I got a really good deal on some interior prehung 3 panel doors. I thought it was going to be an easy job just to take the doors off the hinges and then mount them to my current frames. The only thing i didnt consider was the hinges and locations.

My current doors are really old and cheap and only have 2 hinges. The new doors have 3 hinges and all will end up being in different locations then the old doors. They also already have all the door latch and knob holes ready to go.

I still think just replacing the door will be easier then replacing the entire door frame and all, considering i have already redid all the trim, i just didnt have the money at the time to replace the doors.

Whats the best way to tackle this problem?

Do they make precut wood chips that i could use to cover up the hinge holes on my current door frame, glue those in and then re-router out new ones to match my new doors?

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Jason

 

Hi Jason,

Welcome to the forums!

If your new doors are pre-hung, you would just want to take off the trim molding you just finished, set aside. Remove the old jambs, install the new pre-hung, take the trim off the prehung and put your trim back up.

Connie

 

Hmm lets see....running stock thru a thickness planer to get it thin enuf to match the old hinge mortices, then cutting them to the correct shape, then glueing, filling, and sanding them to be less visible (not invisible, mind you). Now having to mark and router out the new hinge mortices (while the frame is installed). Hanging the door, finding out the strike doesn't line up exactly, filling and re-doing the strike area. Sounds like too much work for not so good an outcome.

Jmill...so much easier and quicker to do as Connie said. Your trim 'should' be able to be re-used. Mark on the back of each piece its location.

 

Sounds like a job for Bondo-man.

Bondo is an ideal solution to fill up the hinge mortices. Its relatively easy to work with, can be sanded into shape and if you need to mortice back into it it will be as sound as the origional wood. I've used it hundreds of times - all successful installations.

 

If you got the jambs andall I would definatly replace the jamb .
for pulling the trim
try the something like the shark puller here

http://ehardwarestore.com/Sharkgrip-...B000GAS2JU.htm
home depot has one a bit cheaper and if you have a harbor freight nearby theirs works just fine

I have 3-4 of the harbor freight ones I use for pulling trim just go slow and you should be able to re use all the trim

heres a coupon for the harbor freight bar $1.50 ,get 3 or 4 it will help easing the trim off

http://www.harborfreightusa.com/html.../Images/11.jpg

 

The problem is the new and old doors are not the same size jambs... Plus all the jambs on the new ones are not painted. My original ones were brown and old looking, i put 3 coats of paint to cover it all and they look great now, this was 4 years ago.

I dont want to pull trim off since then i will have to re-install molding on both sides of the doorways that go into rooms. Ive got 9 doors to do..

Definitely dont want to mess with taking the entire jamb and door frame out of what is already square and working fine.

I guess my options are to make the new doors only 2 hinges or make the old jambs take 3 hinges. I like the idea of 3 hinges for more support, but its probably more work to sand/cover up the jamb, if i do the new new door, i can plane and sand much easier with it outside, etc.

whats everyones opinion on what would be easier and make the most sense?

thanks
Jason

 

Jason, When is a bargain not a bargain? When you have to change everything to fit like this, your time negates the money you save. (This is me wagging my finger at you

Okay, have you measured the doors to be certain they will fit in the old jambs?

I don't know how you are going to fill and sand 18 mortises while they are upright in place, any more than I know how you are going to create 27 new mortises for your hinges. If the doors are sold with three hinges, you should not try to get by with two.

Connie

 

do one each way and you will have your answer

start with using the existing jambs

BTW no reason you cant mortise the third hinge into the existing jamb

 

Hi Mango Man, thanks for the backup! I'm pretty sure Jason said earlier none of the hinges on the new door line up with the mortises on the old jamb.

I really am beginning to dislike that 180 second thing!

 

Doors were all measured right and made sure they were all hinged the right way, it didnt even occur to me that the hinges would be different until i got home. At first my thinking was 2 of them will line up and then just have to add the 3rd one, which wouldnt be so bad. Since its my first time replacing doors, it was my fault. Should know better, nothing is ever as easy as it looks!

I got the doors with frames for $20-30 each depending on size(overstock from a home builders supply), had i known i was going to have to do all this work, i would not have done it. I got them all at once since i drove to NJ to get a new front door, figured to save me time and money i would get everything at once...

