Taking off a very heavy door . . . . . . .

[TheSalad]

I am taking off a very heavy door to plane a small section because it is sticking in the door frame (I don't own a circular saw).

Do I need to remove the screws from the hinges or would you expect there to be a pin I can pop out.

Any assistance in removing v heavy doors would be appreciated.

Ta. View media item 44110

 

[Alarm]

Screws, wedges would be of assistance and another person if your not used to this.
Not sure how the veneer will look after this work, can you not do something with the frame?

 

[foxhole]

They are washered hinges , they don't have pop out pins.Wheres it sticking top, bottom or side?

 

[TheSalad]

It's sticking on the side . . . . and we've just painted the door frame which has made it worse. Should we concentrate on the door frame rather than the door. The frame has those fire proofing strips in them to add an extra hurdle.

 

[JohnD]

I have heavy doors, and am gradually replacing the old hinges with lift-off ones. The cost is not much when you consider how much time and effort you save when fitting carpets or repainting.

My old dad got a hernia lifting a heavy door, so take care or get help. Yes, wedges are a great help.

 

[larrylamb11]

The fact that the door frame has fire proofing strips and that the door is heavy suggests that the door is a rated fire door.... in which case it should have CE marked hinges suitable for a fire door - if you replace these with ones on which you can pull out the pin, make sure they are correctly rated too.
With regards to easing, as suggested use wedges under the door to assist when undoing the hinges if you are going to take the door off. Be careful with your planing on the door - a rated fire door will normally have an allowable maximum that you can remove. The one we just fitted could only be planed down by max. 4mm which really doesn't leave a lot of room for adjustment. Do you know how much has been taken off to date? If you decide to ease the frame, don't forget that the trench for the intumescent strip will be too shallow if you take too much off the frame.....
The fire door relies on a pretty close tolerance between the door and the intumescent strip to achieve its smoke/fire seal, so don't go mad with your easing.

 

[foxhole]

Unless it's sticking at the very bottom you may be able to trim in situ with a plane or if only a little to be removed a belt sander.

 

[JohnD]

if you're taking it off, you might plane down the hinge edge, which will avoid spoiling the veneered lock edge, and save having to re-seat the latch or move the handle. I can't see any firestrip on the hinge side of the door lining.

If there is already a good gap on the hinge edge, you might get away with sinking the hinges a little more.