As mentioned in the other post about the Schlage keypad door locks, I’ll soon be replacing a bunch of interior doors.
Why? Some have sizable gaps between the door and jamb. For a basement door, this is a safety issue, since it means my toddler son can easily defeat even a locked door. For a bathroom door, this is a privacy issue. Other doors don’t latch securely, and with too much of a difference to just adjust the hinges or file down the strike plate.
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Some of the door jambs will need to be reworked also, since they have newer hinges installed lopsided over smaller mortises, and the strike plate placements need to be adjusted.
I have already started looking into the tools and processes, but figured this would be a great time to bring up the topic for group discussion.
I plan to buy replacement doors, rather than prehung doors. That means I’ll need to, at a minimum:
- Drill new lock holes; Maybe a Dewalt door lock installation kit ($27 via Amazon)
- Mortise for hinges; With a manual chisel, or maybe a Ryobi door hinge router template for ~$25, or Porter Cable’s for $27 via Amazon)
What else will come in handy? Door supports so I can do this myself without a helper?
I have one more question for you – how to size the door? Right now, most of the interior doors are a little crooked. That’s fine, and I’ll trim new door tops and sides as needed, but how much of a gap for the bottom? The new HVAC system on the second floor has a large hallway return – should this help determine the bottom gap?
Right now, the gap is around 1-1/2″, presumably from 30 years ago when the previous owners removed carpeting. I’ve read that 1/4″ is recommended, but will that be enough to balance the movement of air?
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What other words of wisdom would you share with door-hanging newbies like myself?
Szymon
I have this a tool like this in the past when I needed to do the whole framing/jam and door hinge thing from scratch.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Ryobi-Door-Hinge-Template-A99HT2/202078674
I actuallty used the porter cable version of it but its a lot more expensive and it does the same job as the cheaper version.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Porter-Cable-2-1-2-in-x-6-in-Single-Hinge-Template-59370/100132301
These come with the necessary router bit.
Just use your router from your tool box and you are ready to go.
Makes the whole hinge mounting process a lot easier.
Good Luck
Here in Canada the Ryobi version is not available though HD.
Szymon
Oh boy, …..We need an edit button…
That should read
“I have used a tool like this in the past when I needed to do the whole framing/jam and door hinge thing from scratch”
fred
Hinge template sets also come in homeowner quality and more robust versions. There are also full door sets. Bosch (83038) and Porter Cable (#59381 that I used) are 2 examples. They set-up on the entire jamb to rout 3 to 4 hinges without moving the jig from either the door or the jamb.
Naturally if you are routing mortises for square cornered hinges – you will need to use a chisel – or a corner chisel – to square-up the routed corners.
Over the years – more and more of our clients were opting for pre-hung replacement doors – rather than us installing new slab doors in an existing or refurbished jamb. This was a cheaper – but perhaps not as historically correct alternative. These doors usually came with round cornered plated (e.g. not solid brass) – utilitarian (e.g. bot ball bearing) hinges – and were often pre-bored for the homeowners locksets.
fred
These kits are “homeowner quality. If you do a lot of doors than you might look at the Classic Engineering set.
http://www.amazon.com/Classic-Engineering-10800-Boring-Jig/dp/B0000224L4
Classic Engineering (boringjigs.com) offers several options for different backsets, different boring bits etc. and Amazon may not have the best price.
We did a series of houses (related clients) who wanted to use old-style mortised-in lock sets – so we bought a Porter Cable #513 lock mortising machine – and #517 face frame template. My records show that with extra cutters – the set cost us under $1400 ten years ago – so it was good that the work was on houses costing 7 to 8 figures – and our contracts covered the cost of the tooling.
If you only have 1 or 2 doors to do – and already have the holesaws – big Forstner bits etc. – you can make your own jig by attaching 2 scraps of 1 x at right angles and boring the guide holes at the appropriate spots. Most locksets come with a paper drilling template to locate the centers for drilling.
