Has anyone ever hung any interior doors?

[dennis thompson]

I guess this is a form of woodworking. My wife would like to change four of our interior doors from bi-fold doors to solid doors. I have never done this so I got an estimate from a local carpenter for the 4 doors plus installation, it came to $1290 for the labor & materials. I'm thinking of trying it myself. I can buy a cheap door & the hardware at Home Depot for about $60, so even if I experiment & see I can't do it I'll only have risked a small amount (& then I'll hire the carpenter). Has anyone ever hung interior doors? Is it very difficult? Any hints on how to do it?
Thanks
Dennis

[Jerome Stanek]

I have hung hundreds of them what do you need to know.

[Dave Zellers]

I have hung hundreds of them what do you need to know.
Same here. Jerome and I and others will talk you through it.

Hey Jerome- I grew up in Akron!

Dennis- you'll need shims, 16d finish nails, and a good 78" level.

[Todd Burch]

I bought one of those $60 cheap doors @ HD a month or so ago. I installed it during a mission project our church was doing. REALLY cheap. I'll never buy another. Low density MDF for the guts of the door (aka - where the screws go that hold on the hinges).

[ray hampton]

Dennis,the first tool that I would consider is something to hold your door upright while you attach the hinges

[Peter Quinn]

I've made a lot of them, I've pre hung hundreds in a shop environment, I've fit a few I've made to some pretty old openings, I've hung a few factory made units. How to proceed depends on the field conditions and your tool set. It's not out of reach for a person with basic carpentry and wood working skills and the tools to do it, so you might take a shot at it, at the least you will learn something about hanging doors. You may even enjoy it!

If you can pull the trim, a pre hung is almost always easier to install than fitting a slabs to an existing opening. If you can't pull the trim as may be the case in many circumstances, this group can certainly walk you through a basic install procedure. in fact you are sure to get several methods for each step. Additionally google Gary Katz hanging doors, he used to have an excellent tutorial on his site and links to some of his older FHB articles which are a great visual reference to handle any situation. I use a few of his tricks for templating very out of square old openings and they are spot on..

[Myk Rian]

I changed out every door and bi-fold in the house last year, and consider myself a pro now. ;)
As David said, 16D finish nails.
I used a 48" and 24" level.
Depending on the width of the bi-folds you remove, and the door you install, framing may need to be done. Build that 1/2" to 3/4" larger than the width of the door jambs.

[Craig McCormick]

Todd,

Are you finding better hollow doors elsewhere?

azcraig


I bought one of those $60 cheap doors @ HD a month or so ago. I installed it during a mission project our church was doing. REALLY cheap. I'll never buy another. Low density MDF for the guts of the door (aka - where the screws go that hold on the hinges).

[Paul Wunder]

Dennis,

Lowes and the Home Depot carry basic carpentry skills books covering everything from doors to windows to trim. Black and Decker and Fine Homebuilding are two publishers. If you scan these books and review the detailed steps you can decide whether you want to tackle it yourself. It is not a high skill task and if you have patience, some good pictures and instructions it can be done. You will save at least half of what the carpenter wanted, build a skill, and convince the Significant Other that you earned the new tool the you were lusting over.

[Larry Edgerton]

I never use nails on doors. I pull the stop on the hinge side at least and use screws. I get the door set close with GRK reverse thread 3 1/8" finish screws. You can quickly adjust the jamb in and out with this type of screw. I then shim behind each hinge and use a GRK #10 full head screw. Then set the other two sides to the door. Replace stop.

If not on carpet you may have to trim the bottom of one jamb to get the head level.

Ifyou are hinging in place make up a router jig to route the hinge mortices on both the jamb and door. Easy to make and for one job that all doors are the same height making one is cheaper. Don't forget to drop the jamb hinges a heavy 1/16 from the door so you have room at the top.

You can do it, whichever you are doing, prehung or morticing in hinges. Read up a bit and if you have any specific questions just ask.

Larry

[Myk Rian]

We bought our doors at Menards. 3 hinges. They were able to match the styles between the doors and bi-folds.

