I have a couple closets im building that will have double doors on them. The only sizes I have seen for pre hung double doors are 4', 5', or 6'. Not a lot of selection. I was figureing I could take two 28" doors, build the jam myself and have a door that is 4'8" which would work perfectly in the wall Im building the closets in. I dont want to loos the extra 8" to use a 4' door, and 5' just wont fit right.

Anyway. My question is how does one go about building a door frame from scratch? Also the doors I have seen are all un drilled, so how does one go about making the hole for the door knob? I dont supose there is a good website with pictures of this process is there? I think I could probably figure it out given the time and a few mistakes but with the cost of wood and doors, I would rather avoid as many mistakes as possible.

 

You can get door jambs that are pre-routered, which would be one idea... you'd need a left and a right, then an un-routered piece for the head. As far as the door knob hole is concerned, those instructions come with the door knob- you'll cut it with a hole saw.

You're right about the cost of mistakes. routering hinges in a slab door is tricker than you might think.

 

yea routing out for hinges is going to be tough since all I have is a pencil and a chisel to do it with... I dont have those fancy jigs or a router. As for the jam pieces you mention, I have seen them at the store, just seems much more difficult to get them strait and plum and alligned so the door fits properly. Although I have time to figure it out, Ive just started sheetrocking, so it will be a little while before its time for doors.

 

You'll also likely want to mount an astragal to one door (the one that will stay closed the most) since the astragal is what the strike plate and latch will go into, and it acts as a door stop for both doors where they come closed in the middle. It would also be a good idea to mount ball-closers on one or both doors- especially the top closer side of the door with the astragal so that it will "snap" into place and stay there when the other door is open and it is closed. So when planning the rough opening size, you will want to figure (3/4 + 1/8 + 28 + the astragal thickness + 1/8 + 28 + 1/8 + 3/4) as the outside dimension for the jamb. (the additional 1/8" measurement is for clearance around the door edges, while the 3/4" is the jamb itself.) Add a little bit of space to shim and square the frame and it looks to me like the idea rough opening for this custom made door would be about 59 1/4 x 82.