Hanging a door...disaster?

[Julescariad]

Hi there,
I am a single woman living alone and not very good at DIY, but house proud! I found a builder/joiner on the rate my builder site to hang me a pine or oak door in my lounge. I spoke to him and said I was no good at DIY and asked him to varnish it as well. He did not measure the old door but came round while I was at work to hang the door. He charged me £220. I did not quibble the price, as I say, I have NO IDEA!! Anyway, it's a mess. He has taken so much off the side and the top that it is down to the chipboard. He varnished over the side but has not even bothered to varnish over the top. The side is raw and open as is the top although you cannot see it unless you stand on a chair, he hacked a chunk out of my door jamb and left it splintered, I had to repaint it and the varnish he applied is streaky. He also left a mess!! Surely this is not my responsibility? Is it reasonable to leave a door with the chipboard showing? What can I do? Could I ask him to replace the door or is that too much?? Any help at all would be really appreciated. Thanks. I have tried to contact him but to no avail so far but forewarned is fore armed if there are any professionals who could advise me. Thanks again.

 

[gregers]

dont sound good,but any chance of a few pics and then we all can give proper advice on it.

 

[Julescariad]

Hang on, I will take some now.. and then try and upload them.

 

[Julescariad]

Here they are, I hope!!

Door disaster

• Julescariad
• 11 Feb 2013
• 1

Streaky varnish

Door disaster

• Julescariad
• 11 Feb 2013
• 1

The chunk he hacked out, I then had to go and buy sandpaper, sand it down, go and buy gloss...

Door disaster

• Julescariad
• 11 Feb 2013
• 1

Top of the door, completely unvarnished and stripped right down to the middle bit, no veneer...

Door disaster

• Julescariad
• 11 Feb 2013
• 1

The side of the door, you can see where the veneer has been sanded away, it is raw and rough and...

 

[Julescariad]

The first one is the streaky varnish, the second one the chunk hacked out the door jamb which I then had to samd down and paint myself, the third one is the top of the door which is down to the chipboard and not even varnished and the last one is the side of the door, a tiny bit of venner left at the top, the rest is open chipboard which although varnished, catches my clothes and scratches my hands.

 

[Burnerman]

Veneered doors are only really satisfactory if none - or a tiny bit - of the veneer is planed off. The results are obvious and to be expected.
Pic 1 - not the correct treatment for the door, and poorly applied. It looks like a polyurethane.
Pic 2 - I've no idea why he hacked out the bit of door jamb - it looks like where the original lock keep has been? Either way, I'd have filled it with a sliver of 3mm plywood.
Pic 3 - The door top is almost acceptable, but at least should have been varnished to prevent dusting. To be fair, the door frame could have been askew.
Pic 4 - Ghastly....he didn't choose the right door for the job but someone who knows what they are doing 'could' have faked it from the hinge side. No excuses there.
This is the sort of job that is an insult to a professional joiner. Apart from the varnish finish, I doubt if he would be capable of making good.
I guess he has his money in full....sorry, bad move but I'm not trying to be patronising here.
John

 

[Julescariad]

Not patronising at all. My fault for trusting a website!! To be fair, they have always supplied decent tradesmen in the past, is there any point in asking him to put a strip of veneer down the side? Is that even a thing? Thanks so much for your reply.

 

[Burnerman]

I don't think this guy is capable of putting new veneer on - at best it would look a complete bodge, I think.
Maybe the disaster could be improved by sanding the varnish off and reapplying better stuff, but there is a risk of making it worse....varnish needs to be completely dry (and old preferably) before it sands off.
The edge of the door was actually a strip of real timber which he has planed away...its not really replaceable.
The only real way was to use a solid timber door, but thats all very well in retrospect....at least solid timber doesn't look like this one after it has been planed!
Some sort of sanity could be restored if the door was painted a gloss or satin colour, but I guess you wouldn't want this - its just your first post about an oak or pine door has me guessing.
I'm afraid you won't see your money back.
John

 

[MIKE56]

I think you have had all the advice you could possibly have on how badly fitted the door is but for the future.....

Virtually all internal doors are overveneered, they are perfectly stable and suited for their purpose, they also generally have a semi solid core, not hollow, all fine until someone doesn't know what they are doing.

One piece solid individual timber section doors in whatever timber are virtually never fitted unless absolutely unavoidable as they are expensive.

Most of the doors on the market only have about a 6mm edge, they can and should be trimmed equally but they can be cut down and the edge refitted alas not while on site.

Some tips;

Measure the opening yourself at the top, the middle and the bottom, take the widest size and allow 4mm for clearance between the door edge and the frame, measure the height from the floor to under the frame above your head, sorry for the terminology but I dont want to use trade terms and confuse you.

Always quote the sizes in millimetres (mm) not a mixture of mm and centimetres (cm)

Some doors are seen as metric meaning that they are found in lots of new homes that were constructed from about the 1970's until now, they are readily available at the site mentioned below and are always 2040mm high, the widths vary from 526mm, 626mm, 726mm, 826mm and 926mm widths, always 40mm thick or 45mm for fire doors.

Only ever measure the door for the thickness as the old door may have been badly fitted.

Just by doing this you can at least be sure when talking to someone about doors that you are not a complete novice.

Never pay anyone anything other than a deposit for fitting doors or anything else.

Lots of diy tips are available at www.directdoors.com that are door specific.

Mike

 

[JohnD]

sadly the websites are generally advertising sites paid for by the traders, and the recommendations are likely to be written by the advertiser and his mates.

A personal recommendation from a friend or neighbour is far more likely to be true.

 

[kjacko]

Can you not report the eejit to the website and get him struck off it?
At least threaten him with all sorts of reputation staining.
If he wants to come back and put it right, i'd suggest having someone there with you.

People like this, should NOT be in business.

Name and shame the fool!

 

[JohnD]

these advertising websites are usually run for the benefit of the advertisers, who can control what reviews show online

Post on here the actual name of the website you used.

 

[Harbourwoodwork]

There are too many of these Mickey Mouse would be door hanging guy's around I never get door hanging jobs from cold customers because these guy's charge as little as £15 a door no competition ,I dont understand why they seemed to have homed in on door hanging,because the skill level is high to do a good job,hence the failiure rate is high by the cowboy's, best of luck, no one deserves work like that

 

[Julescariad]

I have e-mailed the builder threatening him with court action, I may not be good at DIY but I'm no push over, he claims it is my fault for choosing an oak door rather than a pine one!! Cheek! Are pine doors composite as well or would that be an option for a replacement? Thanks!

 

[Burnerman]

Doors can be whatever you want them to be...solid, composite - the list goes on.
It depends on what you specify, and how much you want to pay.
There's no way a composite door will cut down to an obscure size frame, but you just might get away with using a solid one, where equal amounts of material are removed from both sides.
This guy was simply out of his depth and hopefully he knew it. Door hanging requires time, knowledge and skill - I'd hate to see his efforts fitting locks or cutting letter boxes etc!
John