Door trim around brackets

[Stephen Tashiro]

What's a good way to put trim around a metal bracket that's near a door?

I have this type of bracket on both sides of a door opening https://www.amazon.com/National-N235291-Closed-Holder-doors/dp/B000BO9NFI. (This is the kind of bracket that can hold a 2x4 to "bar" the door.)

The brackets are (and should be) screwed into the 2x4 studs on either side of the door, so they are close enough to the door opening to interfere with using standard interior door trim.

One thought is to re-mount the bracket on a thin rectangle of wood and just run the door trim into the edge of that rectangle. But I want to do the trim in a way that someone could replace the door without having to remove the brackets. The brackets themselves are far enough from the door frame that they won't interfere with taking out the pre framed door.

[Bob Vavricka]

I would probably just notch the trim around the bracket. I would remove the brackets, cut the trim to fit the opening. Mark and notch the trim for the bracket then install the trim and bracket in that order. Not sure about the concern for not having to remove the bracket to replace the door. Eight screws with a drill or impact driver would not take anytime at all to remove. The trim will need to be removed to replace the door and that will be more difficult if you try to save the trim.

[Jim Becker]

Why not wait to mount the brackets until after you trim out the door?

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Are the brackets screwed directly to the wall studs or is there sheetrock between the bracket and the wall studs?

I would go to a local welding shop and get pieces of steel (1/2" or 3/4" thick) cut to fit each end of each bracket with holes drilled appropriately. Thin pieces of wood could fracture if they come under stress. Steel won't give.

As Jim suggested, I'd reinstall the brackets after trimming out the door.

[Stephen Tashiro]

Why not wait to mount the brackets until after you trim out the door?

The brackets would be sitting at an angle if they were put on the door trim that's for sale locally - that type of trim isn't flat. The brackets are already installed. ( Yes, I could take them off and re-install them. )

[Stephen Tashiro]

Are the brackets screwed directly to the wall studs or is there sheetrock between the bracket and the wall studs?


There is sheetrock between the brackets and the studs.



I would go to a local welding shop and get pieces of steel (1/2" or 3/4" thick) cut to fit each end of each bracket with holes drilled appropriately. Thin pieces of wood could fracture if they come under stress. Steel won't give.


If the door is going to be beat-up by someone kicking on it, it wouldn't bother me if some pieces of wood under the bracket also break. - just so the bracket remains screwed into the studs.

( This is a project at a house that is temporarily unoccupied. It was broken-into once by someone who kicked open a door, breaking through the door jamb at the strike plate. There are no precious items inside the house. As far as I can tell, the person didn't take anything. It isn't critical that the door be made "impossible" to break through. I just want to make breaking-in take longer than one kick. The house will eventually be sold, so it would be nice if the doorways look elegant. The brackets themselves have an industrial look already. )

[Glenn de Souza]

I don't know if you will like this suggestion, but I would cut open a small enough area of the drywall on either side of the door, and install blocking that will allow you to securely mount these brackets on either side of the door but clear of the trim. Then, when (if) you remove them later, there will be no wonky notched trim left behind. Yes, this involves minor drywall patch and paint.

And then if you remove the brackets it would just be a bit of spackle and touch up paint and nobody would know they were ever there. When it comes time to sell the house, I don't think you want those brackets there.

Alternatively, you could install a deadbolt and mortise a metal strike plate into the frame to accept it. With long enough screws driven into the metal plate and the deadbolt, it would take quite a bit of force to break the door in.

I'm also a fan of inexpensive deterrents, like signs that say video surveillance is in use, and real or even dummy cameras.

[Bob Vavricka]

A problem with my first suggestion would be that the thickness of the trim would decrease the room for your 2x4 although you could plane it down to fit. Given what you have said in your second post, I would either 1) Take the brackets off and put up trim and reset the brackets outside the trim. You would only be able to use the two screw holes closest to the trim, but two long screws should resist quite a bit of force. This would allow the brackets to be removed if the new buyer wanted to and a little bit of spackling and paint to fix. You would still need to trim down the 2x4 or shim the bracket out. 2) Surface mount the brackets on the trim making a shaped shim to keep them square. This would also allow the brackets to be removed and the screw holes filled and painted.
As a side note, If I were buying a house and thought I needed that kind of barricade, I would probably be looking for a different location. Does your door have a dead bolt where the strike plate screws are extra long and go into the framing? That is something as a potential home owner that I would look at as a plus.

