Anybody ever hang new doors?

[JeepFreak21]

Our house was built in '78. We're replacing all the brown, flat, interior doors with white, raised panel ones. Some people say replace the jambs and casings, some say not to. What's your experience?
Thanks,
Billy

[Lawn Cher']

Break on thru to the other side.

[WesternXJ]

Hey Billy!
I replaced only the doors in our old house. Replacing the jams and casing runs into problems with the base board.
Remove the old door and lay it on top of the new door, line up the boring for the door handle, hold it in place with clamps and mark where the new door needs to be trimmed and the hinges go.
Use an old hinge to trace the outline of the hinge mortise . I used a router for the mortising. After trimming the door to size, sand the edges, paint and hang. :cheers:

[RichP]

six of one, half dozen of the other. As previously stated, look at your moldings. If the moldings are ornate or expensive do the doors, if they are standard builder stuff then you might want to consider prehung doors where you just pull the moldings, zip around with a sawzall and drop the old doors/frames out then install, level, shim and nail the new ones in, replace the moldings with either new or if you took the time use the old. When removing the old moldings use a 6" blade behind the prybar to keep wall/sheetrock damage to a minimum.
If you want to go a bit slower then use the one at a time remove the door, trace it on the new door, drill the holes, mortise the hinges and hang it.
This is one of my upcoming winter projects this year. I also want to use the lever type locks and I want a heavier door between the cellar and upstairs.

[non-stick]

What RichP said.

I went thru this in our previous home. If you only want to replace the doors just get the blanks and move the hardware. It isn't as difficult as one would think, just a lot of tedious work with a lot of mortising. I did about one or two a week in the evenings after work and it took some time, but the end result was really worth it.

If the doors hang, swing, and close well (i.e. the jams are sound) don't get pre hungs, they can be more work that they are worth.

[Matthew Currie]

I'm with Nonstick. Unless your jambs are in bad shape or poorly installed, or of a style you can't stand, just get the doors. Take care trimming them, invest in a butt marker sized for the hinges*, and exercise great care in mortising the hinges in, and you'll have well hung doors without having to redo all the moldings, tear sheetrock, etc.

*I'm assuming wooden doors, rather than some kind of composite stuff. Butt marker, if this is new stuff to you, is a little steel gadget with sharp edges, sized so that when you hammer it into the edge of the door, it marks out exactly where to chisel and how deep. They come in standard sizes for rectangular door hinges. You can use old hinges to trace, but there's always a little error possible. A butt marker is a great time saver and helps to get your hinge pins lined up properly and avoids stresses that cause doors to loosen with use. If your hinges have rounded corners, they were made to be mortised with a router. I think there are templates for that, but I've never used that kind.

[OverlandXJ]

Break on thru to the other side.


Guess it's getting tougher to come up with a witty response with over 7K posts? You need new material Mark.... :read:

[Lawn Cher']

Guess it's getting tougher to come up with a witty response with over 7K posts? You need new material Mark.... :read:

Its true, I am old and busted.

[SeanP]

BTDT.

Keven is dead on. I did my hinges with a chisel and butt marker. Not as clean as a router, but I didn't own a router at the time. Labor intensive for sure. I used a paint sprayer for the doors to reduce drips and roller marks.

SeanP

[JeepFreak21]

Is it easy to replace the casings, but not the jambs? The jambs seem to be in good shape, but I was kinda looking forward to getting new the casings (moldings) just cause ours are kinda plain.
Thanks for all the advice,
Billy

[JeepFreak21]

BTDT.

Keven is dead on. I did my hinges with a chisel and butt marker. Not as clean as a router, but I didn't own a router at the time. Labor intensive for sure. I used a paint sprayer for the doors to reduce drips and roller marks.

SeanP


We can do labor intensive. We're retexturing all the ceilings as we speak. What a PITA that is. Glad to hear I don't need a router, cause I don't have one. Do you still have that paint sprayer you speak of Sean? http://www.slicky.net/smilies/fingersx.gif
Thanks,
Billy

[Matthew Currie]

Is it easy to replace the casings, but not the jambs? The jambs seem to be in good shape, but I was kinda looking forward to getting new the casings (moldings) just cause ours are kinda plain.
Thanks for all the advice,
Billy

Probably. Depends on how they meet the baseboards, and whether your new design will be as wide as the old. If wider, you'll have to shorten baseboards to fit. If narrower, you'll have gaps in baseboard, possible gap in floor covering, and may have some paint/wallpaper/plaster issues on the edges as well. If the dimensions are the same it shouldn't be a problem. If the current casings are not too narrow, but plain, you can also fancy it up a little by adding a little cornice or ledge at the top.

[PosiDave]

get blanks and put the hardware in yourself. If the jambs are messed up. you can always make a new one. but depending on how fast you want it done you can also get the door package. they hang real easy.

If you wanna be real tech. You could rip out the walls and put all pocket doors!