Nathan
I sort of agree with fred up there. however replacing every door in your house, IMO still counts as a limited short term use. And I would and have used the door lock instal kits – like the one you posted above. YOu can if you’re enterprising enough replace the cutters in them if you needed to – but it will last plenty to do the job in question.
and most likely for your next house too. If I was a professional locksmith I would probably consider going out to buy the more expensive – higher quality too. Also I swear the version I bought was from Lenox – but don’t hold me to that.
Nathan
scratch that Irwin. came with a router template for the bolt hole too.
no router bit though – iirc.
fred
Nathan
When I said a lot of doors – I was thinking in terms of several jobs per month – most with multiple installs. We had 12 crews doing remodeling work – and while kitchens, bathrooms, cabinetry, custom closets and built-ins accounted for most of the work (in dollars) – new doors, moldings and trim, hardwood floors, staircases and even full house re-builds added on enough to justify buying tooling to increase our productivity.
Tom
Treat yourself to solid core doors. Our closets are hollow core and they always feel cheap.
fred
Amen on solid wood doors.
When we moved in – many of the upstairs interior doors were solid wood – 3 panel affairs from the late 1940’s. But it looked like many of the closets had been added on and/or had been relocated. These had hollow (honeycomb fill) doors. They felt flimsy. A good thing was that the prior homeowner had drilled 2 opposing holes in the side rails of some of these hollow doors and pushed a long dowel through the door to act as a spot to secure heavy objects (e.g. an ironing board rack). Downstairs the doors were also a mix and match affair. My wife hated the hollow doors – and we could not match the old solid doors with stock ones. So she picked out a batch of solid fir doors with arched-top panels – for most of the bedrooms, bathrooms, cellar etc. With the exception of 2 sets of double doors where she wanted French doors and another where she wanted doors with multiple small panels – and some closets where she wanted louvered doors. 40 years ago – pre-hung doors were not yet the rage – so I think I bought 27 doors and had my work cut out for me. Luckily we closed on the house in April and moved in at the end of October – even then one of the double doorways was still an archway only.
Norcal
I have the Dewalt and Ryobi tools you mention. They both work great. The large Dewalt holesaw stripped so I replaced it with a Milwaukee locking one.
This is also a must have tool. It makes the job of drilling pilot holes a breeze
http://m.ebay.com/itm/Snappy-5pc-Self-Centering-Hinge-Vix-Drill-Bit-Set-MADE-IN-USA-2-14-Cabinet-/141215194720?nav=SEARCH
dll932
I would just realign or replace the strike plates in the frames, and shim out the ones that needed it. For the gap underneath, door sweeps might be an economical solution-they’re just a few dollars.
Jay
Have worked on a few doors. A lot of times all that’s needed to fix gaps between door and jamb are a few shims. Pull the nails from the demoed casing from the back to avoid blowing out big holes and often the casing can be reinstalled. If the jambs are all jacked up from many repairs/changes over the years sometimes a new jamb can really clean things up nicely. Never really needed to use any type of contraption to mortise the door for locks. A try square, 2 1/8″ hole saw, 1″ Forstner bit and a steady hand will take care of most jobs though some locks may require different size hole bores. As soon as your hole saw pilot bit shows pull out and finish the mortise from the other side for a nice clean cut. Usually mortise the keeper using a 7/8″ Forstner and sharp chisel.
For hinge mortises, Stanley butt markers and a nice sharp chisel will get the job done fairly quickly.
Quality pre-hung doors save a ton of time versus dealing with jamb material and door blanks.
Norcal
Also, use a hand router not a full size one. The base is small on the Ryobi template.
Bob
I recently did the same gig as you are proposing. I replaced all my interior doors. I did not have gap problems or alignment so it was pretty straight forward. I used the Milwaukee handle bore kit and the Ryobi mortise kit. They were both really useful easy and sufficient for the 20 door I did. No need for more expensive kit.
I’m guessing you already have one, but you will want either a long track saw track or guide rail of some sort to trim the door edges as necessary.
If your are replacing knobs get ones that do not require a mortise for the latch mechanism to save having to mortise it out. I tried to use this RYOBI tool: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Ryobi-Door-Latch-Installation-Kit-A99LM2/205325864
It doesn’t work. So find a better way to do the mortises or get straight cylinders.
