Hi. I'm new here and have a question about hanging doors.

[Lisa Starr]

Tom King - Any more time to type up your instructions? I, and others, are awaiting your knowledge. Again, thank you in advance for offering to do this.

[Mike Cutler]

Lisa


We also have an old house, not nearly as old as yours though. Ours was built in 1919.
I've made interior doors for our house, and the first one was a "trial". I built the door, jambs, and door frame.I had is all assembled just as if it had been bought pre-hung. brought it into the house and it didn't work.
The house framing was distorted enough that each side of the door frame and jamb had to be custom fitted. I ended up have to make the door jamb, install it in place. Fit and finish it. Then make a hinge jig to locate the hinges in place and hang the door. Thank god it was going to be painted, because it got a "little ugly" towards the end.

In the next two links are the second door built and installed. Same wall, but one story up. You can see in the first link, how far out of plumb the actual walls are. The second is the staircase side of the door.
Old houses are fun, but they can present some interesting challenges, and there is no going to Home Depot for "pre made" house items like doors, windows, and cabinets.
I'd give Tom a few days to post back. It might save you a lot of time.

https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread....ect&highlight=

https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread....his&highlight=

[Tom M King]

I'm working on it, but had meetings last night, and today. Hopefully, I'll get time tomorrow afternoon to finish. Sorry for the wait.

In the meantime, select each board for the jamb. Chances are slim that you get to select quarter-sawn, but don't get riftsawn. You want flatsawn, or mixed, so that the grain will direct any nail (if you nail casing) that wants to follow grain to exit harmlessly behind the jamb. Riftsawn might direct a nail behind the jamb on one side, but the other side might make a nail exit the face. That only gives one possible face as the show side. Select accordingly.

edited to add: I use 5/4 boards for jambs.

[Bruce Wrenn]

I don't know Tom's method, but we shim out for jamb on hinge side, at hinge locations prior to installing jamb. This gives us plumb framing to work off of. We also put a spreader across jamb at upper and lower hinge location. It is on side away from hinges, and extends a couple inches out on each side. This allows us to attach jamb on hinge side, using screws where hinge screws go, and then attach spreader, (again with screws) to wall. A HF multitool works great for cutting off excess shims.

[Michael Pyron]

one thing I've modified in hanging doors is the locations for blocking on the hinge side...yes, tradition says right behind the hinges...I shim just above the top hinges and just below the lower hinges. this allows for using a screw to pull things over just a tad if necessary in the future. arguably this only needs to be done at the top as doors tend to fall away because of gravity and fall in on the bottom, but there have been times when a screw to the framing behind the hinge has been needed down low.

I also make my hinge side a tad out of plumb to counteract the effect of gravity and result in the door itself being plumb.

[lowell holmes]

Check this site.

https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?...m_appfocus1_cr

[lowell holmes]

You might make a plywood pattern to locate the hinges. I find that helps. That way the hinge spacing is consistant.

[Paul Girouard]

I’m not sure why one would NOT install the stops , they need to be set 1 7/16” in from the door side edge for a 1 3/8” door and a 1 13/16” for a 1 3/4” thick door.
If a house wall is out of pump , 99.9 % are , you still have to hang the door jamb plumb or your doors going to swing open or closed depending which way the wall is out of plumb.

The only way to correct for a wall out of plumb is to jamb extend with a tapered jamb extension cut to fit the wall , the jamb extension needs to be offset bay a reveal line that allows the hinge barrel to not bind and allows you to remove the hinge pin , this reveal line will vary depending on the hinge you use.

IF you are working on a old house you’d be wise to either make your jambs intentionally narrower than your walls , by a couple of inches. You could set your jambs plumb such that the jamb extensions you need to make can be created in a “more equal” size , the split the difference sort of thing.

You can’t , or well you shouldn’t, be varying the depth you set the hinge leafs in relationship to the hinge pin , but that’s what it sounds like people are recommending they do.

I’ll be very interested to read the recommendations about “hanging doors”.

I do like the idea os using 5/4” stock for jambs , that’s a old school way to make a jamb. These’s days jamb stock is getting thinner and thinner.








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[Larry Edgerton]

I'm working on it, but had meetings last night, and today. Hopefully, I'll get time tomorrow afternoon to finish. Sorry for the wait.

In the meantime, select each board for the jamb. Chances are slim that you get to select quarter-sawn, but don't get riftsawn. You want flatsawn, or mixed, so that the grain will direct any nail (if you nail casing) that wants to follow grain to exit harmlessly behind the jamb. Riftsawn might direct a nail behind the jamb on one side, but the other side might make a nail exit the face. That only gives one possible face as the show side. Select accordingly.

edited to add: I use 5/4 boards for jambs.

I'll be interested to hear your technique Tom.

On the nailing thing, its not always possible to have the grain going the way you want, so I predrill and hand nail trim to the jamb on better installations. Stuck nails in my fingers a couple of times when doing douglas fir door/jambs using a nailer, find it faster and better in the end to do it by hand. The doors I make are expensive, so it seems silly to try and save a few minutes on install time.

I also prehinge the jamb in the shop but leave it long on the bottom and cut on site. I use a lot of cast iron hinges and they are not all that accurate generally so for me it is easier to fiddle in the shop, number the door/hinge/jamb.

[Joe Adams]

I haven't read the whole thread so apologies if this has already been mentioned.

Gary Katz has written numerous articles and filmed videos on door hanging. He's tops in my book and I've used his techniques for years.

One of the best I remember was Hangng a New Door in an Old Jamb published in Journal of Light Construction about 20 years ago.

Gary has his own website www.garymkatz.com as well as hosting the This is Carpentry website www.thisiscarpentry.com.

He travels the country doing free all day seminars on trim carpentry. He's also a contributing editor at Fine Homebuilding and a heck of a nice guy.

[Tom M King]

I started a new thread, instead of burying it here. I wrote it in Word, and the formatting was changed enough to make it a little more difficult to read. Sorry for the formatting change, but hope it's readable.

[Lisa Starr]

Tom - I saw your new thread. Again, thank you.