Our new house has exterior threshholds so high that tripping often results when exiting the house. Our builder said they were installed high so that door could pass over rug. I believe rather that the framer goofed.
There’s no way we’ll “call back” the GC. Can any of you experts tell us if we can lower the door, add to its height, or lower the door and thicken the head jamb.
We are skilled do-it-yourselfers, in our late 60’s, and burned up that any builder would install a door that potentially could be a hazard for the some-day-to-be-infirm.
Hannah
Replies
Hi Hannah. What kind of elevation from floor level to threshold are we talking about here? Do they, in fact, need to clear carpets? It might not be BS...
How high is the threshold from the floor?
If you lower the door, adding to the head-jamb will not look great and you'll also have to patch the jambs or the door edge where the hinges were.
Even so when removing the existing threshold you will have to remove the stops on the jambs and you may damage the flashing underneath the threshold.. This is a TLC job.
F.
Edited 6/30/2004 3:35 pm ET by Frankie
Yeah, not a simple job. Probably the best solution would be to remove the threshold (itself tricky) and install a new lower one, then add a piece to the bottom of the door to make up the difference.
or just add a slope threshold so you feet do not catch the lip
Sometimes it's enough to ease the trip edge of the threshold, in place. It requires some control at the sides/ ends. A router can do the center portion. Depending on depth it may be an issue of just getting used to it.
F.
I bet he forgot to cut away the sill in the door area.
Brownie has a decent idea. Or you could lower the door and install wider trim inside & out. I bet you can handle it yourself. First thing to do would be to remove the inside trim and see what caused the proiblem. No need to lower the header, just add shims.
Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell'em "Certainly, I can!" Then get busy and find out how to do it. T. Roosevelt
add to the floor! a few more layers of carpet will do the trick.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations.
Did you post exactly how high the sill is off of the floor yet? It has a pretty big impact on the most appropriate solution.
Kevin Halliburton
"The Greek comic poets, also, divided their plays into parts by introducing a choral song, ... they relived the actor's speeches by such intermissions." Vitruvious, (Book V)
I was hoping to hear a response from you to my additional posts.
Front door: above maple floor--1 3/8"
Entrance from garage to kitchen hall: 2"
Measured with combination square for accuracy
Hannah
Sorry, I was out of town yesterday.
I was just trying to determine if creatively raising the finished floor a hair would do it. The threshhold is tall enough that lowering the door is probably your best solution and you've got some good info on how to do that. Kevin Halliburton
"The Greek comic poets, also, divided their plays into parts by introducing a choral song, ... they relived the actor's speeches by such intermissions." Vitruvious, (Book V)
if you decide that "fixing it" is the way to go ...
I'd say instead of cutting/fitting/rigging everything ...
just pop the door out ... trim out what evers keeping it high ... and reset it.
may seem like more work in the beginning ...
but doing it the whole way the first time is usually the best bet in the end.
Jeff
Buck Construction, llc Pittsburgh,PA
Artistry in Carpentry
Yeah, if the problem is that the contractor failed to cut away the finish flooring under the threshold (or something equivalent), then removing and reinstalling (after floor surgery) the entire door frame is probably the best fix.
You never know.....but....I doubt very much that the framer "goofed". That's a very tough one to actually goof up. The door wouldn't have even fit in the RO if the sill or bottom plate of the wall wasn't cut out first.
I've done a few frames for a GC that has me frame the RO's 3/4" tall and lay down 3/4" ply before installing the doors...just so they clear the carpet. This GC may be of the same opinion.
That being said, I'd have to agree that in the long run the fastest fix is to pull the door and remove whatever is under it packing it up.
Your GC's explanation is legit though.
EDIT: Pull back your carpet and measure from the subfloor up to the bottom of the threshold and let us know what you've got there.
Edited 6/30/2004 7:27 pm ET by dieselpig
The door wouldn't have even fit in the RO if the sill or bottom plate of the wall wasn't cut out first. The frame would fit properly if the header was measured off the top of the un-cut sill, rather than off the floor. Trust me. I have first hand knowledge of such a situation.
Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell'em "Certainly, I can!" Then get busy and find out how to do it. T. Roosevelt
Of course it's possible Ed, most anything is. No doubt it has somehow happened before, apparently to you in fact. I'm just saying that it's pretty unlikely to A) happen in the first place and B) go unnoticed until the carpet is installed. Who in their right mind would try to sneak that one by? It's a pretty simple fix and a pretty obvious mistake....if that's even what happened. I gotta believe that a framer who couldn't get past framing a door opening wouldn't have ever been able to finish the rest of the house!
