New Doors inc linings / Carpenter said widen the frames...

Hi,

Could someone help me with the following please. I have 4 doors that need full/frame/lining/locks/hanging of door etc. the house is being renovated and the old/frames doors were removed as part of the process.

A carpenter came round and stated that it would be better to widen the frames by cutting the brickwork. This would make the job easier and would allow for future door modifications to become standard door widths. I have some concerns re this and would prefer that they remain as they are, I don’t really need any bigger door openings or doors.

He also mentioned that there would be limits on cutting the actual doors. I was hoping to go for fire doors because they are heavier and appear to be much better quality than the standard light doors. I won’t be using these for fire door purposes.

He also mentioned that a day rate might be better than a fixed price as it was a lot of work due to the frames not being straight and varying widths from top centre bottom.

One last thing he said he would do the frame/custom built with MDF I'm not so sure on this also.

Could I get some feedback on the above points please. Many Thanks.

Images of the door frames. Only one is solid brickwork. The others are breeze block.

Sparky
Presuming the standard door size is "1981 x 762 x 35mm - often referred to as a 2’6” door", as shown here and here:
http://www.wickes.co.uk/Products/Doors+Windows/Internal-Doors/Internal-Oak-Veneer-Doors/c/1000656
https://www.jbkind.com/info-centre/standard-door-sizes
http://www.wickes.co.uk/Products/Doors+Windows/Internal-Doors/Fire-Doors/c/1000659?q=rice-asc
UK standard door sizes (EDIT- FIRE DOORS ARE THICKER THAN THIS)
1981 x 457/533 x 35mm – door sizes tend to be most popular for use as cupboard or wardrobe doors.
1981 x 610/686 x 35mm – door sizes are used where the wall space may be restricted and a smaller door is required.
1981 x 762 x 35mm - often referred to as a 2’6” door is the most common internal door size in England and Wales.
1981 x 838 x 35mm – in most circumstances provides the required opening width for wheelchair access under the Part ‘M’ mobility requirements.

And presuming door lining is about 30mm thick each side that means you need 762mm+30mm+30mm=822mm.
http://www.wickes.co.uk/Products/c/1000000?q=:topSellers:category:1001165:Material:Hardwood:Material:Softwood:Materialine:Material:Oak&show=All&perPage=15

So I see that as meaning you either have:
1)- No cutting of bricks and Four (narrow) 686mm doors. or
2)- No cutting of bricks and Three 762mm doors and one 686mm door (in the 80cm doorway). or
3)- Cut the 80cm doorway (and prehaps the 82cm doorway) so it is >822mm and have four 762mm doors.

If money/mess is an issue and the narrow 80cm doorway is a bedroom I think I would go with option 2).
If 80cm doorway is downstairs, I would go for option 3 as always looks nicer.

Sorry but have no comments on Day Rate or use of MDF (but saying that I always used Pine for Doorlings), as always done this myself as DIYer.
SFK

If it isn't going to be too much pain cutting the masonry, then going for off the shelf doors and casings makes a perfect fit relatively easy to achieve, especially if fire doors are chosen. Certainly cutting blockwork is relatively easy and if it were thew intention to rent out the property having standard size doors reduces potential future maintainance costs if tennants ever damage doors. If the fire doors were intended as fire doors then you shouldn't be cutting into them by more than 5 or 6mm per edge (depending on manufacturers instructions and ideally not at all) because doing so reduces or even destroys their fire integrity. But, against that, by opening-up the door "holes" are you going to be left with enough bearing surface for the lintels in structural walls (recommended minimum 100mm per side)?

Please be wary of the doorn thicknesses quoted by the previous poster - 35mm thick doors are liughtweight domestic doors and fire doors are normally 44mm thick (FD30) or 54mm thick (FD60) and are pretty much always better in terms of insulation and sound proofing. You will struggle to find fire doors thinner than 44mm.

In terms of door casings/linings the old EJMA (English Joinery manufacturers Association) standard is 31.75mm (1-1/4in) minimum thickness in softwood on FD30 doors - FD60s doors are pretty much universally hung on thicker rebated hardwood casings, partly to meet the fire regs but also to carry te additional weight. Personally I detest the average softwood door casing/lining kits available from most builders merchants these days - many are poor quality, knotty carp. I'd far rather just buy the component sizes in clear joinery quality redwood and make-up my own linings with planted-on stops. I've also used MDF in quite a few commercial jobs. It is best installed where a softwood sub-frame has already been fixed in place to the masonry or metal studwork to give it additional strength and provide a stable fixing. On a refurb this isn't normally the approach taken unless some specific plastering detail is required. One thing I will say in its' favour is that it paints out really well - far better than the average softwood product