Hanging door, studs out of plane

What do the pros do if you goto hang a door and the studs are out of plane. Assuming this is a finished house and the doors are the last thing going in, how do they deal with this without tearing walls out and realigning studs? Ie:

http://s62.photobucket.com/albums/h82/n0c7/Basement/?action=view&current=DSC02462.jpg

The bottom swings in half an inch, the top swings out a quarter inch, lines up everywhere else pretty decent. I can't wrap my head around correcting this type of imperfection without realigning the studs.

 

The door jamb gets installed plumb regardless of how the walls are. Usually you split the difference on all 4 corners of the door so that you don't end up having one part of the door sticking out way past the drywall and one part of the door recessed way into the drywall. When your trim, the door casing, is applied to the opening it will cover up any irregularities. If needed, the edges of the casing can also be caulked and tooled flat. Sometimes it's better to float additional joint compound around the trim rather than use a lot of caulk.

If the wall is so far off that the door cannot be installed perfectly plumb, then you usually try to install the door so that the left and right sides are "equally" out of plumb, which is checked by looking at the bubble in the vial of your 6 ft level while the level is on the left leg of the jamb, then compare it to how it reads on the right side of the jamb. The bubble will not be in the middle- it might even be touching the reference line- but at least try to make the bubble match when comparing the left and right sides. When you close the door, it should hit on the door stop evenly. If it doesn't, the legs of the jamb are not aligned and the jamb is racked.

The problem you have when the door is not installed plumb is that the door may want to continually swing open (or closed) or it may even drag on the floor when opened wide. So you always try to hang doors plumb whenever possible.

 

I'm a little confused your post mentioned being out of plane, which should mean the plate on the strike side is not inline with the hingeside. That results in the door not contacting the stop evenly. The picture shows a door not installed plumb, the gap from top to bottom is different. You could shim the hinges to adjust the gap, or take the casing off and shim the door frame.

 

The bottom of the door hits the stop half an inch before the top does. I thought this meant it was out of plane. I don't see how I could shim the hinges to adjust the door from having the bottom sucked in first. I'm all ears though, I'm a door noob. I'm sure I have the terms messed up.

 

No you're right plane would be the right term it just looked different on the pic. The way I like to fix this problem is with the help of my trusty bfh, but this is at work on your home follow these steps.
1) If the casing is on you will have to remove from both sides of the strike side of frame.
2) Use a sawzall with a metall blade and cut all the nails holding the strike side.
3) Split the difference from top to bottom so the door it's the stop evenly. Keep in mind that you don't want the jamb too far in or out, because the casing won't will have a gap between it and the jamb. Sometimes if the casing is in more then the edge of the drywall it helps to beat the drywall a little so the casing fits better against the frame.
4) Re-shim and nail, re-attach casing
All the above is assuming you have the hinge side plumb. #3 might not be very clear to you until you get to that point. once the strike side is loose it should become very apparent what you need to do once you close it.

 

Wow, more work than I thought it would take. Guess there isnt much of a quick fix rather than rehanging it is there?

 

Sure that was the pc way to do it, here is the way I do it to save time at work. I forget which part of the door hits first, if it's the top take a piece of wood place against the bottom of the frame on the hinge side. Make sure the block is against the frame and not the casing. Take out hammer and beat it until the frame moves. You will probably have to beat the bottom of the hinge side one way and the strike side the other way. What you want to happen is the frame seperating from casing not more then a 1/4 inch or so. Once the door shuts like you want it use some finish screws to hold the frame in it's new location. Next try to bend/flex the casing back towards the frame to close out the gap, re-fasten to frame using small finish nails. Even if you can't get the casing to come any closer then 1/8 inch from the frame caulking will make it look fine. Make sure that if the casing is already caulked to the frame you want to score the caulk with a knife so it dosen't split the wood when trying to separate. That's about as simple as fixing your problem is gonna get.

 

I see what you mean, but are you saying to line the piece of wood up just on the 1/4" space of the frame that I can work with so I don't damage the casing?

 

I think that is what he is saying.

Since you said your door first hits on the door stop at the bottom when it is closed while there is a 1/2" gap on top, the bottom of the jamb (latch side) would need to get knocked outward 1/8". The top of the jamb (latch side would need to get knocked inward 1/8".

The other half of the adjustment would be done on the hinge side. The bottom of the jamb (hinge side) would get knocked inward 1/8", while the top of the jamb (hinge side) would get knocked outward 1/8". Those four 1/8" increments add up to equal 1/2".

That is what I meant when I said "usually you split the difference on all 4 corners of the door so that you don't end up having one part of the door sticking out way past the drywall and one part of the door recessed way into the drywall."

This would also normally be done with a level to check that you are getting each side the same. But you can do it with a hammer by trial and error too, checking the door to see how it closes.

If the reveal across the top of the door is not straight, like you mentioned once a while back, that means the door is out of square. Either the head is not level (door should have been shimmed up level on bottom) or the door is out of square (top and bottom of the door need to be adjusted left and/or right). Long 3" screws through the top hinge can also pull a door tighter to the studs which will raise it a bit on the latch side. That's where a 6ft level comes in handy, to check the hinges and the hinge side of the jamb to ensure it is plumb, and that all 3 hinges are in line with one another and not bowed.