Bob
Does anyone else appreciate the Irony of a Tool Expert/Blogger that doesn’t appear to have a lot of experience? I love the content, but this confirms why my conclusions on some tools are different than Stuarts.
Nathan
or I don’t know maybe he’s asking his readers what they’ve used in the past and is planning on doing a side by side. In fact I sort like that idea. Get the D, M and I kits (or whomever’s) and test them out on 2 doors each. write up the pro and cons.
fred
Testing and reporting on that test is a tricky business. Whether it is automobiles, appliances, tools or anything else quality and performance is always in the eye of the beholder and depends upon individual needs, proclivities and preferences. What we liked for our installers and plumbers – might not have been what we liked on the shop floor. Furthermore a big industrial user or a smaller commercial user might have laughed at our tool choices. A homeowner may also have been poorly served by following our advice. We bought many tools that we loved, others that we learned to live with and still others that gathered dust in the corner of a tool room or workout building. Furthermore – since we probably bought no more than a dozen or so of any one tool – who were we to judge how the thousands or more that may have been manufactured continued to perform over time. Our opinions about tools were informed by the types of uses we put them to, the preferences of our workers and possibly even the batch that we bought. We probably have all had the experience that a newly purchased tool does not seem to perform as well or last as long as an older model – but once in a while we were surprised that the opposite was true. Before the internet there were only a few sources for tool reviews – some of it biased by folks who were selling – others hearsay from the jobsite or trade shows – some of it placed versus editorial content in trade or hobbyist magazines. Now you can sometimes read between the lines when you look at reviews on Amazon, Home Depot, and Blogs like Toolguyd etc. If you are lucky, you might be able to discern which reviews are by reviewers who have put the tools to the test – beyond a perfunctory opening of the box. Then comes the tricky part – trying to understand how what’s said might apply to your needs. The only simple answer comes when scores of reviewers all conclude that the tool is junk or fails on modest use. More complicated are tools that garner only a few reviews (statistically insignificant) or those reviews with a Gaussian distribution of scores from 5 stars to 1 – or worse yet where reviews are clustered at both ends of the range. What I think is good about ToolGuyd is – that while Stuart brings his educational background to bear on his take on a new tool – he seems to do it in a self-deprecating, rather than know-it-all, way that encourages readers to comment and provide their own perspectives. With his new home ownership – I suspect that Stuart’s take on some tools may change – but I hope that he keeps the forum for discussion open as it has been.
Mahalo
While there might appear to be some irony in it, I appreciate even more the willingness to ask for advice. It indicates to me a level of humility and mutual respect that Stuart has for his audience. That’s the type of blogger I like to follow!
Besides, he has good giveaways. 🙂
Tom
That’s a little harsh. Stuart covers a ton of ground with this site–he can’t have experience doing everything. Just because you review drills and screwdrivers doesn’t necessarily mean that you have added a lot of deadbolts to doors.
Stuart
I’m sorry, but I have not yet become a residential home improvement expert. Residential construction and renovation simply isn’t an area I’ve had much exposure to.
Would you prefer I not be upfront about what I know and am experienced with? I could save face by turning these types of posts into “reader questions,” but that would contradict my intent to be transparent about everything.
farid
Bob,
It worth a little chuckle, but I don’t think you mean it seriously, do you? I don’t think so.
Not everyone is an expert in everything. I can appreciate why Stuart is doing this. Moving from a rental to a house can mean a lot of new projects. Add a baby to the equation, then it is far more hectic. It sounds to me that Stuart is trying to get on top of the most important stuff as fast as possible and perhaps he does not have the as much time to research everything. It makes sense to ask for advise. I don’t like to do things half-ass so I try to research things before working on projects, which how I ended up finding this site years ago. It sounds to me that Stuart is the same way. Plus, it get new topics and discussions going.
I admit, I don’t always agree with everything that Stuart has to say, but when it comes to reviews, you have to look at the context in which you use the tools vs. the reviews and take that into account.
What I like about this this site is information is usually presented clearly and most of the time, there is far more useful info than a typical online review. Most importantly, feedback contributors are mature, do not engage in childish banter, and there is a lot of good feedback overall.