Stranger things have happened though, right? I just think that the original poster shouldn't jump to the conclusion that somebody goofed. Just because the owner doesn't understand or disagrees with the GC's decision doesn't have to mean that someone messed up.
You're right. Without a measurement, we're all possibly reading too much into the problem.
Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell'em "Certainly, I can!" Then get busy and find out how to do it. T. Roosevelt
Thanks for the many responses.
To clarify (I wanted to avoid a long discussion of our "custom" house problems): from Day 1 the GC knew that I would have maple flooring at front entrance and resilient flooring from hall into garage.
The height above finished flooring at front entrance is 1 3/8"; the real tripper is the door into the garage: 2". By the way, these measurements were taken with a machinists' combination square, so they are accurate.
The doors are Smooth Star (Therma-Tru). Seems the easiest solution would be to add to the bottom of the door into garage and thus leave everything else the same. I'm thinking to add an internal sloped threshhold to front entrance .
Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanx again.
Hannah
This is a SIPs house. Why should I suspect the framer? First, he set basement stairway 4 or 5 inches in the wrong direction, making already large rooms 4 or 5 inches larger, and decreasing the formal dining room's size by the desired 4 or 5 inches. Now there are crazy jogs in kitchen where walls don't line up.
The first floor platform deck was inaccurate and had to be altered so that first floor SIPs panels would fit. Basement SIPs panels had to be thrown away. 2 x 6 framing was substituted and later foamed in. We don't know who paid for that goof.
Framer had to do rough stringers for BOTH stairways again because he did not follow the blueprint. He just used his usual rise/run formula and did not count the number of treads shown there. No doubt he was mad at us for having to do it over.
There's more but why belabor the point.
Hannah
I can see why they are trippers. Out of curiosity, I measured ours. Front door is 1", back is 5/8".
If possible, I'd pull a side casing on the garage side, and determine why the height is what it is. If it's as simple as cutting a plate, I'd consider removing the whole door frame and moving down. Hopefully casing would cover gap left at top.
If there are ajacent doors that casing lines up with, I'd either replace the assembly with taller one or add to bottom of door and rebuild/replace jambs. Perhaps you could cover door extension with brass kick plates or some such.
Sounds like you got a raw deal, but a little research into the reasons they got that way will dictate the solution. It sounds like you've got a handle on the constuction techniques.
Best of luck.PJ
Whatever you can do or dream you can,
Begin it
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Goethe
We typically frame our rough openings 3/4" taller and set the door on plywood 3/4" above the subfloor. Most of our finish floors are 3/4" or more. This leaves the threshold about 1" above the finish floor. If the owners have a throw rug by the front door, the door swing will clear this.
If you want to lower the door, remove the interior and exterior casings, remove any long screws that pass through the door jambs and into the framing, and cut any nails that go through the jambs and into the framing. These usually are found wherever there are shims. Next gently tilt the door and pry up the threshhold. It should be caulked or glued underneath. With the door removed it should be easy to lower support under the door whether it is a plate or just blocking. You will have to put everything back in place (lower, of course). You may have to use a larger piece of head casing to cover up any holes or to match up the heights with other doors or windows.
This is a simple job for any experienced carpenter, though it can have a trouble spot or two. It is a much tougher job for a homeowner but using common sense and seeing how the door was installed when you take it out, you can do it. Stop at the lumberyard and see if they have a set of instructions for installation that come with every new door.
Thanx for your comments.
We have installed many interior doors. The ones my husband installed in our new "custom" home swing great, do not bind, do not swing open by themselves.
Those installed by our GC swing open by themselves (a previous query about this problem was happily solved by someone on this forum), bind and need belt sanding. And ironically, the first floor bathroom is so LOW that even a bath mat is too high for the door to pass over.
I see a lot of good advice here, but one question regarding lowering the door (unit), where is the porch cap in respect to the bottom of the threshold? You can't lower the door unit if the porch cap is poured (built) up to the bottom of the drip lip of the threshold.
It sounds like your husband showed a little more care than the builder. To be fair to the builder, exterior doors, though prehung, often come from the factory in an unworkable condition. With certain brands we have to tune up over 50% of the doors. They can force them closed at the factory, but the first time they are closed after being hung, they hit the jamb. It is hard to see why this should happen at all, but it is one of those things that you just have to deal with. Good luck.
Same here, we put most exterior doors on a piece of 3/4. It is for throw rug clearance. Now sliders with 2 1/4'" high tracks go on the subfloor. Don't worry, we can fix that later!