Start with the hinge side of the jamb. Get it plumb and straight. Then the top, and finally the latch side. I did the hinge and top parts without the doors in.
Hung the doors to do the latch side so I could get even spacing with the door. Worked great.
I only have 1 door that gave me trouble due to the wall being out of plumb. It's the door to my util room/man-cave. As much as 1/2" out of plumb. Still haven't trimmed the inside of it. A real PITA that one is.

[Mike Henderson]

Even I've hung doors, both pre-hung and where I built the jamb and head. And if I can do it, anybody can do it - I don't at all consider myself a finish carpenter. It's easiest to do with painted jamb because paintable, sandable calk hides a lot of sins.

One issue with pre-hung doors is that the jamb may not be the exact width of your wall - in my situation, it was too narrow. I glued a strip on one side of the jamb to bring it to full width.

When aligning the jamb, make sure it's plumb in two directions - inside the door and against the wall. If you don't make it plumb against the wall, when you attach the door, it will tend to swing to the low spot instead of being stable where ever you put it. Or, when you close the door, one part of the door will hit the stop and another part will be some distance from the stop. Your goal is to have the jambs perfectly upright, and when you close the door, the door hits the stop all along the length of the stop.

Also, your other goal should be to get the reveal even and equal all around the door - and not too big.

It's really not difficult if you take your time. I used screws to hold the jamb because I could back them out when I made mistakes. And you need shims to put between the jamb and the the frame to plumb the jamb. The frame is never straight.

Mike

[John Lifer]

One thing to think about before you purchase the doors is which hand you want to make them and for that matter you can change sides the door opens into (as long as not a closet). You can do it!

[Larry Edgerton]

Mike, I think you are confusing casing and jamb. Casing is the trim, Jamb is what the hinges are morticed in to.

Larry

[Jason Roehl]

Even I've hung doors, both pre-hung and where I built the casing. And if I can do it, anybody can do it - I don't at all consider myself a finish carpenter. It's easiest to do with painted casing because paintable, sandable calk hides a lot of sins.

One issue with pre-hung doors is that the casing may not be the exact width of your wall - in my situation, it was too narrow. I glued a strip on one side of the casing to bring it to full width.

When aligning the casing, make sure it's plumb in two directions - inside the door and against the wall. If you don't make it plumb against the wall, when you attach the door, it will tend to swing to the low spot instead of being stable where ever you put it. Or, when you close the door, one part of the door will hit the jamb and another part will be some distance from the jamb. Your goal is to have the jambs perfectly upright, and when you close the door, the door hits the jamb all along the length of the jamb.

Also, your other goal should be to get the reveal even and equal all around the door - and not too big.

It's really not difficult if you take your time. I used screws to hold the casing because I could back them out when I made mistakes. And you need shims to put between the casing the the frame plumb the casing. The frame is never straight.

Mike

Mike, I think you have some terms confused. What you're calling the "casing" is the jamb, which is made of 3 parts: the hinge side, the head jamb and the strike side. "Casing" is the trim that is applied to cover the gap between the jamb and the wall. What you call the "jamb" is the "stop" or "stop molding". If the jamb is not the same width as the thickness of the wall (a typical 2x4 wall with 1/2" drywall on each side will get a 4 9/16" jamb), the strip added to the edge of the jamb is known as an extension jamb.

A properly hung door should stay wherever you put it--it should not swing open or closed on its own. I like to shim in at least 3 places on the hinge side (just below each hinge, and I'll put a nail underneath each of those sets of shims--this allows adjustments to the shims later if needed, and by not putting them behind the hinge, the door can be adjusted years later with a long (3") screw in place of a hinge screw (typically the center screw of a hinge because it's closest to the center of the jamb). Then I'll also shim in at least 3 places on the strike side, keeping the gap between the door and the jamb consistent all the way around. In recent years, I've found that the head jamb is often not long enough on pre-hung doors, so I'll separate the joint between the head jamb and strike jamb slightly (~1/8"). Another option is to plane the strike edge of the door, but that's a messy endeavor, especially on a finished door.

[Dave Zellers]

Well Dennis, as you can see, lots of cooks ready and willing to toss ingredients into your soup.:D

Me included.

If we are talking $60 doors, we are talking El Cheapo. Hollow core I assume.

There is not much to hanging a hollow core door. Hanging a solid core, heavy door is more involved.

