Fitting Door Casings

[jesteh]

We had a joiner fit our door casings for 12 doorways in our house - all plaster stripped off and nothing in the house but brick so it was like fitting a brand new doorways even though its an old house. All the doors we bought are 2ft6 (76cm).

For some reason, while all the doors are 76cm apart on the top, the joiner has made them 5mm wider on the boottom (76.5mm). This may not seem a lot but it seems a bit strange - why would he make them wider towards the bottom?

 

[joinerjohn]

I usually put door frames in at 2ft 6 1/8th" When it comes to fitting the door, there's not as much work to do with the door. Perhaps the door frames were fixed at 2ft 6" at the top and he's eased them at the bottom slightly to make less work for himself when it comes to hanging the doors ?

 

[jesteh]

Nope, they were 3 foot casings so he had to cut the channel at 2ft6 on the top himself.

 

[gregers]

mmmm i wonder if his level is out of plumb??
have the doors been fitted yet?
have the archs been fitted yet?
if no to the archs but yes to the doors then all thats needed is to release the screws and gently pack out the lining to take up the HUGE gap of .5 mm.

 

[jesteh]

its 5mm rather than 0.5mm. 76.5cm on the top, 77cm on the bottom - and some door ways couple of mm extra on top. Not sure if its generally acceptable tolerance level or if I am just fussy but to me that just seems sloppy.

 

[joinerjohn]

I wouldn't worry unduly about it jesteh. Once the plasterers have done knocking the door linings, they'll be out of plumb, twisted, loose.

Nah seriously, if they are 765 at the top, they should be 765 at the bottom +/- 2mm. Height shouldn't really be an issue. I always ask the householder what type of flooring they are having in the room where doors are opening into and try and adjust the height accordingly. Sometimes we have to put door linings in before the floor has been finished. Once I asked where the FFL was going to be and was told that 12mm bitumen was going down. When I went back to hang the doors, they'd had 25mm of bitumen with porcelain tiles on top. As a result the internal height of the door casing was now 77, 1/4". I'd set the linings at 79" before the FFL was reached.

 

[jesteh]

The reason I am asking is that its so precise. Every door is exactly 5mm out on the bottom - not 4-7mm or anything else - its always 5mm out. It makes me think he's done it on purpose and was wondering if there is some sort of reason or method to this.

 

[gregers]

i still think his level is out of plumb?