Hello,
I have two interior doors to hang in my basement. One of my friend said he could cut/ hang them, but he suggested looking into hiring home depot’s contractors install them, because I would still have to get them delivered anyway.
Okay, the problem: when I started this basement project, I hired some amateurs. They hung my walls. They eventually disappeared, and I had to finish them on my own. When they built my rough openings, they didn’t even make them uniform with eachother. one of them is 38.25 by 76.75 in. One is 38.75 by 78 even.
I checked into pre hung doors, and they are all 80 inch tall, and they recommend another 2 in. Apparently interior door manufacture is controlled by a regional monopoly: anything a few inches shorter will double the price, or potentially more. And of course, add a month for the custom manufacture.
the rub is that I would have to wait an additional month for the contractors, and they want an exorbitant amount.
So I guess my question is, what are my options? Can I cut a pre-hung door and frame down to size? Is there something I should know about? Should I just get someone to hang a door cut to size? Or should i just give up and pay the money?
If they are hollow core doors you can’t cut them.
i tried cutting hollow doors and after a couple of years they started slliding apart and dragging. the glue in them are just liquid enough.
so I should get solid core and cut them? what about cutting the door frames? Should I just hire someone to make a whole new frame?
Sorry I’m seeing this so late, if you’re still looking for suggestions, I might be able to help. I’m not a professional carpenter but I used to help relatives who were on small job sites and I build stuff for myself fairly often. If the walls they built are just partitions, not load bearing, then changing the frames should be doable, how easily depends a bit on how the walls are made.
Usually we’d build a frame out of 2"x4"s, rough in the doorways, then clad the walls with sheetrock or shiplap or something, then box in the correct final dimensions of the door frame with 1"x4" boards or trim.
Changing the doorway to make it standard might mean disassembling the doorframe and some of the surrounding wall to get at the framing underneath. If it’s wood panels or similar that can be pried up and put back, that might be a quick job. If it’s sheetrock, fixing it might be more work.
Cutting the doors will be easier, but sort of locks you in on the nonstandard door sizes. If you’re anticipating changing them again that might not be worth it, otherwise I’d probably just cut the doors.
I am still currently taking suggestions; we have been waiting on various inspections. they are in fact interior partitions. There is sheet rock up. I certainly hope not to keep changing them out. In light of your suggestions, I am going to go ahead and cut some doors.
Do you recommend hollow doors or solid core? is either easier to cut? are there any special properties to cut one over the other? Should I buy pre-hung? If i do, Im going to have to cut the frames too, right? but Ill have to hire someone to hang a door other wise?
100% use solid doors - I’ve never tried to cut a hollow color veneer door, but I broke one once and I have a hard time picturing it doing anything other than splintering when the skillsaw’s blade hits it. Best case, if the cut goes through fine, I’d still want to cut a strip of wood to glue into the now-open end of the door for structural integrity.
If you go with solid doors, ideally actual wood, it should be as simple as cutting any other wood sheet. If the doors are plain, I’d cut the full amount from the bottom, if they have panels, windows, or other landmarks, you might want to remove material from the top and bottom so it doesn’t look disproportionate.
(I’d start with the longer door -absolute worst case, you can cut it down to use for the smaller doorway)
I’d get some stain that matches the color of the door, and make sure I have some sandpaper/sanding disks too.
Measure from the top, mark the line, measure it again, stand it up by the doorway and check it’ll fit and have enough clearance to move freely. Use a skillsaw to cut it to length (err on the side of too long - you can always remove more later), check the fit, if the cut is wavy, sand down any high points. Use the sandpaper to remove any splintery bits, and use the wood stain to color the fresh cut wood and any scratches/damage near the edge. If it ends up too short you can always cut a strip of wood, stain it to match, and screw it to the shortened end (predrill your holes to reduce the chance you split the wood). Or add a strip to the doorway.
For hanging the doors, I have a few questions: have your builders already put up full door frames, like with casings and jams?
If so, you could take those off and see if there’s any additional space to work with (and check how square and level everything is).
I’ve hung doors but just old seconhand ones in a camp, and ones we made on a workshop and shed. We usually attached the hinges to the door, set it down on a wood shim so it sat where it was supposed to once it was mounted, checked it was level and plum, then marked the hinge side jam, cut space for the hinges, and attached it to the frame. For what it’s worth there’s much better advice for this part online.
The good news is that these doors aren’t terribly high-stakes. They’re interior doors, so you’re probably not worried about weatherproofing, or making them form a good seal when they’re closed or about water or anything like that. You just need them to work and not bother you. I didn’t ask about your overall comfort with diy tasks, but I think this is fairly approachable with a couple YouTube tutorials and the right tools.
My last bit of advice is on making sure the door is real wood rather than particleboard with wood veneer. Wood doors will show endgrain somewhere, usually top and bottom, even if it’s made from different sections and panels. If every side is similar grain and there’s a bit of a seam at the edges, I can’t vouch for what’s actually inside the door.
One more resource you might want to check is your local Buy Nothing or Everything is Free page. Half the houses in my current town were built before the depression by a small handful of contractors, and all of them use the same weird nonstandard doors. Whenever someone remodels people try to get the old doors because they’re as good as gold around here. Point is, if you ask around on there, you may find that someone has a stack of wooden doors you can have for free just taking up space in a garage or shed. And if they do, and you want advice on refinishing them, 100% hit me up
I will definitely hit you up. Like I said, the inspector is coming out next week, and Im hoping after that I can finish. We’re been in a state of like 80 percent doneness for a while.
All of the tutorials I have discovered have said if you were to cut hollow doors, then you should glue a piece to the open bottom. They cautioned it might sag with time though. Right now there is no full frame. I gave measurements for rough opening in the OP. No one is super comfortable trying to DIY door frames.
