But it's how I was taught
mortice both hinges on the jamb (actually, I like to use 3 hinges on everything but a hollow core flush door) &install hinges
fit the door to the opening. Use a pry bar or something to hold the door at the right height. If it fits, use a marking knife to mark the location of the hinges on the edge of the door. Mortice the hinges on the door& install hinges.
make sure you have the appropriate hinge halves where they need to be. (don't laugh. I've screwed that up more than once)
hang the door on the jamb and check the swing. Remove door and plane off any excess on the strike side, if necessary.
Bore for the lockset, install that, and give the customer the bill.
I like your way because it's simpler than what I had in mind. I see the challenging part as "fit the door to the opening. Use a pry bar or something to hold the door at the right height" because you need to get the door into the opening before you can mark it. Does that usually go easily?
If it doesn't fit, you need to either trim it so that it does (but not too much since the latch side gap will be bigger after mortising) or figure out how to hold it in place partially open (probably the lesser of the 2 choices).
By marking knife, I assume you mean utility knife, which is what I use.
Yup. Marking knife = utility knife.
usually the first thing I do, after checking the door measurements to make sure I've got the right size, is put the door in the jamb, against the stops. Then I can look at the reveals all the way around, and determine what needs to be planed or cut, if anything.
Come to think of it, the first thing I do is check the door and jamb for height, and the floor for level, and cut the bottom of the door if needed. Then I try the door in the jamb.
Sheesh. Its tough trying to remember how I do things.
Sheesh. Its tough trying to remember how I do things.
Thanks for straining :-) I like your way betther than mine so as far as I'm concerned, it was worth the effort.
And don't say "sheesh", you wanna get kicked outa here? Cripes!
"but not too much since the latch side gap will be bigger after mortising"Actually, the gap will not be bigger after mortising. the jamb hinge leaves are already mortised flush and you will not yet have put the door hinge leaves in place.Don't forget that the spacing between the back edge of the hinge leaf and the edge of the door should be 1/16" less than the space between the back edge of the jamb hinge leaf and the stop. That's to prevent binding as the door closes, even after several coats of paint.BruceT
Not that it makes much difference but I use a story pole to mark both jamb and door. It saves lifting and wedging the door in place.The biggest thing IMO is to use a marking knife and not a pencil.
Hanging a door in a cased opening is a waste of time.
Rip it out and start with something you know.... Even if it is plumb level and square and that would be a miracle worth buying a lotto ticket over.... Chances are it's not shimmed properly to hang a door.
I'm always amazed at the numbers here that are willing to waste hours making chicken soup with chicken feathers.
"Chances are it's not shimmed properly to hang a door."
Now there's a valid point.
I disagree. I've hung plenty of new doors on old jambs where it would have been a lot more work to rip it out and install new. Not to mention a lot more mess.
I've hung doors on old jambs, with wide old casings, where removings the casings and jambs would probably damage a lot of the materials that I would have preferred re-using.
Plus with the new lead laws, I'd like to minimize disturbing any old woodwork.
There's a time and a place for both methods.
Edited 6/14/2009 10:00 pm ET by Shep
You misunderstood me. Hanging a door on an old jamb I have no problem with. Hanging one in a cased opening is foolish.
Do you mean an opening that never had a door before? Yeah, I see your point on that.
But on some of the old houses I've worked on around here, a cased opening is frequently as well shimmed as one with a door.
But its better to be safe than sorry when hanging doors.
But on some of the old houses I've worked on around here, a cased opening is frequently as well shimmed as one with a door
I always hang cased openings the same as if it were a door..............but i've worked with a ton of guys who pretty much just put casing legs on one side, slap that baby in and nail away.
Kinda split on that one.
There's a time and a place for both methods.
Agreed. And as it turns out, the opening was just a bit too small and slightly out of square and since I didn't feel like trimming the door, I installed a pre-hung after all. The original casing was 2-1/4. I replaced it with 2-1/2 so the walls don't even need to be touched up. Oh, and cutting back the baseboard was a breeze with the multimaster and the Japanese blades from Multiblades.
One "non-standard" thing that I did was to set the door slightly off plumb. I noticed that as I was was setting it, bumping the door, even a little, caused it to swing away from full open. Since it was a tight doorway to begin with, I canted the hinge jamb back at the top (maybe a strong 1/8") so that it will tend to swing open if bumped. It's not even noticeable and will stay where you put it, but I'd rather it swing open rather than closed if bumped. Sort of like a refrigerator door.
If this is a trimmed opening that has never had a door in it, the first thing I would check is for rack- plumb or equally out of plumb on both legs of the jamb.
A trimmed O can look perfectly fine until a door is installed showing the discrepancy in plumbness.
Here are a couple of very good FHB articles on exactly this topic from the archives. I'm not sure how to post a link but you can do a search for them. I've used Chris Green's method with much success. I like it because you don't have to move the heavy door any more than is necessary.
A New Door Fits an Old Jamb
Gary M. Katz
A Fast, Foolproof Method for Fitted Doors
Chris Green
Simplest way:
Measure down 10" from the top of the slab; strike a line with your knife. That's the bottom of your top hinge (assuming 3" hinges). Mortise the slab and install the leaf.
Measure down 63" from the top of the top hinge leaf; strike a line with your knife. That's the top of your bottom hinge. Cut the mortise and install the leaf.
Measure down 10-1/8" from the top of the jamb; strike a line with your knife. That's the bottom of your top hinge. Cut the mortise and install the leaf.
Measure down 63" from the top of that leaf; strike a line with your knife. That's the top of the bottom hinge. Cut the mortise and install the leaf.
Hang the door. If the hinges don't quite mate perfectly loosen the screws on the door leaves and wiggle. Unless you really blew it--unlikely--they'll mate. Drive in the hinge pins and tighten the screws again.
BTW: You don't need a mortise template and a router; a butt marker and a sharp chisel are quicker. Or, just trace the outlines of the hinge leaves with your razor knife, then chisel out the mortises.
Dinosaur
How now, Mighty Sauron, that thou art not brought
low by this? For thine evil pales before that which
foolish men call Justice....
Gosh. There's a lot of good ideas here. But really, MY way is the best!
As far as hinge locations go--just try to match the rest of the doors in the house. There is no 'standard' as others have referred to, only 'recommended' locations. A story pole is my preferred method for marking hinge locations, lock locations, door width, and door height.
I've never seen 3" hinges used to hang a door--usually 3.5" hinges if the door is 1.375" thick, and 4" or 4.5" if the door is 1.75" thick.
As far as hanging it in a cased opening, could you remove the hinge side trim and brace it properly to support the added weight of a door?
As far as hinge locations go--just try to match the rest of the doors in the house.
Hah, ya beat me to it. I agree, this could be a house that wasnt built by the normal standards. It would look funny if that one door was different than the others.
Due to the recent state of the economy, the light at the end of the tunnel has been turned off
I fit the width first, then check top margin,then hinges on jamb. put door back in place and mark hinge location on door.
I don't think it can be done, best is to just hang beads.
That only works if you have a bong in the back room
one word of warning before you start. I often find that when people finish openings without doors they aren't as accurate as they should be in aligning the sides of the frame. Measure the opening at the top and bottom to ascertain the frames are parallel. More often than not, they are not parallel. Use a good level to see which side is out . You'll need to shim that side out until the opening measures equal top and bottom. Also check the top to make sure it is perpendicular to the sides or you will have to adjust the top hinge higher and recut the door to the same angle as the top frame. Then cut your bottom hinge.