First, the house was built in the early 60's so plumb doesn't exist in this house. The new door jam is 4-1/2" and the opening is 4-5/8".
When I try to hang the door plumb, one side of the jam sticks out beyond the wallboard and on the other side there is a recess. How do I deal with this? Plane one side and try to fill the recess on the other? Help me turn this nightmare into a dream. Thanks for any advice.

 

Forgot to mention that this is an interior door.

 

The wall should be 4 9/16(3 1/ studs+ 1/2"drywallX2), as is the new prehung door. That is not to say that all is straight. When hanging a door in an older house, I do set the door square with the opening, but setting it level with the walls is usually not easy, so I make it fit the wall. That should make everything even on both sides. Sometimes you have to forget the rules in older construction. To make it perfectly plumb/level may not look right.

 

Erica - It is important that the door be hung plumb and level. If it isn't plumb the door may not swing properly.

How far does the jamb protrude beyond the wall? Normally, small fit problems can be covered by the casing.

Put the door in place temporarily, level and plumb and see what you have. Tack the trim in place and see how it looks. It's better to tweak the casing than to hang the door off plumb or to mess with the jamb.

I have routed or planed the back of trim to accomodate a protruding or recessed jamb but if it's less than 1/8" you may not have to do anything.

 

I have run up against this sort of thing several times with older houses. IN fact, I just installed a prehung door ('plumb and level' as directed here) that was only good for one side of the door, and even then it was not good. You have to get creative with the trim. What I do is try and determine which side of a door will be the more noticeable, then install as flush as possible that side. Then install the trim and lots of caulk/paint/etc. to clean it up. Obviously the other side will be a worse issue. I have a door that was out about 3/4" in the middle, yet flush at the tops (yes the wall was actually bowed that much). I had another door that was out 1/2" in the middle, but on that one, it was the door jamb that was out (straight from the store, go figure). IN the case of the jamb being out, I was able to bend it back into place (w/in 1/8").

Take your time, ask questions, and good luck!

 

Whew, gotter done. When I bought the doors (Lowes) most of them had a strap towards the top and the bottom to hold them together in the store, during transport, etc. Genius that I am, I cut several of the straps off so I could paint the door before I hung them. For me, that was a mistake. Those straps held everything together nice and tight so the door and the jam stayed together. I improvised by cutting up an old sheet and wrapped and tied it around the door at the bottom and the middle. I left the little plug in where the door knob goes to keep everything in alignment. This made the installation go so much easier. Then I just untied the sheet strips and pulled them off. There is only one little area where it sticks out slightly and the voids I thought I would have are minimal now. This one door ended up being a 4 hour project because I did a lot of procrastinating. Since you can't open the door until it has been completely installed you have to make sure that you have all of the tools and equipment on the side you are working on. I found this out the hard way. Then, when all was said and done, I thought that, gee, I should have called my son.....he used to do home remodels and probably could have done it all in 20 minutes.
Thanks you all for your responses to my question.

 

in the future, hang and plumb the hinge side first(shiming as needed). once the hinge side is temp. secure the door can be opened and the jamb/header moved to allow for proper clearance around the door. then shim the other jamb and header and nail in. the hinged side is the side that determines how the door will swing.
WE ARE ALL LEARNING!!!