Fitting new door

[flutterbye]

Hi

I'm trying for the first time to fit a cheap interior door into an existing frame. I wonder if someone could help me out answering a couple of questions I have?

The first is, I need to reduce the height of this moulded (and I think "flush") door by about 18-20mm. So 9 or 10 top and bottom. The leaflet that came with the door said I can only reduce 5. The door is fairly temporary - maybe for a year or two. Would there be a big problem if a planed off 9 or 10mm ?

The second is how to create the bevelled edge along the stiles? The width of the door is exactly right. Can I just hold my power plane at an angle and plane away?

Thanks a lot in advance of any help.

 

[steve61]

I would be inclined to cut the whole 20mm off the bottom of the door, with a saw and clean up with a plane.

If whats left of the infill timber seems solid enough I'd leave it at that, otherwise recycle the piece that has been removed by planing off the facings etc, re-insert with plenty of pva after cleaning bottom of door where it needs to go.

By bevelled edge I assume you mean the leading edge, use a hand plane, usually only on the edge where the latch/loch and handle set goes.

Steve

 

[Jonno35]

I'd be tempted to do similar to what Steve said but if you have access to a circular saw take 5mm of the top (would be more difficult with a hand saw) and then the remaining 13mm to 15mm off the bottom. If you do this use a temporary straight edge to guide the saw and score the cut line with a stanley knife or use some tape on the line.

This way you might leave a little more strength in the bottom of the door. And if it looks like there is only a small section left and you don't think it's strong enough, you can do like Steve suggests and put another piece back in.

 

[steve61]

I'd be tempted to do similar to what Steve said but if you have access to a circular saw take 5mm of the top (would be more difficult with a hand saw) and then the remaining 13mm to 15mm off the bottom. If you do this use a temporary straight edge to guide the saw and score the cut line with a stanley knife or use some tape on the line.

This way you might leave a little more strength in the bottom of the door. And if it looks like there is only a small section left and you don't think it's strong enough, you can do like Steve suggests and put another piece back in.

I'll go with that Jonno, easier for the novice.........

 

[flutterbye]

Thanks for the replies. Unfortunately, I didn't get them before starting work again but actually I did something similar to what was suggested.

In the end I took 10mm of the bottom with a circular saw. This was easy because it was a parallel cut so the circular saw guide helped. The top I needed to cut a slightly sloping line (7mm from one side and 10mm from the other). I did that freehand with the circular saw. The result was ok but I'm sure not as good as someone experienced in the trade would achieve.

I didn't understand the point about using a straght edge to use a a guide? Ahh you mean maybe I could clamp such an edge to the door at whatever angle I need and then push the circ saw hard up against that edge?

The other problem I had was using the bloody plane! Planing top and bottom was just about ok - I put the door lengthways on the floor backing up against the door and then planed down. It was still difficult and the power plane doesn't seem to give much feedback in terms of how much it cuts.

Planing down the length to get the bevel/leading-edge was impossible so I resulted to my orbital sander. You can see I'm a complete novice so I apologise if how I did things was really stupid. How can you fix the door so that it can be planed down the length? And should I invest in a good manual plane if I'm to do this again?

In the end, the result was ok - better than many of the doors in this house but that's probably because the existing doors and frames have long since moved since they were originally fitted 40 years ago. I haven't fitted all of the door-stop or latches but I think the hardest is behind me now.

Thanks again for answers to these and look forward to any further comments.

Cheers.

 

[foxhole]

Power plane cannot remove more than you set the depth usually 2mm max.
If you are inexperienced setting it at about .5mm allows you to proceed slowly and correct errors.

 

[Jonno35]

I didn't understand the point about using a straght edge to use a a guide? Ahh you mean maybe I could clamp such an edge to the door at whatever angle I need and then push the circ saw hard up against that edge?

Yeah that's it, spot on.

Planing down the length to get the bevel/leading-edge was impossible so I resulted to my orbital sander. You can see I'm a complete novice so I apologise if how I did things was really stupid. How can you fix the door so that it can be planed down the length? And should I invest in a good manual plane if I'm to do this again?

I use a Black&Decker Workmate jaws (with door on floor sat on couple of bits of 3x2) or magic grippers (google them) to secure door. You could use a couple of lumps of 4x2 or 3x2 notched out oversize so door sits in them and then secure with timber wedges....just sit door edge on in them and knock it wedges to secure. Put your foot on blocks to stop door sliding or butt against a wall.
Handplane or power planer will put a leading edge on but you may well find a handplane more forgiving to start....try marking a pencil line on to start with and plane leading edge down to this. Only needs a few mm really. Bit of practise and you'll get the hang of it. I like a leading edge on doors but know a lot of lads who don't bother. lol.

In the end, the result was ok - better than many of the doors in this house but that's probably because the existing doors and frames have long since moved since they were originally fitted 40 years ago. I haven't fitted all of the door-stop or latches but I think the hardest is behind me now.

Fair play to you for having a go, bit of practise and you'll get the hang of it.

Cheers.

 

[stevethejoiner]

Planing down the length to get the bevel/leading-edge was impossible so I resulted to my orbital sander. You can see I'm a complete novice so I apologise if how I did things was really stupid. How can you fix the door so that it can be planed down the length? And should I invest in a good manual plane if I'm to do this again?



Cheers.[/quote]

For next time notch a piece of 100 x 50 sawn timber to sit the door in and wedge it in place. Works a treat.

Untitled

• stevethejoiner
• 14 Dec 2011
• 1

A block each end is best, and the drawing is viewed from the bottom so you can see the 100 x 50 under the door.

 

[Alarm]

For next time notch a piece of 100 x 50 sawn timber to sit the door in and wedge it in place. Works a treat.

And there was me thinking only I did that