On my last two trim package jobs after installing and painting the doors I had to remove and reset the door stops inorder for the doors to shut right.
Anyone else having these problems?
busta
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My sash and door companies assembly crews are almost entirely hispanic and I notice alot more screw ups that should never have left the plant.I think they don't want to be reprimanded so they let it out the door hoping it gets used.Sure is upsetting to know that the trim crew is going to have to come back and charge me more for a factory error.
ANDYSZ2
I MAY DISAGREE WITH WHAT YOUR SAYING BUT I WILL DEFEND TO THE DEATH YOUR RIGHT TO SAY IT.
Remodeler/Punchout
There are a number of things that would cause a door to not close right. Usually it is a bad framing job, opposites sides of the frame not being in the same plane. A good trim carpenter will know how to fix this problem in 90% of the cases, but somtimes moving the stop is all you can do, for instance if the door is captured by two walls so that one side or the other cannot be moved, or the trim is wide enough and stiff enough that it cannot be made to bridge gaps left by installing plumb doors in out of plumb walls.
I always tear off the door stops first thing. I install hardware and everything and the stops are the last to go on. After years of hanging doors, I have found this the easiest, quickest way to have a finely adjusted door that shuts easily and hits evenly on the entire head stop, and you can leave just a tiny bit of room for the paint on the strike and even more on the hinge stop.
What is starting to drive me crazy about the prehung units anymore is the hinges are not properly mortised, some not even close to fitting in. I will often find doors where the hinges are riding outside the mortise, the holes are out of line, the depth on one is different than the other, the hinge is cocked etc etc. So when it comes time to hanging the door, the thing becomes hinge bound, or the door opens or closes on its own even though the jambs are dead plumb.
The key is to find a supplier that is good and reliable (obviously), or use a high quality recognized name.
What I really prefer is to do the whole thing myself, jambs, mortise etc, and I will do that if I only have a few doors to do. Then I know it's going to be right.
The prehungs still save you time though.
Jer,
While I personally think their Customer service is a joke and most of their salesmen are complete morons, Probably the best doors you'll get around your way come from a place called Warren Lumber and Millwork.
http://www.warrenlumber.com/
Most of the other places get doors from either DELMARVA, BWI or REEB. In my experience Warren makes their own doors and the quality is head and shoulders above the others. Of course, I've not hung a whole ton of doors in the past three or so years but I've been told nothing has changed.
Amen to that. BWI and REEB both used to make top-notch prehung units- now they're no better than the units at HD and Lowes. Actually, I've found the ones at HD are slightly better lately than the BWI/REEB units. Scary, huh?
Bob
Bob,
Kinnda off topic, How does the need for competent trimmers look out your way?
Kinnda off topic, How does the need for competent trimmers look out your way?
Not much production housing around here- there's no land for it anymore. Toll, KHov, Pulte, and the like have all started focusing on high-rise work in Jersey City, Hoboken, etc. The rest of the new homes around here are onesy-twosey, and are usually trimmed by a hack in a 1970's van who uses more caulk than nails.
To get decent work, you've got to head into Westfield or Fanwood for remodels, or head to Bergen County for the high-end custom homes. Up there, the trim packages are into the mid to high 6-figures.
Bob
I gave up on prehung units about 5 or 7 years ago. I could never get 2 with the same spacing aroubnd the door let alone 15 or 20. In my current job I needed 32 doors so I just made them myself. I can't even get a dozen blanks to match with in 1/32.
I charge too much to expect folks to take junk. I have no idea what it will be like in another 10 years but we seem to be moving closer to a throw-away society so maybe this is just one more step in the journey.