The number one issue with hanging a door IMO is how it meets the strike jamb. Assuming the door is flat and the jamb is straight, you want it to contact the stop on the strike jamb evenly at the top and bottom when you close it.

Yes, you want the hinge side to be plumb but after that, you adjust the head and strike jamb to match the door. Tiny adjustments to any of the 4 movable points (hinge side top & bottom jamb and strike side top & bottom jamb) can have dramatic effects on how the door fits inside the jamb and against the stop.

Plumb is of course the goal so the door doesn't swing on it's own but once you get the hang of it (PUN ALERT!!!) there is no need to sacrifice a perfect fit and reveal inside the jamb just because you are 1/16" or so out of plumb.

Never commit to nailing off the jamb without seeing how the door fits inside it.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Has anyone ever hung any interior doors? (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?185887-Has-anyone-ever-hung-any-interior-doors)
Yep...
Not much too it.
All good advice above.
There's a lot of video's out there too showing how to do it.

Pre hung is the way to go (IMHO).
Pull the old casing & cut out the old door with a recip saw.
Hang the new door and either reinstall the old casing or cut new.

I find it quicker and easier to replace the old casing than trying to get it off without damage most of the time.
It depends on how many years of paint are on both it and the wall.

[scott vroom]

Do yourself a favor and purchase an illustrated book on hanging doors. Hanging doors properly is not as easy as one would think; I believe illustrated instructions will be of great help. Here's one of many books available: http://www.amazon.com/Installing-Hanging-Doors-For-Pros/dp/B0017OAMS8/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335836804&sr=1-1

[Mike Henderson]

Mike, I think you are confusing casing and jamb. Casing is the trim, Jamb is what the hinges are morticed in to.

Larry
Okay, thanks. I'm a real novice on doing doors - but I've been able to hang several of them - even though I can't describe it correctly. Thanks for the correction.

Mike

[I'll go edit my post to try to use the correct terminology.]

[ed vitanovec]

I've hung a couple of Doors and think you should give it a try. What worked for me is to mount the top hinge half on the Door equal distance from the top as the old Door using one screw. Hang the door on the top Hinge and the other hinge is in place with the door jam. Locate the lower Hinge with the door and screw in place, you can swing the door but won't be able to close it completely. You should be able to see how things are going to line up, then locate the rest of the screws. Then you can remove the Door and mark the Hinge layout, remove the Hinge and mortise it out. This was the easist way for me to replace my interior doors.

Good luck! Ed

[Todd Burch]

Todd,

Are you finding better hollow doors elsewhere?

azcraig

Hanging doors is something I can do, and I have done, but don't often do. No, I can't tell you where to find a better door, but I would know it if I saw it. If I were tasked with finding a better door, I would start with looking for a real door shop.

Todd

[Chris Parks]

Youtube is your friend

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=hanging+a+door

[lowell holmes]

You can hold the door upright with two old fashioned hand screw clamps or make a pair of door jacks.

[Jim Matthews]

Two things:

Start with the door you will use least frequently.

A handscrew clamp at the TOP of the door jamb will keep the assembly in the opening.
(It may be easiest to start with the door removed from the hinge side.)

This Old House (http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/how-to/step/0,,1207944_1092840,00.html)published a step-by-step tutorial.
If all the openings are the same, you'll learn with the first.

[Jerome Stanek]

to figure out if you need a right hand or left hand swing door stand with your back against the side you want the hinge on and the hand that you want the door to swing is what you want

[Rich Engelhardt]

It should go without saying - but - all interior doors should open into the room. (Exterior should open into the house)
To expand a little on what Jerome posted, stand with your back to the hinge side and which ever hand is on the inside of the room, that's the one you want.

Also - & it's a bit late in the thread but it just occured to me...

Not all bi-fold door openings are the same rough size as a regular door opening. You may need to do some drywall tear out & possibly some reframing.
A picture of the present bi-fold doors would help quite a bit.
I was just looking at the bi-folds in the hallway and snapped a tape on the opening.
Mine ride on a track up above and the drywall is finished on the top and sides.
The opening is exactly 24 inches. That's too small for a prehung door.
Since they're track mounted, there's also no jamb for hinges.

Were I to replace it, I'd have to remove the 1/2" drywall where the jambs go.
A little more work and mess, but, not a show stopper in the least.