Cheers,
Farid
Nathan
Regarding the air return… You might consider installing “jump” returns for fire and sound reasons at some point, but again that’s probably more than you want to worry about now. A gap under the door is fine for air return but it is terrible for pest, sound, and fire reduction purposes. Jump returns are ceiling vents in room and hall connected with ducting. Another option is a to use a sound and fire-baffled prefabricated return air vent to penetrate walls. I can’t remember what they are called but it’s a Florida company.
fred
I missed he discussion about Stuart’s HVAC system. I guess your commenting on the typical older house with forced air heat and a single return – probably in a central location. This of course can pressurize a bedroom with a closed door and/or force the return air to exit through a gap (never big enough for sufficient air flow) under the door – or more problematical from an efficiency standpoint cold or hot (depending on the season) return air is pulled from the attic or outside . Installing dedicated returns might not be practical so jump returns are the relatively simple expedient – but not without costs and side issues. Baffled returns help solve some problems of sound and light transmission – but thanks to Nathan I learned that there are fire-baffled jump returns. There are also doors made with grilles installed and there are retrofit grilles that you can install in a door. I don’t ever recall a client liking the look of these (Tamarack and Battic brands are what we knew about) if and when suggested. BTW in the northeast we had one set of issues – but I’m told that hot and humid spots like Florida create another set of problems for return ducts.
For my own house – I’m happy to have hot water baseboard heat plus 2 Mitsubishi split units for newer additions. My A/C in the older part of the house done with individual through-the-wall units. If I were rebuilding the house – It would be different.
Nathan
Thanks, yes Tamarack is the brand i was thinking of. From his description, he has a single, large air return vent in the hallway, which means the rooms have to be vented and, as you note, that was often done in older buildings (those not “plumbed” for central forced-air HVAC) by undercut doors. It’s not optimal for the reasons mentioned.
One of the differences in southern Florida is that what are “cold-air returns” in every other state are “warm-air returns” here. Most HVAC units don’t even have a heater unit… that makes the optimal placement the reverse from other places: return up high, vents down low.
Stuart
Thanks!
I’ll look into jump vents further.
Either bottom-of-door vents, or maybe above-door in-wall vents.
We have had some door slamming when heat kicks in, but we had this at the old place too and didn’t think anything of it.
I was told today that 3/4″ at the bottom of a door should be enough to provide proper return of air, but we’ll see.
Nathan
I’ve only replaced a few doors before, but i found a regular measuring tape to be adequate, and ordinary hole and spade bits fine for the lock installation. Even used a multitool for the mortising but that’s not ideal. I guess the point is none of the fancy tools are *necessary*, so pick what works best with your workflow.
Blythe M
If the existing doors and jambs are really as jacked up as you describe, it may be time to consider pre-hung. You’re going to have so much time plumbing, straitening, and shiming old twisted jambs, and then after that mortising and boring doors- which in reality is a pretty challenging task. Carefully remove the trim-might be able to save it- sawzall the jamb nails, and start fresh with some quality pre-hungs. Only tools needed are levels and trim screws/15g nailer
Stuart
I’ll give that some consideration, thanks! Going pre-hung doesn’t seem as intimidating now after how you described it.
I don’t think that the issue was just some settling. Doors are undersized, while the jambs are intact. It’s boggling.
Ian
were the doors sized for clearing carpet that formerly existed?
Stuart
Yes, but I’m taking about several being undersized horizontally. It’s bizarre.
Rob
In a pinch (and if the gap isn’t too big) you could simply install some “1/4-round” or other trim in front of the gaps. Definitely the easiest solution if not the most elegant
Bob A.
+1 on the pre-hung – around here you are talking 35 for the door slab or 70 for the pre-hung and that is totally worth having the strike plate and hinges all perfect from the get-go. And if the trim is gunked up with multiple paint jobs a new set might look better than before.
I personally can’t tell much difference between the solid and hollow core doors but maybe that is because I am cheap.
