Help Needed With Fitting an Internal Door?

Question

Hi, I've got to replace an internal door, measurements 1935mm High x 680mm wide. I've been to the DIY place and the doors they sell are 1981mm x 686mm and you can only plane 6mm off all edges. How much can you actually take off these?

Also what other options do I have to get a door to fit?

Any help or advice would really be appreciated.

Answer 1

planing down the width its not a problem.  if you have the non solid type of door. egg box inside you will have a problem with the height as these doors only have a small batten top and bottom.  it can be done but you have to stick some new timber in the top and bottom otherwise the door will have no rigidity left in it which can be a messy job.

Answer 2

I don't know much about doors, but I can suggest this, why don't you go to home depot and ask one of the contractors there. After all, they are the experts.

Answer 3

fitting a door is quite easy if you know how , if you dont it can be very difficult as you will find that the door frame will not be square. you would be better of getting a joiner to do the job .

Answer 4

You can use this door but it will take some woodwork.  You will need some clearance around the door.  For width you will only need to remove 3mm from each side to make it match the old door.  Be mindful that on the non hinge side the door will have a bevel so that it can close properly.  (the final width will be more on one side than the other)

The reason why they do not want you to take too much off of the door is because it is what we call here a "hollow core" door.  It has a relatively narrow outer frame (that can't be cut too much) and probably a lot of criss crossing standing pieces of cardboard hot melt glued between the two skins on each side of the door.  

Your old door is 1935mm and the new door "blank" is 1981 so you need to reduce the height by 46mm if my "maths" are working correctly.  That is over the 6mm each side allowed.  

To get around this you... yep...cut the door anyway.  Inside the part you cut from will be a big hollow space.  I have seen some people just put this part on the bottem and leave it.  ....But the door is not as strong.  So...now you have to fix it.  Inside the piece you cut off will be a portion of the frame that you need to put back. It is glued on to the parts of the skin that you also cut off and it may be too long if it was lapped in a way that is not common here.  You have 2 choices to remove the skin.  1. is the method that I have always used:  cut it off. But I have a table saw that works very nicely for this job or I just make a new piece from some other scrap.  I glue it in and maybe put some brads in to hold it in place.  2.  Be more clever but you have to also be careful.  Since it is hot melt glue that holds the skin on you can soften the glue with heat.  A clothes iron on high will do fine.  Keep it moving.  The tricky part is to remove the skin when the glue is hot and soft (from both sides at once) and quickly place it in the empty cavity of your door ... without getting burned.  Hot melt glue is very hot.  If you need to reheat the glue before you insert it you can use a hot air gun (looks like an industrial blow dryer for your hair.)  Once it is in place you will need to apply some pressure until the glue hardens in about 30 sec.

And by the way,  you will have to prepare that cavity by removing some of that pesky cardboard a few cm back from the edge.  Good luck and thanks for the metric opportunity.

Answer 5

your best option is to buy a solid wood frame dooryou can easily take off enough to fit width ways. as for height the bottom rail is usually larger than the top rail giving a lot more scope to trim off what is required (46mm) but remember measure twice cut once.

Answer 6

You can cut off at the bottom of the door and plane the edges( you have 2 edges dont forget), remembering to leave enough for the hinges. Dont for get to take off enough at the bottom to allow for carpets etc.