Ok, I have a house full of interior doors to hang, the problem being i have never hung one before, there not pre hung, so i may have put myself in the deep end!. I know i should get an experienced guy in but i really want to do it myself. If any one out there has any advice for me it would be much appriciated, thanks
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Are you replacing existing doors, or is this all new work??
Practice...'till you can do it right the first time.
Hi, this is all new work, right from scratch.
I'll try to describe how I do it
Figure out which edge is going to be the hinge side, Bevel that edge if it's not already. I prefer buying doors that aren't pre-beveled, but that's up to you.
Place the door in the opening. You might have to cut the door bottom for height to fit it. Since you don't have a lot of experience doing this, leave the door a bit long for now.If the head needs trimmimg, do that next. Otherwise, use a sharp utility knife, hold it at the top and bottom of the hinges, and put a little knife mark on the door for your hinge locations.
Figure out your hinge backset, and route or chisel the hinge mortices.
Hang the door on the jamb, and check to see if it closes. If it does, your almost done. Drill for the lockset, and cut the bottom of the door parallel to the floor. I like to leave about a 3/4" to 1" gap.
If the door is hitting the strike side jamb, you're going to have to plane that side so it fits. Ideally you want about a 3/32" reveal all around the door, or about the thickness of a nickel.
Remember to do ALL the fitting before you drill the lockset holes, so you have the proper backset.
Don't forget to seal to top and bottom of the door to slow down moisture exchange.
If you don't already have a router and electric plane, now's the perfect time to get them if you've got a whole house of doors to do.
That's the bascis on door hanging. I'm sort of feeling like I've forgotten something. If I remember, I post again.
BTW, when I'm on a roll, I can hang 6-7 doors a day ( 8 hours). You should probably figure on about 1/2 of that.
Thanks for the advice, very helpful. Do you use a mortice jig when using a router?
Could you give us a description of what tools you have, what experience you have, and what you're most unsure of. Are these new doors into existing (old) jambs?
"...an open mind is a powerful thing. The ability to listen to others is invaluable."
Jim Blodgett
Sorry, I have no experience. I own a router, guessing i'll need a planer. I have to install the jambs also.
OK, if you own a router, you have some experience with it, I assume. What type of carpentry work do you do, or have you done? Just trying to get a handle on where you're coming from, so you can get more useful imput from the other posters here. Definitely lots of experienced help available, once you clarify your situation."...an open mind is a powerful thing. The ability to listen to others is invaluable."
Jim Blodgett
I've basically done trim work and thats about it. This may sound strange but i'm an electrician by trade, but its just something about looking at the end product and saying i've done that!
If you're replacing the jambs, too, I strongly recommend buying pre-hung doors.
It'll save you a ton of time, and probably money if you need to buy a bunch of tools to hang the doors.
As to your question- no, I don't use a template to route the hinges. I use a trim router with an edge guide so I get the right mortice depth. I can free hand the top and bottom close enough so that a few seconds with a sharp chisel finishes the job.
...I have to install the jambs also.
Since you're replacing (or installing new) jambs, by far, the easiest thing to do is buy pre-hung doors.
If you already have the doors and can't return them for pre-hungs, then the next easiest thing to do is to pre-hang them yourself. Take a look at any pre-hung door (before it's installed) and copy what you see. Take note of things like clearances, hinge location, how the header jamb fits the leg jambs (dado or rabbet), etc.
Have you ever hung a pre-hung door? It's pretty easy to find information on how to do that since it's so common in new construction.
If it's at all possible, you should try and find someone who is a real pro at hanging doors and hire him for a few hours or so to to hang one and really teach you the steps, with you taking copious notes.
Then you can go ahead and do the rest
It's good to try and explain it on the internet but it doesn't even approach the effectiveness of a hands on instructor. There are many many small things to learn about proper door hanging and what it takes is time, mistakes, corrections, and practice. I'm sure you'll do fine. Good luck.
Well said. I was gonna suggest the same.
First thing, when bringing the doors into the house, don't stand them up against a wall (They'll warp.) Instead, lay them one upon the other on a flat table top or floor to accustom the damp wood to room's lower humidity (Two days minimum) Flip over the top door of the pile twice a day .