If you go with pre-hung also check the wall width – my house is 50’s era and the framing timbers are true 4″ wide so the interior walls are 5″ thick. I still used a standard door frame and added a 1/2″ square of pine trim on the inside to bridge the gap. Cut it so the reveal is the same as the rest of the trim and it blends right in.
ktash
Thanks! I have one door where this is a problem and I’ve put off thinking about it because I didn’t know exactly what to do. This sounds like a great solution!
JT203
I’ve replaced several doors in our house and these jigs are the way to go. Are they necessary? No, but I’m a hobbyist/homeowner and when I’m debating buying a tool or jig to make a job easier I figure that I’m buying my free time back.
I use the Porter cable template (single hinge), a corner chisel, regular chisel, vix bit, track saw, palm router, and a Milwaukee lock jig.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Milwaukee-Door-Lock-Installation-Kit-49-22-4073/204402141
The jig is okay and money is saved by having one mandrel but it’s not the easiest to eject the plug from or switch back and forth between hole saws.
I’ve had good luck using the old doors to mark hinge and and lock locations by aligning the tops but my frames are mostly square and the gap at the top was good so your mileage may vary.
My hinges were from the 1950’s though and even premium hinges weren’t as thick so I had to shim out the frame side under the hinge using thin cardboard or multiple pieces of tar paper. I use two wooden hand screw clamps to hold the door on edge. Oh, have some wooden golf tees and quick setting glue on hand if a new screw hole is too close to an old one or if the old one is too big. A dowel and a pocket knife to sharpen it might be cheaper but I’ve had good luck with the tees.
Robbie
If I had gap issues I would use pre hung doors, if your jambs/casings are no longer square, your going to have to rework them anyway, it is so much easier to hang prehung doors/casing than it is to dress out a new slab door.
mikeh
I’m with Robbie – when you factor in your time (and frustration) the cost of a pre hung door is not that much more
Chris
Wanted to replace our hollow core doors with solid core. The choices were to do similar to what Stu is asking (looks like getting new slabs and adding the correct holes/hinge mortises) vs pre-hungs.
It was a lot more efficient to buy pre-hungs and have them delivered from the local lumberyard. Yes it was a bit more expensive, but once I got them all that was necessary was a coat of paint (they were pre-primed) and hanging them in the opening.
For help while hanging them, Home Depot (at least in my area) now carries L-shaped brackets that you screw to the rough opening and then put the pre-hung door frame against to keep it flush to the drywall. The bracket has notches on it to help visualize keeping the frame plumb from top to bottom, then you just screw the edges of the bracket into the pre-hung door frame and you’re done (everything gets covered over with casing trim). They help for troublesome doors but Ive had no problem using tried and true shims and alevel.
Aaron
I used a hinge jig from woodhaven and found it quite easy to use.
http://www.amazon.com/Woodhaven-8536-3-1-Hinge-Radius/dp/B001TQEJNS?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage
pabi
Isn’t easier to install prehung doors and install the new casing?
it will look and work better then oold frame and old trim…
fred
When the “This Old House era” was in full swing – we had a lot of higher-end work where the original millwork was “something else” – nice oak , walnut, chestnut or cherry. Unfortunately some of the trim might have been missing or damaged – or worse yet covered in 100 years of lead paint. Floors and sills while sometimes nice – were often way out of level – and jacking them back into level was only practical (if at all) on big budget jobs. So there was a lot of fitting and trompe l’oeil work done to rebuild old doors or install new slab doors to make them look old. As I said we did a batch of doors with full-mortise reproduction antique locksets. When the originals had been done – bit braces – auger bits – chisels and mallets – plus a lot of journeyman carpenter time were used. For us a PC 513 did the trick.
dll932
I’ve done new installs of mortise locksets. It’s a LOT of work. Porter Cable makes a special router and jig combo for it that will buzz out the cavity in seconds, but it’s spendy (and not worth it unless you have to a lot of them to do). Also, if replacing an existing mortise lock, the dimensions are frequently different so you have to do some “adjusting.”
fred
Exactly – I just looked at my old inventory – the PC513 we bought back in 2008 set us back over $1100 and we needed a face-frame attachment (#517) that added over $200 more – and to boot the machine was made in Mexico.
