I'm on my second door, replacing "Victorian" 6 panel doors with a more modern type. The original doors were fitted with only 2 hinges and I am refitting with 3. So far I have removed more than I have fitted so have had enough spare hinges!
My problem is in knowing how to get the doors a good snug fit up against their rebate (the doorstop?) but not so snug that they creak at the hinge side when opening. With the first door I was replacing the door handed the other way so I was cutting clean new hinge rebates, having filled the old ones. The job went well and the door shuts beautifully though I suspect this was more by luck than design. With the second I've had a hell of a job and the door is still tight enough against the rebate that it doesn't swing shut cleanly, it bounces back open by a couple of inches, with horizontal wear marks already showing where it touches the stop. I am using the old hinge locations top & bottom and am cutting the rebates in the doors by laying the hinges "wrong way round" on the door and drawing round them.
Most of the old doors in the house were fitted tight and creak annoyingly when opened. I haven't measured but I think my new doors are thicker than the old.
Is there an old "bushman's trick" for getting this exactly right?
Is it acceptable to lightly plane the front of the door so as to open the gap slightly? I'm on solid wood here, not veneer.
My problem is in knowing how to get the doors a good snug fit up against their rebate (the doorstop?) but not so snug that they creak at the hinge side when opening. With the first door I was replacing the door handed the other way so I was cutting clean new hinge rebates, having filled the old ones. The job went well and the door shuts beautifully though I suspect this was more by luck than design. With the second I've had a hell of a job and the door is still tight enough against the rebate that it doesn't swing shut cleanly, it bounces back open by a couple of inches, with horizontal wear marks already showing where it touches the stop. I am using the old hinge locations top & bottom and am cutting the rebates in the doors by laying the hinges "wrong way round" on the door and drawing round them.
Most of the old doors in the house were fitted tight and creak annoyingly when opened. I haven't measured but I think my new doors are thicker than the old.
Is there an old "bushman's trick" for getting this exactly right?
Is it acceptable to lightly plane the front of the door so as to open the gap slightly? I'm on solid wood here, not veneer.