I may end up just getting new doors by themselves, it sounds like it may be more work then its worth, i can probably use the frames and doors when redo the basement in the house and then just try and sell off some of the ones that i dont use..

oh well, i guess you live and learn, hate having these things sit around, they take up a good bit of room..

thanks for all your suggestions and help

Jason

 

Jason,

This would be a great donation to an organization like Habitat for Humanity. You could get a receipt for a nice tax deduction, make yourself feel great for giving something to someone in need, get the doors out of the way "because they're taking up so much space."

If there is a Habitat Restore around, you might even find doors that will work for you. Look in the phone book or on the web.

Good luck to you!

Connie

 

After reading all the posts, it seems to me that if the doors will be painted, your best bet would be to go with the suggestion to bondo the mortises on the doors to make the old mortises disappear, then router new mortises to match your existing jamb-side hinge locations. And if the latch doesn't line up, then bondo the jamb and remortise the strike plate into the jamb in the new location.

This does sound like a lot of work- not the sort of thing you'd want to be paying someone $50/hr to do, that's for sure. But if you're contributing your own time then you have to be the one that makes the call if it's worth it or not. Trying it out on one door is a good idea, keeping in mind that the more doors you do, the better/faster you'll probably get at it.

 

Xsleeper, you are a real trooper! I don't give up easy, but you don't give up at all

If it was just one door, I think it would be fine, but 9 doors is a lot for someone with little experience mortising. (Of course, if he got to number 9, he'd be good at it by then

Hoppy Easter!!!

 

Connie,

thats a good idea, ill check into HFH.

Happy Easter

thanks for everyones suggestions

Jason

 

Hi, I couldn't completly agree with Connie, the first one will be hard the ninth will be easy by then you will have all the problems figured out.. As said before use bondo on the top and bottom hinges of the new door then use the old door for your pattern to cut the new mortise. Hang the new door with the two hinges and mark where the center hinge will lay on the jamb. Lay out the hinge and cut the jamb mortise with a utility knife and chisle.
They make longer strike plates that may come in handy if the latch doesn't line up.
A point of caution if you have to plane the door, plane the hinge side if you plane the latch side you will change the distance on the backset.
Good Luck Woodbutcher

 

Whats all the fuss about mortising. Porter Cable has a morticing template that works well (and its cheap) it comes with a morticing bit and as long as you can measure is almost foolproof. (Did I realy say that?) Its readily available form Orange and Blue.

The only challange is it requires a router, but it sure beats a a hammer and chisel and makes a perfect mortice every time.

 

UPDATE:

I wanted to update everyone. Just in case someone else runs into this problem in the future.

I ended up adding 3rd hinge to all door frames and on all the doors so far, i only had to move the bottom hinge. Some doors i just planed a 1/4" off the bottom so the top hinge will line up with my frames. Some have bigger gap then i would like, but it was much easier than making 2 thin pieces of wood to patch the old hinge locations on the door.

Its been an excruciating process... I had to relocate all the door latch locations since my house had them all higher than the 36" standard. Had to cut and putty all the original holes for those and then re-router out the new ones after i had the door installed.

The doors look much better than the old brown ones but its probably taken me about 6 hours per door. Every door is different.

-size new door to old frame, plane as necessary
-router out new bottom hinge location on door
-patch old bottom hinge location
-patch old door latch location
-router new latch location and drill hole
-router middle 3rd hinge location out of door frame
-1 coat of primer
-2 coats of paint
-paint new hinge and latch locations
-double check all works as it should, move hinges around as necessary.
-cleanup of all the paint stuff
-cleanup all the dust and wood chips
-wait time between coats and putty drying

I think the worse part is sometimes the new door just doesnt fit right onto the frame. I end up having move the hinge off the frame a bit so when the door closes it doesnt hit the molding frame on the inside of the door. I think this might be because the new hinges are slightly different than the old ones or frame isnt straight, some of teh old doors rubbed the frames, probably from hinges wearing out. Its a been a process.

I am done 7 out of 9 doors.

Tricks:

- For painting the doors i screwed 2 lags into one end and 1 in the center of the other end(top and bottom). This allowed me use saw horses and paint both sides at once. It save me some time, i read about it in a magazine.

- tried to paint 2 doors at once, this saved time, using 2 sets of saw horses. Plus less time on cleanup of all the paint stuff.

-use an oil based primer, this tended to coat better, these doors just soaked up the paint. I used valspar water based gloss ultra white for the final 2 coats.

They looks super nice, geez a lot of work...

It probably is still easier than framing in new doors and repainting all molding, etc. If i would have done it again.. well If i would have had more money when i originally drywalled the whole upstairs of the house that was panelling,i would have bought new pre-framed door then.. That would have made this a lot easier..

thats my story so far...