This is an old house so a lot of funky things can be done….. I have a 29″ inch antique door that I want in the entry to a kitchen, but the present opening, under construction, is 34″ stud to stud. the problem is that I want that 29″ door, but I also want an opening large enough to accomodate a someday refrigerator or appliance through that opening. I can add onto the door stiles, and it will look added onto, which I can live with, but any ideas, including a sliding door, or any alteration to the jam, to accomplish this?
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An interesting dilemma. We just replaced our back door and stayed with a 32" door because anything else would have required massive reframing.
Could you build a 34" jamb, then add a 5" second door -- kind of like a side light, but with hinges? Or like those little doors into the back jump seats in the cab+ Ford trucks? I think you can still get, for "second" doors, those top and bottom locking rods that go into cups in the sill and head jamb, with a little flip lever to operate the rod, and properly installed, they're pretty rigid. YOu would then use the 29" door all the time, except when moving fridges and other large objects.
By the way, if you do this and have the room, make a 36" opening. 34" is tight for furniture moving.
Bill Houghton
as long as you are going to the work of putting in a second door make it wide enough for a wheel chair. You never know?
I found a door in a recycle yard similar to what you need . overall opening needed was 41" Large door 26" small one 15" The small one is hinged to the door casing the larger door is hinged to the small door. Between the large. & small door at top and bottom are pins cut into the small door which slide into the frame at top &floor at bottom. woks great been in place 20+ yrs, if i wasent so new to this computer game I would send a pic.
This is one of my best tricks, for free: a removeable jamb. Designed one for a real estate office in a century house where they wanted to keep the original 30" doors, but also need to move in an AS/400, executive desks, copier, etc. But the larger openings would only be needed once a year at most.
A good square jamb 36" wide was built into the opening; a second jamb was made with 1-by on the good side and 3/4 ply on the hidden side, with 1.5" foam sandwiched between on each side. The cross-piece was just the ply and the 1-by epoxied together. The false jamb is held in by a couple of screws under the door-stop (which is held in place with peelable rubber cement) and the casing was made on the floor and held onto the false jamb with those metal hangers they use to hang wall panels onto metal studs on one side (it's nailed to the jamb on the other, but you have to remove one side to slide the jamb out).
I'm sure an inventive designer could improve on this, but it worked.
Phill Giles
The Unionville Woodwright
Unionville, Ontario
I like this idea, I've got some of that hanger hardware, I'll make a fat jamb. Thanks.
I would make a jamb like we do here: 2X with the door rabeted in (about 10 mm deep and the thickness of the door). Install the jamb/door using screws, 80-100 mm long, countersink. If you someday decide to move in the fridge, remove the whole business. Trim in with extra-wide casing 7-8 cm wide. And don't nail the casing to the framing.