We built it into the price of the job – on a house with a polo field, tennis courts, 2 pools and very nice doors – some we custom fabricated – one from purpleheart. We did other houses (same family) where they wanted similar locksets.
Brent
I don’t know if it has been mentioned in the comments but swapping just slabs won’t fix all the problems. Sounds like maybe your doors are out of plumb possibly due to settling. If you don’t fix the jamb first you’ll still have the same problems. Pre hung split jamb already cased out will save you lots of time and money. Tool wise at that point all you’d need would be compressor 15 gauge finish nailer a 4′ level and some shims.
fred
Stuart – you probably have access to all the tools you need – hopefully at least a 4 foot level.
I like to use a 4 foot level to check the floor, prefer a longer 72 inch level if available (not necessary) for the jambs – and a shorter one (32 inch) – again only if available to check the headers. I’d check floor level first to see how the hinge side compares to the latch side. Our guys would carry all 3 levels in the same bag that was made for the set – plus a torpedo. Beyond a level, I like to use a Tajima plumb bob (one of my lead carpenters used to laugh at this) to help me rough-set shims at the hinge locations – but I’ve only done about 8 or 9 pre-hung doors at my kid’s houses – so maybe my carpenters were right in laughing.
Anton
My company only sells doors but we do the European prefinished ones
The Dewalt one is much better then the Ryobi one.
Instead of dealing with mortising hinges, I would just do Non Mortise hinges like http://www.amazon.com/CONSTRUCTOR-Non-mortise-Hinge-Nickel-Finish/dp/B00AU4LHDU/
My company has switched over to them and it cuts our prehang time significantly plus theres virtually no way to screw it up. If you’re trying to use them on existing jambs then you will have to fill in the old hinge cut outs. We have ball bearing stainless steel ones for pretty good prices if you’re interested.
Under door gap should normally be 3/8″ to 1/2″. When using it for ventilation I’ve seen people do 1″ but it looks terrible.
I agree with Blythe above that if everything is that crooked then you’re probably better off doing prehung and replacing/ straightening out the jamb while you are at it. It is much more work however.
Justin
+5 to pre-hung. Change out the doors, jambs, and the casing while you’re at it. It’ll all look great when its done, and it won’t have 27 layers of leftover paint all over it.
You’ll fight tooth and nail to get a new square door to fit in the non-square hole. Remember, even most solid core doors only have 1/4″-1/2″ of real wood before you hit some kind of foam or OSB, so there is not much room for shaving the door down. Also, if you have to adjust the jamb, you’ll have to pull all the casing off anyway. At that point, just rip it all out (its MUCH easier demo if you don’t care if they break) and replace with pre-hung and new casing.
rhyino
Stuart,
Check each location if the the existing jamb is plumb and level. It would be best to do this with long jamb levels rather than a short torpedo. It is much easier to fit a slab into an existing jamb that is plumb and the header is level. Consider trying to fit a rectangular door slab into a trapezoidal shaped door frame, there are a lot of subtle factors to hang a door so it stays in the open position, does not bind on the hinges and most of all to have a constant reveal (gap) around all sides between the door and frame.
When mortising the hinges, it would be great to have a couple sets of door bucks to help you stand the slabs on edge while you run your palm router or chisels. I would drill the door and install the locksets after the slab is hung.
A couple sturdy sawhorses and a work surface to support the door slabs while you size them to proper dimensions with your track saw.
For the hundreds of deadbolts and cylindrical locksets I have installed, I have always used a combination square, pencil and nail polish for layout. There is no need for a drill template for those locks. Layout with a square and a pencil takes less than a minute.
Use a high quality hole saw with a 1/2″ arbor for the cross bore, spade/paddle bits for the latch bore and strike holes. Vix self centering bits are a help when locating pilot holes for the screws.
When installing the locksets, take out all of your cordless drill and drivers. Dedicate one for the hole saw, another for each size drill bit and another for driving screws. This method saves a great deal of time versus having to remove a bit, put it down, look for the next bit, install it in the chuck etc.