[dennis thompson]

Thanks for all the info. I hope to hang just the door without taking the old jambs(not sure of the term) out. I plan to use a cheap door as an experiment and if I am successful, replace it with a better door. I can actually get a door for about $30 so it is not much of a risk.
Dennis

[Myk Rian]

I plan to use a cheap door as an experiment and if I am successful, replace it with a better door.
That's a waste of time, and money.

A bi-fold doesn't have a jamb. Just dry wall on the sides, which will probably need to be removed.
Just cut it out and be done with it.

[Craig McCormick]

Thanks,

Craig


Hanging doors is something I can do, and I have done, but don't often do. No, I can't tell you where to find a better door, but I would know it if I saw it. If I were tasked with finding a better door, I would start with looking for a real door shop.

Todd

[John A langley]

Jerome it is called butt to butt Dennis, buy pre hung doors with solid jamb. You won,t have to dap any hinges in or del with any out of square old jambs. It would be hard for me to explain my system but hanging interior doors is quite simple. All of the advice you have got here is good.

[Rich Engelhardt]

A bi-fold doesn't have a jamb. Just dry wall on the sides, which will probably need to be removed
Myk,
Some do - some don't - have jambs.
Some of the older installs, where the originals were sliding doors, will have jambs and no mortice cutouts for the hinges.
A lot of people "upgraded" those sliding doors to bi-folds.

Like I said - a picture of what's there now would help a lot.

[Floyd Mah]

It should go without saying - but - all interior doors should open into the room.

I want to share my bit of wisdom, now that I can qualify for senior citizen discounts in some situations (at age 62). There are many good tips on how to hang a door. In medical school, I learned that psychiatrists recommend that when you interview a patient, especially a new, unfamiliar patient, that the door of the interview room opens outwards. This is so that you can make a quick exit from the room without the door impeding your egress.

[ray hampton]

[QUOTE=Rich Engelhardt;1920454]It should go without saying - but - all interior doors should open into the room. (Exterior should open into the house)
To expand a little on what Jerome posted, stand with your back to the hinge side and which ever hand is on the inside of the room, that's the one you want.

Rich, I agree with this and wish that someone had thought of it sooner, I alway get confuse about whether I am going out of a left-hand door or am coming in the door

[Erik France]

It should go without saying - but - all interior doors should open into the room. (Exterior should open into the house)That's fairly common with residential, but with most commercial over an occupant load of 10 the door should swing with the path of egress. Add in ADA maneuvering clearances and you can end up with doors swinging in a lot of directions. I also like swinging exterior doors in exposed locations out on my plans. The door will seal up tighter against wind driven weather. A good hardware can overcome security issues.

I've only replaced a few doors. I would much more prefer to place a pre-hung door. Plumb and square weren't terms that the framers and trim guys knew when they built my house.

[Jason Roehl]

[QUOTE=Rich Engelhardt;1920454]It should go without saying - but - all interior doors should open into the room. (Exterior should open into the house)
To expand a little on what Jerome posted, stand with your back to the hinge side and which ever hand is on the inside of the room, that's the one you want.

Rich, I agree with this and wish that someone had thought of it sooner, I alway get confuse about whether I am going out of a left-hand door or am coming in the door

To tell handedness, I face the door so that it swings away from me. The elbow that is on the hinge side is the same as the handedness of the door. So, with a right hand door, you would grab the knob with your right hand, reaching across your body, your right elbow will be on the hinge side, and the door will swing away from you.

[Larry Edgerton]

On the exterior door swinging in thing.......

After Katrina a pattern was noticed. All of the houses left standing in decimated neighborhoods had outswing exterior doors. Of course a study was initiated by insurance companies and it was found that the entry doors were the first thing on the house to fail, before the glass even. Once the wall was breached the house presurized and the walls blow out.

So.... If you live in Florida you may want to consider an outswing exterior door.

Larry

[Dave Zellers]

Thanks for all the info. I hope to hang just the door without taking the old jambs(not sure of the term) out. I plan to use a cheap door as an experiment and if I am successful, replace it with a better door. I can actually get a door for about $30 so it is not much of a risk.
Dennis

OK, so are you talking about buying a blank door and mortising the hinges into the door and then the jamb and then drilling and mortising for a knob and strike?

