I hate making myself look this ignorant, but if it saves me agravation, then it’s woth it. Do you hang prehung with the doors on them? Or, should you take the door off first. My gut instinct is that it would be easiest if you could stand on the push side of the door that you could just hold it in place, level it, and nail or screw. I have put one in in my entire life and it was on alinin closet so I had to take the door off, otherwise I would have had to squeeeeeze myself in the closet.
So by now your trying to picture this dummy looking like an a$$ and completely butchering a simple hanging of an interior door.
So whats the right way?
Trim screws or nails?
any input is appreciated
The one I installed took 2 hours because I could not get it to close right. I finally got it right, but not without some doing. I need perfection, and even though I have no clue what I’m doing I’m willing to turn a 10 minitue job into a 2 hour job to get it.
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I don't know why new posts seem to go directly to oblivion some times but I just wanted to get this to show up in recent. Thanks
Different people do it different ways. I prefer to take the door off.
Take door off, if rough opening is fairly plumb, center door in opening and shim at very top just to keep jamb from falling out.
Start with hinge jamb and plumb it up with shims and finish nails. Once this is done, put the door back on. From now on, I don't worry about plumb and level, just how the door fits. Make the gap between the header and the door equal by raising or lowering the jamb that is not nailed. When it is level, you are ready to set the gap on the remaining jam. At this point, I check to see if the door is hitting the door stop as it should. you may have to move the jamb in or out to fix this. Now using shims and finish nails, make the gap betwee the door and the jamb equal over its length. That shoul do it.
You get out of life what you put into it......minus taxes.
Marv
Thanks, you know another thing that comes to mind that I never hear much mention of on any site or elsewhere is keeping the face of teh strike jamb square with the face of the hinge jamb. Did that make sense? Is there a way to check for that or is it insignificant.
I'm not a carpenter......
I'm a newby like yourself. However, I had a closet added to one of my rooms last week and as luck would have it the contractor installed a pre-hung 32" inch door. So from my observations, the door came with a nylon band around the frame and door. Also, the holes for the handle were pre-drilled and had a plastic rod inserted to assist with keeping the door closed. The contractor placed the door in the ruff opening and shimmed it to level. He then opened the door and screwed the frame to the surrounding 2 bys. Making sure the door was plumb and level.
I hope this helps. The opening was already frames so he didn't need to use shims on the sides just the bottom of the frame.
Best of luck.
No correct way, just dfferences of opinion. Either way is fine, whichever works for you.
I was taught to hang them with the doors still on, but I eventually discovered it was easier (for me) with the door off. Shim plumb the hinge jamb, set the frame, screw it off thru the hinges, mount the door, shim and nail it off. Also, I prefit it and cut down the jambs to level the head, if required. Shimming up one jamb leaves a gap on one side that I don't particularly care for, but others may not mind.
Bottom line, whatever works and you're happy with is what matters.
"I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul." Invictus, by Henley.
Door on if your a pro, door off if a newbie, and would rather spend the extra time, than make a mistake. Also, use screws rather than nails if a newbie at this, as you can always back them out if all doen't go as planned.
WSJ
As far as being able to back the screws out that is a great call. I forgot to mention that at the tail end of the two hour debocle, right as I was at the height of my frustration, I was trying to pull a nail out of the jamb with the back of my hammer which slipped of and I punched myself in the eye. That was injury to insult. Moral of the story is don't start doing stupid stuff like pulling the Hammer twoards your face when your frustrated and not thinking well.The door looks great and my eye feels better.Guess I'll go with the screws this time
Edited 12/5/2005 3:15 pm ET by xosder11