Are there specific reasons you are taking the path of working with the existing jambs and installing slabs rather than using a prehung unit? It might be easier to install prehung doors rather than trying to work with the existing door frame. It is a hard call without seeing the existing conditions. If you had to resize the rough opening for a prehung unit, it might cause more work if you had to refinish the wall or relocate a lightswitch.
fred
+1 on door bucks. You can buy commercial ones – but we made several over the years. You can Google “shopmade door bucks” for some Ideas. The ones I like were made from 3/4 plywood made into 2 lopsided “T-shapes” reinforced square with triangular gussets. Ones side of the T’s top is 1/2 the thickness of your door – the other side is as long as the T’s vertical. the 2 short sides are joined with a hinge at the center. An extra piece of plywood use used to make a foot on either end away from the hinge. In use you set the top part of the T face down (on its feet) on the floor – slip the door down between the 2 uprights – and when the weight of the door acts on the hinged joint – the 2 uprights pinch in on both faces of the door
crb
I don’t think 1/4 in gap is enough fro a hall return system. Calculate the area required at the CFM you need with pressure drop and air velocity you can live with.
Jay
Small gaps can constitute a large amount of crackage when taken as a whole. Need to load the values into Manual J to get it right. Probably not something the average homeowner really should be jacking with unless they happen to be a HVAC tech or above. That said it is not uncommon to allow between 1/2″ to an 1″ above the finished floor for air circulation in homes having forced air heating cooling.
Rhinozman
I’m of the mind if the doors need replacing then the casing and baseboards probably will get upgraded as well
If that is the case save yourself some time and grief and buy good quality prehung doors and redo your openings
I have hung thousands of doors and I can tell you with 100% certainty that the result of replacing the door and jamb is far superior looking in the end and is also 90% of the time less frustrating and far less time consuming
I can also tell you many doors from the past had a unique twist, bow, cup, warp, etc as well as many were cut and shaped by carpenters at the time with saws, plains, chisels,etc. Making each opening unique and hard if not impossible to get a professional looking replacement in without hours of work per door
Replacing doors jambs and casing is less time and hassle imho
Caleb Allen
I work for a LARGE door company and have been working with doors and hardware since I was in High School. Here are a few tools you will need:
– At least a 4′ Level. You can spring for the fancy PLS level sets that pro door hangers use, but for residential doors, a 4′ level will work just fine
– the jig like in the picture for prepping the 2 1/8″ hole and latch hole. they also usually have a way to mark for the faceplate of the latch
– An electric plane. Especially if you are hanging new doors in existing frames. NOTHING is square!
– A sharp set of chisels. You can get fancy with the router jigs for your hinges, but you can do it just as fast with a chisel, plus you need it for the strike plate anyway!
And, if you are going to go through all the trouble to buy new solid wood doors, dont cheap out on the hardware! http://www.yale2you.com
fred
When I hung the new slab doors in my house back in the late ’70’s – I was advised to give each a bevel on its leading edge. I used a Rockwell Porter-Cable #126 power plane – with the fence set at just a few degrees off 90. Beveled edges might still be a good idea – since the now old doors still close very well.
When casing the doors – I was using both hardwood (some oak to be stained – and some poplar for painting) and pine trim. It was all hammer and nailset work – no pneumatics. I glued and clamped (I had a set of Ulmia spring clamps that are put on with a plier-spreader and have little pointy ends that grab the wood) mitered corners. I did a lot of pre-drilling (corded drill back then) to avoid splits. While I think some similar clamps may be had from Rockler – about 12 years ago we discovered “Clam Clamps” from Chestnut tools – that work much better to pull up mitered corners for gluing.
http://www.miterclamp.com/
I had a General Tools #824 butt marking gauge, some sharp Stanley #60 series butt chisels, a Rockwell Porter Cable 537 router, some home made jigs, some good advice from coworkers who knew less about plumbing than I did – but more about carpentry and lots of forbearance from my wife putting up with some of my cursing and swearing . On my double doors I used mortised-in throw bolts – and ball bearing hinges because of their size and weight.
Woodchuck
It’s MUCH cheaper and easier to keep the doors, and replace the jambs, unless they have been ‘modified’ to fit an irregular opening. And if you are going to replace the doors, buy a prehung. Anything else is inviting grief and disaster.