[Stephen Tashiro]

Does your door have a dead bolt where the strike plate screws are extra long and go into the framing?.

No. It's a steel door, but I assume a deadbolt could be installed.

I don't intend to install a deadbolt since, from what I've seen in videos about door security, a deadbolt doesn't add much kick-resistance. I've put some 3 inch screws to hold the hinges to the studs and put 3 inch screws on the other side of the door to hold the frame to the studs. With the door bar arrangement, I don't think I need the deadbolt.

A new owner might find the brackets and bar handy if a child-proof door is needed. The door isn't the main entrance door.

[Stephen Tashiro]

I don't know if you will like this suggestion, but I would cut open a small enough area of the drywall on either side of the door, and install blocking that will allow you to securely mount these brackets on either side of the door but clear of the trim. Then, when (if) you remove them later, there will be no wonky notched trim left behind. Yes, this involves minor drywall patch and paint.

.

That's a good idea. However, I'm actually dealing with two different doors. Around one of them there isn't room move one of the brackets further away from the door because the door is almost at the corner of the room.

[Jim Becker]

The brackets would be sitting at an angle if they were put on the door trim that's for sale locally - that type of trim isn't flat. The brackets are already installed. ( Yes, I could take them off and re-install them. )

With a little work you could make shims that can be used to counter the trim's angle and allow the brackets to be installed in the proper orientation. No need to even glue them as the bolts for the brackets would go through them and hold things in place. That only leaves some holes to fill if the brackets are ever discarded.

[phil harold]

( This is a project at a house that is temporarily unoccupied. It was broken-into once by someone who kicked open a door, breaking through the door jamb at the strike plate. There are no precious items inside the house. As far as I can tell, the person didn't take anything. It isn't critical that the door be made "impossible" to break through. I just want to make breaking-in take longer than one kick. The house will eventually be sold, so it would be nice if the doorways look elegant. The brackets themselves have an industrial look already. )
The last door some kicked in I reinforced the jamb with 4' of 2"x2" 1/4" steel angle
the door or foot will bust next time some tries to kick it in

[Rick Whitehead]

I would make a 1/2" to 3/4" thick block slightly wider and longer that the brackets with chamfered or molded edges. I would mount that block on the wall, over the jamb, keeping the same reveal as the new trim will have. I would then screw the brackets through the blocks into the studs. When you run the trim, there will be 5 pieces instead of 3, since the vertical trim will die into the top and bottom of the blocks.
I have also reinforced jambs as Phil has done, with steel angle.
Rick

[Stephen Tashiro]

With a little work you could make shims that can be used to counter the trim's angle and allow the brackets to be installed in the proper orientation.

The typical trim designs have a decorative profile, so it would take someone with greater woodworking skills that mine to make a shim that mated.

[Stephen Tashiro]

The last door some kicked in I reinforced the jamb with 4' of 2"x2" 1/4" steel angle
the door or foot will bust next time some tries to kick it in

Did you reinforce the jambs on both sides of the door opening or just the side that has the striker plate?

[phil harold]

Did you reinforce the jambs on both sides of the door opening or just the side that has the striker plate?
just the strike side of the jamb thats where i see most damage
with three 4x4 security hinges with some big screws I hope they hold

[lowell holmes]

It's difficult to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. I would install the brackets so they are substantial and live with it.

[Jim Becker]

The typical trim designs have a decorative profile, so it would take someone with greater woodworking skills that mine to make a shim that mated.

Stephen, it's not really going to be as difficult as it might seem at first. You only need to fully "match" the outside and inside edge and get "close enough" in the middle of the profile to provide adequate support for the brackets. Any gaps top and bottom can be filled with spackle and paint will hide all. With a simple profile gage (usually a bunch of parallel wires or similar, you can copy the profile of the trim onto the end of a board and figure out from there what to remove using a table saw and a router table with simple bit profiles. As long as it "touches the line" reasonably well, it will do the job. :)