We were hanging pre-hung doors the last few days and the subject of leaving the door on vs removing the door when installing the jamb came up.
Any thoughts about installation of jambs with or without the door attached?
We were hanging pre-hung doors the last few days and the subject of leaving the door on vs removing the door when installing the jamb came up.
Any thoughts about installation of jambs with or without the door attached?
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Replies
I install the hinge leg of the jamb without the door, then attach the door so that I can fit the remainder of the jamb to the door.
Same here.
John,
When I hang interior doors, I shim the hinge side of the opening first at the bottom and the top using a 6'6" level.
I shoot the bottom shims in first and then I stick shims at the top and hold the level up against the bottom shims that are nailed in already and then up against the top shims and slide shims until level reads plumb and shoot the shims in.
Then I get the door and stick it in the opening and shoot the hinged side of the door into the shims at the bottom and top. Now the door is plumb and I stick the level on the hinged side of the jamb and put shims in the center and shoot through the jamb into the shim.
Then I close the door and check for my reveal across the top of the door and shoot the jamb at the top and then shim the rest of the latch side until the reveal is even.
Shooting the shims in first on the hinged side makes it a lot easier for me just putting the door up against and shooting through the jamb without using the level.
Joe,
I assume you are using a 15 gauge nailer?
Do you ever shim and then drive a screw through the hinge (obviously you have to remove a screw first) through the shims into the jack stud?
Thanks
John
We just did 8 prehung doors in the last day and a half. Simply shoved the door in the opening, opened the door and placed shims under the far edge of the opened door to keep it from tipping over too much. Moved the frame slightly to get approximately equal gap between the frame and the door on each side. Alighed the hinge side jamb with the wall, placed shims behind upper hinge side jamb and nailed with 15 gauge nail to hold things in place. Made remainder of jamb plumb with 6' level. Nailed off shims with nailer. Placed shims down the rest of the jamb. Placed shim at top of latch side jamb. Placed nail in upper latch side jamb, through shims. Placed shims behind remainder of latch side shim to give evan gap around door and nailed off. Used 2 1/2 square drive #6 trim screws at several places in both hinge side and latch side jambs to further secure door frame.
Actually, there was more door opening and closing and checking of reveal and gap. Things went surprisingly quickly. Perhaps we were lucky in that the floors were level and the frames did not need to be shimmed or trimmed (OK, one jamb needed to be trimmed a quarter of an inch...) to have things level. Tomorrow I will replace one of the hinge screws on each hinge with a longer screw that penetrates the framing and add extra security to the door latch strike plate.
I do like Framer does. But I always check to make sure the floor is level before setting the door , pain in the butt when the hinge side is high and you find out after the jamb is nailed..
Here's what I do, unless it is an extremely large or heavy door.
I check height and fllor level and cut the legs to length.
I lay it on the floor or benches with hing barrels up and remove the shipping pin at the knob cutout.
I take a handfull of 3" x 3" x1/2" plywood scraps and shoot them on the jamb all around
I stand the door into the opening and put my plumbstick on the hinge barrels and shoot the ply wood tabs to the wall, then follow around, checking the reveal to keep it even.
Then I use shims near the plywood locations. Now, I open the door and shoot through the jamb at the shim locations and then remove the plywood tags, check the swing and operation and cut the shims off, do the casing.
I can do a couple pre-hung doors an hour when I am in the flow this way, depending on casing style. Some types can take an hour per door. If I am using door blanks and making my own mortises and cutouts, I get three doors a day
This is a modification from when I was doing cheap condo work where they expected a min of 20 doors a day. There, I applied casing to hinge side of the door with it laying down, stood door into place, and shot the casing to the wall, shimmed only at hinges, and then cased the otther side.
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If its a hollow core door I do like Framer (83656.4), no sense me typing it again!
If its a heavy solid I will take the door off the hinge and set the jamb to the plumbed up hinge side, re set the door and finish off like above.
Doug
First there are different types of pre-hung doors. Split jamb, and non-split jamb.
Regardig the split jamb variety, removing the door slab be more time consuming and likely would not result in as good a result since you need the door slab in the hole to set the margins. I'lll even go out on a limb and say that removing the slab is just wrong.