Each door you'll replace will be of a particular hand and size With masking tape, mark each door's new location Also give it and the old door a number plus hinge and lock location . Remove one door at a time, but leave the hinge halves on the door frames Place the new door in the opening. Using a flat pry or flooring chisel, and a small wedge ,prop the door up to the header ,BUT, allow A nickel's thickness for clearance.
Use a piece of masking to mark on a, and with a sharp sheet rock knife, make a sharp nick at each of the old hinge's top and bottom to locate where to mortise the hinges.(Also mark the location of the center of the latch bolt) Write on the tape to indicate top and bottom of each hinge also indicate OUTSIDE, so you don't screw up.
I'm guessing the interior doors hinges are 3-1/2"x3-1/2"non-template butts
At the hardware store, buy the proper size hinge marking tool to use with a hammer to impress into the wood the area to be mortised .
Observe the old door's mortises,to position the tool to leave the same reveal remaining on the new door. (Usually a scant 1/4".)
With a sharp 3/4" chisel, first hold the chisel vertically into the stamped impression and strike it with a hammer and continue along the three borders. Go lightly at first 'till you reach a depth of 3/16th Of an inch (The thickness of the hinge.)
Next, Holding the chisel at an incline, with the bevel edge down chip out a small section toward the left 'till you reach the border.
Next, chip in the same direction another segment till you meet the first chip. Continue like this till you come near the right side of the border, then chip toward that margin (Border)
Also with a pencil, mark a line at the out side face at the hinge's depth line and pare to that line. be careful not to cut too deeply.)
When you attach the hinges,first drill the screw holes (they have a tool to do that Called a Vix Bit .(It'll center the hole perzackly)
If the lockset is a standard cylindrical (Key in knob,) you'll need a 2-1/8" hole saw for the large hole in the face of the door and a 7/8 speedbore bit for the latch. Use the cardboard template that comes with the lockset it should be for 2-3/8" backset>
Good luck, Steinmetz.
Print this up in bold type and keep it with you while working
Edited 6/23/2007 8:32 pm ET by Steinmetz
Find a scape / damaged door and practice on it before you dig in.
Then do the least used, least visible doors in the house first, until you get the hang of it.
Sorry, couldn't resist the pun! buic
If you're building new jambs and hanging your own doors, you should really get or make a template for the hinges. I used the bosch template for the last house full of doors I did, it worked fine. But I don't think you need to spend the money on that if you're doing a house full of 1 3/8" thick, 80" tall doors with 3 1/2" hinges. Just make one out of mdf or plywood, taking into account your router template guide and everything.
Standard layout is to put the top of the top hinge at 7" from the top of the door, the bottom of the lowest hinge at 11" from the bottom of the door, and the center hinge (if there is one) centered between them. I was taught to bevel both sides of the door, to prevent hinge bind after a few layers of paint build up. 2º seems about right to me.
Some hinges close tighter than others. Before you're all set up with the template and router on the doors, figure out how deep you need to mortise the hinges to get about a sixteenth between door and jamb (dime gap on hinge side, nickel gap on strike and top side).
If this is a new house, you'll want to leave the jamb legs long enough that you can trim them to level, and have the doors high enough that you won't have to cut them down. Seems like the gap between door and floor is a matter of preference- if you're going to have hardwood floors and thick throw rugs, you'll need an inch or more of clearance. If you're not going to have thick rugs everywhere, I prefer a smaller gap.
Use a laser or builder's level to set the top of jamb at the same height, at least for doors that will be close enought to see a difference, or where there is a horizontal line to judge off of.
zak
"When we build, let us think that we build forever. Let it not be for present delight nor for present use alone." --John Ruskin
"so it goes"
Don't worry too much about the work to come. A house full of doors is a perfect place to practice.
Templates are good, but not necessary, and if you were an employee of mine I'd have you start without a template, but that's another walk before run story.
A story pole will make transfering accurate hinge locations easier.
A vix bit (self centering pilot hole) for the hinge screws will pay for itself in the time saved getting screws started straight.
Beer was created so carpenters wouldn't rule the world.