Fitting a new door into an existing jamb might require some very fussy work depending on how plumb and square the opening is. If you could pull that off without having to plane the door to fit the opening, I'd be impressed.

I'm coming around to accepting your carpenter's estimate which sounded high at first. If you have a level and a framing square, check the jambs before you do anything else. Is the hinge side plumb? Is the strike side exactly the same width at the top and bottom? Are both top corners square? If not, it will get fussy because the door will be square.

[Rich Engelhardt]

In/out is a decision only local codes can decide.
I know the local residential codes here specify into the room for interior doors and into the house for exterior doors.


I'm coming around to accepting your carpenter's estimate which sounded high at first.

Excellent point - the 2010 lead laws really drove prices up on certain things.
Door installations being one of them.

[Ole Anderson]

An outswing exterior door is required in commercial construction for better emergency panic egress, but if you install one in your home, it precludes using a storm/screen door.

[Jerome Stanek]

Bifold doors use top and bottom pin style hinges unlike standard doors. You could set a standard door up with those style of hinges if you want

[Larry Edgerton]

In/out is a decision only local codes can decide.

.

One would think that that is something that a homeowner should decide........

Larry

[Kevin Stricker]

As no one else has mentioned it, I will. Do yourself a favor and buy a decent door. I can see using those ultralight MDF frame hollow core doors at the Depot for a rental if I was pressed for cash, but that is about it. Buy at least a decent pine 6 panel door, that can be painted or stained. Yes it will cost at least double, but it will last longer and look 10 times better. It's hard to do a pro job with crappy materials, especially if you are not a pro.

If your house has a bunch of junky doors, consider finding a new style you like and replace all the doors in the room or area you are upgrading. Hanging your first door is tough, but by the 5th one you will start to get the hang of it.

[Rich Engelhardt]

One would think that that is something that a homeowner should decide........

Codes are a high risk thing to ignore or try to work around in some way.
Worse yet are the home owner's associations. HOA's have no set of checks and balances.

@ least with the building codes you can apply for a variance...

[Erik France]

One would think that that is something that a homeowner should decide........

LarryDepends on the jurisdiction and what codes and amendments they have adopted. Most of the residential codes I've seen don't specify the door swings. I mostly deal with the IRC and local amendments. Rich is in Ohio, which I think has adopted it's own statewide code, the OBC. I couldn't find any specific codes to residential door swings during a quick online search I did, but I did see some discussions where interior swinging doors were called for. It was mosly due to emergency fire access stating than an inswinging door was easier to break down if needed.

(Should decide and can decide is a debate for another thread and forum ;) )

[Matt McColley]

I hung about a dozen or so when I built my house.....

two of them are what I would call "right" (square, vertical, hang free and latch correctly) :^O

I subbed out the trim work on our addition.... every one is right.

That either says something about the skill level needed to hand doors, my skill level, or both :^)

[Jim Mattheiss]

Just remember to look over the door and jamb closely BEFORE you install it into the opening. DAMHIKT.

My door had been returned due to defect and the lumberyard employee that said "Oh - here's one right here" wasn't aware of that.

Trying to get a warped in 2 directions door to fit nicely in the jamb is a pain. I finally looked at the BIG PICTURE and said OH - that makes sense.

Cheers

Jim

[Lee Schierer]

I just hung four new interior pre-hung doors. I looked around on the internet and ran across a description by Tommy Silva at the This Old House site that worked really well. How to hang a prehung door. (http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/how-to/intro/0,,216214,00.html) His procedure made the task a lot easier than how I had ever done it before.

[ken gibbs]

I guess this is a form of woodworking. My wife would like to change four of our interior doors from bi-fold doors to solid doors. I have never done this so I got an estimate from a local carpenter for the 4 doors plus installation, it came to $1290 for the labor & materials. I'm thinking of trying it myself. I can buy a cheap door & the hardware at Home Depot for about $60, so even if I experiment & see I can't do it I'll only have risked a small amount (& then I'll hire the carpenter). Has anyone ever hung interior doors? Is it very difficult? Any hints on how to do it?
Thanks
Dennis

It seems that I only hang new doors in old houses wherein nothing is square or plumb. And I always follow some homeowner who has tried to fix the doors and really screwed up the jambs and hinges. Never believe that the new construction doors were hung properly.

