Opinions, please. . .
Bought a couple prehung solid wood doors last week and went to hang them a few days ago. After struggling with one of them for the better part of 2 hours, I finally realized that the head jamb was short.
It appears the shop (these were set up at Brockway-Smith, or Brosco, the distributor) messed up big-time. I double checked my work thorougly, everything is perfectly plumb, level, etc. I measured the head jamb–30″, and each slab is 15 1/16″
Have you seen this kind of sloppiness in prehungs before? I can cut a custom piece to fill the gap, but for $250 you expect a little more quality!
What would you do? Ask for a refund? A discount? Rip out the door and make them set it up for me right (I’ve already wasted enough time on the damn thing!).
This is my own house, by the way. I figure maybe the next door I buy is on them (the distributor, that is), but I’m curious for a second opinion.
Thanks.
Replies
The shop guy grabbed the wrong precut jamb from the rack. You got one for a 2/6 single, not one for a 1/3-1/3 double. Send it back, and make the yard pay for your troubles, or at least pick it up at the opening.
Ah, somebody was in a hurry. Figured.
You think I should make the yard pay? I'm not sure I'd feel too good about that, since it wasn't their fault. Seems to me Brosco should offer to either replace the door, give me the next one free, or some equivalent. I spent way too much time friggin' with that thing, only to have a gap in the head jamb I need to fix.
I did tell the yard, the sales guy I usually work with said he'd send a Brosco guy out to look at it. I'm just trying to figure on what to expect in terms of fair compensation--in case the guy tries to shrug it off (I would hope he wouldn't, but it's happened to me before, and unless you raise your hackles a little you risk getting blown off).
This is getting to be a regular thing from brockwaysmith. I would tell them - the lumberyard - to send me a good one. They can take care of taking it out of brockway's hide.
Which yard did you get it from?
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EBS--not my favorite yard (I prefer Viking or Rankin's), but this fellow Scott in sales is a decent guy. You think I should just say, "it's your problem, deal with it?"
I take it you've had it with Brosco--where do you get your solid wood doors?
Not a whole lot of choice when that is what the yard pushes, but I like Morgan doors for stock stuff.
The reason I put it back in the yard's lap is that this is the only way to get the message back up line to brockway that they are selling crap. When they have to replace it, it hits their bottom line so they have to learn from it. ( In my fantasy anyway) But that is not your problem. I do deal with the labour cost 'cause sometimes stuff just happens so I don't get bent out of shape too much about another hour or so.
You would have done yourself a favor to have noticed it before installing the door though, and that will be their story on the labour adjustment. It is fair for them to look at it in situ to be sure that you didn't cause the problem but they need to be prompt.
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Actually I did notice what appeared to be a small gap (maybe an eighth), which I naively figured must have just been a result of the shipping, and I tapped it back together before hanging. You're right, I should've stopped right there and double checked the measurements. Chalk it up to inexperience, I guess.
Thing is, it will look fine when I glue in a thin slice of jamb to hide the gap--it's more the aggravation/time factor and a feeling of paying a lot of money for slop work.
By the way, Morgans here come through Brosco (isn't that true at Viking as well?) That's actually what I ordered, although I noticed the slabs had the Weld-Jen sticker on them.
Something I've learned here at BT is that the jobber ( brosco in this case) assembles and cuts all jambs and drills and mounts the slabs into it.
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Ed,
It seems to me that you just need to plane an 1/8" off each door. . . About 10 minutes work.
That is a solution immediately, but it encourages the manufacturer to continue in sloppiness. He should still get an adjustment from them for the time if he goes that way, IMO
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Immediate solutions are best. The better course would be just not to purchase from that supplier or cut your own jambs for your own doors. . .
One of the things I liked doing when hang doors was fabricating all the frames (jambs).
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