[keith micinski]

I can't believe that no one has talked about these yet. I was in Home depot about two months ago and saw these, (I don't know what this says about me but I was as excited as I have been in at least a decade). I saw these clips to hang interior doors and almost lost my mind. http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-202366685/h_d2/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&keyword=quick+door+hanger&storeId=10051 These things looked like they would work great. I just saw your post and decided to look them up and watched this 3 minute video on them. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQkC-tGjg9s The video makes them look as good as advertised. I am considering breaking a door in my house just so I can use these things.:D The only thing I can see doing is maybe using these to set the door and still putting some shims in a few spots for extra security but with the door already true and square that job becomes much easier. By the way I also font use nails and use a trim screw. It just seems like hand hammering nails in moves the door around to much and I don't have an air nailer that can shoot the right nails for a door.

[Richard Dragin]

Attach the hinges to the door first. Set your top hinge 7" down and bottom hinge 11" up. I use a speed square hooked to the top of the door. You can then use the same speed square butted to the top of the jam to mark the top of the hinge leaf and the thickness of the lip of the square will give you that amount of gap at the top of the door. After you set the top pin the bottom hinge will be in the exact position you need. A small combo square set to the amount of leaf on the door is used to mark the back of the leaf on the jam and a temporary finish nail at that distance for the bottom hinge will hold the door in position while you drill the pilot holes.

Get a Vicks bit to drill the pilot holes centered on the hinges. I mortise the doors but not always the jam depending on the quality of finish the project requires. Wait to put the door stop in until everything else is done. A cardboard shim against the doors will usually leave enough clearance for the stop but if it is getting paint give yourself extra space because it it adds up and can bind. Pay attention to the writing on the top and bottom of the door to figure which side is up. Don't drill the handle or mortise the jam for the lock until the door is hung.

This all makes a lot more sense after you have done a few.

[keith micinski]

I also forgot to say I can't see any reason to do anything other then buy a pre hung door. You can use it as an opportunity to upgrade the trim in the room to because odds are if your replacing a door for appearances then the trim could probably use an upgrade to.

[Sam Murdoch]

I can't believe that no one has talked about these yet. I was in Home depot about two months ago and saw these, (I don't know what this says about me but I was as excited as I have been in at least a decade). I saw these clips to hang interior doors and almost lost my mind. http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-202366685/h_d2/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&keyword=quick+door+hanger&storeId=10051 These things looked like they would work great. I just saw your post and decided to look them up and watched this 3 minute video on them. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQkC-tGjg9s The video makes them look as good as advertised. I am considering breaking a door in my house just so I can use these things.:D The only thing I can see doing is maybe using these to set the door and still putting some shims in a few spots for extra security but with the door already true and square that job becomes much easier. By the way I also font use nails and use a trim screw. It just seems like hand hammering nails in moves the door around to much and I don't have an air nailer that can shoot the right nails for a door.

These look like a great tool! Can't see any reason not to use them (see below :)) Thanks for the heads up Keith.

[Mike Henderson]

I can't believe that no one has talked about these yet. I was in Home depot about two months ago and saw these, (I don't know what this says about me but I was as excited as I have been in at least a decade). I saw these clips to hang interior doors and almost lost my mind. http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-202366685/h_d2/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&keyword=quick+door+hanger&storeId=10051 These things looked like they would work great. I just saw your post and decided to look them up and watched this 3 minute video on them. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQkC-tGjg9s The video makes them look as good as advertised. I am considering breaking a door in my house just so I can use these things.:D The only thing I can see doing is maybe using these to set the door and still putting some shims in a few spots for extra security but with the door already true and square that job becomes much easier. By the way I also font use nails and use a trim screw. It just seems like hand hammering nails in moves the door around to much and I don't have an air nailer that can shoot the right nails for a door.
I watched the video and the it seems that they assume the wall is plumb because they simply put the door into the opening and attach it to the frame. My experience (limited) is that often the wall is not plumb and if you simply align your door frame to the wall, the door will not stay in position when you open it - the door will swing to the lowest point. I found that when installing a door, you have to get the frame square, but also plumb, even if the wall is not plumb.

When using these brackets, it seems you'd have to find the place where the wall protrudes the most, then shim all the other brackets to make the door plumb. But beyond that, it looks like a good idea.

Disclaimer: I'm not a carpenter so my terminology may not be correct. I hope what I said is understandable to those who know the terminology.

Mike

[Sam Murdoch]

I watched the video and the it seems that they assume the wall is plumb because they simply put the door into the opening and attach it to the frame. My experience (limited) is that often the wall is not plumb and if you simply align your door frame to the wall, the door will not stay in position when you open it - the door will swing to the lowest point. I found that when installing a door, you have to get the frame square, but also plumb, even if the wall is not plumb.

When using these brackets, it seems you'd have to find the place where the wall protrudes the most, then shim all the other brackets to make the door plumb. But beyond that, it looks like a good idea.

Disclaimer: I'm not a carpenter so my terminology may not be correct. I hope what I said is understandable to those who know the terminology.

Mike

Except that one :D and I understood perfectly Mike.

[Mike Holbrook]

As someone else mentioned I think it makes things much easier to use a good screw through shims when installing the door frame. Home construction does not typically follow tight tolerances in regard to margin of error. Often things are not exact and adjusting the screws holding the door in place gives you a greater ability to adjust for error. Be aware that driving a screw through the door frame too deep on one side of the door can throw things off so sink the screws with minimal pressure until you can see where you need to tighten things up.

Buy a decent door with the trim as separate pieces to add once the door is in place and squared up. I just bought and installed two fiberglass hollow core doors with windows and screens in them. They were close to $200 ea. You may not need windows or screens which will save money.

Install the door frame such that the holes for the hardware in the frame match fairly close to those in the actual door. Take your time getting the doors frame in correctly or you will find yourself in larger problems later. If you install the frame for the door such that the door itself no longer matches closely you have to jump through complicated hoops to get the door hardware to work. A 15 gauge finishing nail gun and air compressor are very handy when it is time to add the trim. If you don't own one you might want to think about renting or borrowing one. One bad swing with a hammer can ruin your trim.

Also be aware that the door may change as your work or the floor/ground the wall is on settles. If the clearance you leave around

[keith micinski]

Two things. One, these clips are adjustable and can be set forwards or backwards to offset out of plumb, and two, I would rather have a door slightly out of plumb then plumb and now your trying to attach casing and either shim it or cut down the door jamb to match the wall. I realize that every wall is not perfectly plumb but 99 percent of them are "Plumb enough". On the rare occasion that a wall is so out of plumb it will adversely affect the swing of the door then you have more issues then installing a new door.

[keith micinski]

Even if you only used the clips to set the door and then you went back threw and shimmed it up they would be worth the 4 bucks just to do that. Trying to fight a door and shims by yourself is kind of a hassle.

[Mike Henderson]

Two things. One, these clips are adjustable and can be set forwards or backwards to offset out of plumb, and two, I would rather have a door slightly out of plumb then plumb and now your trying to attach casing and either shim it or cut down the door jamb to match the wall. I realize that every wall is not perfectly plumb but 99 percent of them are "Plumb enough". On the rare occasion that a wall is so out of plumb it will adversely affect the swing of the door then you have more issues then installing a new door.
I guess my philosophy has always been that I want the door as plumb as I can make it. When I'm doing something like a door, I think about how much time it's going to take me to do it "right" as opposed to how long someone (maybe me) will have to live with the door out of plumb. If I let it go as "good enough" every time I open that door I'm going to be disappointed with myself that I didn't do a better job. In the end, I'll probably go back and correct it, which is more work than doing it "right" the first time.

Mike

[keith micinski]

Well, technically the "right" way would be to tear the wall down and build it back plumb. Hanging a door plumb in an out of plumb wall and then shimming casing or trimming jambs is no less of a compromise to me then placing the door in a wall that is out of plumb and putting it in to match the work that is already there. Again if a wall is so out of plumb the door is swinging around on it's own thats a completely different story but I would venture to say that 90 percent of door work the wall is going to be plumb enough. One thing I have found in doing restoration or remodel work is that "right" has to be a relative term.