Non standard door frames

nowhereboy

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Hi guys

(Mods please move if in wrong section)

Have a bit of a problem I'm hoping some of you fine people can help with.

My door frames are non standard 77 1/4" x 29 1/4" throughout mostly apart from the kitchen which previously was modernised and the standard 80"x 30" has been used.

Had a mare trying to fit a door which non of them seem to allow more than 16mm to be trimmed and i need to take off 3 1/4" so this would expose the particleboard underneath.

Custom doors are out of the question with the price range they entail.

Question is this.

If i were to replace all my door frames with standard size jambs what work would this entail? Altering walls i imagine?

Another theory is to trim the door lining down to accommodate the standard size door. I'm not sure if this would weaken the frame too much and the hinge wouldn't sit well or worse just come away.

Any tips here would be helpful as i don't fancy tackling this one alone so i'll get some pro help in.
 
You could pack-out one side or both sides to suit a smaller standard size door. 686mm (27") is a standard size. You might need to use large size architrave to hide the door casing. You could just buy a standard door casing set and use one side of it as a filler piece. As-long as there are plenty wood screws holding it onto the existing casing, it should be plenty strong enough. :smashin:

The only other option I can can see without using custom sized doors (or solid wood doors, or altering the veneered doors like I did), is to rip-out the existing casings, alter the opening, and install new standard sized casings. Not a small job. :censored:

Altering the casings without replacing them seems a bad idea. It would weaken them a lot, and for the work involved you might-aswell just rip them out and replace them.

I would be in favour of slightly smaller doors. :suicide:

Dan.
 
Buy old solid oversized doors and cut them down? Only cost £50 each for mine last year.
 
Are you fitting the doors? If so you must be competent with diy in which case as above change the frames to a standard size at the same time. Bit more effort but will make hanging the door much easier and look much better with new frame and door. Plus you'll have a much greater pick of doors to chose from with standard sizes. Good luck.
 
Thanks for the tips i think packing out the frame may be a good idea I'm not sure i'll be able to however as thats a good 4" of packing needed I'm not sure i have that against the wall.

This photo should clear it up.

I think i could cut away the wood at the top to achieve the 78" height however.

What do you think?
 

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Are you fitting the doors? If so you must be competent with diy in which case as above change the frames to a standard size at the same time. Bit more effort but will make hanging the door much easier and look much better with new frame and door. Plus you'll have a much greater pick of doors to chose from with standard sizes. Good luck.

No way i managed to f up a £100 door using a supposedly fool proof method of cutting. Guess it wasn't written for someone of my level :D

All the door frames in my house have been hacked in one way or another so i think its time to change them all and be done with it. However thats not as easy as it sounds as I'm finding out very quickly.
 
Another option i pondered if to buy the easy fit kits which given the mucking about involved in this may be an option but again - paying a joiner anyway who could do a much better job defeats the purpose.

Oh woe me o_O
 
Don't worry about the height of the door, even veneered doors can be trimmed to height no problem. :smashin: Just pack-out the casing to accept a 686mm width door instead.

Seeing as the casing is exposed already, might-aswell just remove it, alter it / replace it. That way you can pack-out both sides evenly, instead of all on one side.

Dan.
 
Don't worry about the height of the door, even veneered doors can be trimmed to height no problem. :smashin: Just pack-out the casing to accept a 686mm width door instead.

Seeing as the casing is exposed already, might-aswell just remove it, alter it / replace it. That way you can pack-out both sides evenly, instead of all on one side.

Dan.

Cheers dan

So it doesn't matter if you expose the chipboard of the door on the top or bottom of veneered doors? I thought it was a no no due to moisture. I know you have laminated your doors but thats a trick i don't have :D

If i bought another casing which size would i go for as this one is a bit wrecked by my heavy handed-ness


another edit:

686mm = 27" plus i have to leave 3mm clearance all round. So i pack the door lining out 1" either side which would avoid me having to planning the sides of the door.

is that correct?
 
Last edited:
Cheers dan

So it doesn't matter if you expose the chipboard of the door on the top or bottom of veneered doors? I thought it was a no no due to moisture. I know you have laminated your doors but thats a trick i don't have :D

You can seal it with paint / varnish / wood glue or something. :)
Or buy some iron-on veneer like I did, it's only cheap on eBay: Iron on Edging Pre Glued Real Wood Veneer Edge Banding Tape 22mm 30mm 40mm 50mm All you need is an iron, Stanley knife and sand-paper. :smashin:


Remove the casing and replace it with a 636mm door lining?

What size would the casing be then? 28" wide?

Yes. The casings are standard, you just cut them down to whatever size you need. If you can remove the existing one without damaging it, you can just alter it. :smashin:

You want a 690mm opening to accept the door. So you have a 2mm gap all round the door. Remove the casing, take off one side, position it and mark the top section to be cut-down to size. You can just cut it using a hand saw. A chisel will help. Then reattach the top section to the side, and install the casing using some wooden packing blocks & some suitable frame fixings. :smashin:

Dan.
 
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If you already have a casing installed that's too big and hacked up, don't bother removing it. Just pack it out as you'll spend ages faffing about with it trying to get it level and that wall construction won't be fun to fix into.

The standard way to get a hollow door to fit is to trim it to size and then reglue in some blocks of wood within the door to restore it's strength. With a power plane its very easy to do. What actually is the centre of the door made of? Can you post a picture?

Where in Brum are you? If you can afford to wait a couple weeks I can come over and help you one weekend.
 
If you already have a casing installed that's too big and hacked up, don't bother removing it. Just pack it out as you'll spend ages faffing about with it trying to get it level and that wall construction won't be fun to fix into.

The standard way to get a hollow door to fit is to trim it to size and then reglue in some blocks of wood within the door to restore it's strength. With a power plane its very easy to do. What actually is the centre of the door made of? Can you post a picture?

Where in Brum are you? If you can afford to wait a couple weeks I can come over and help you one weekend.


Geps your a legend if thats possible for you i'll send you a PM with my details.


The centre of the door is fibre board not hollow i don't think.
 
With the one you've pictured, you could probably replace the entire casing with a standard one as there looks like room to do that now you have everthing exposed.

Like the others have said, I'd go for packing out the width of all the other door frames and trim down a 686mm wide door.

Trimming the bottom is easy like Geps said if it's a hollow door - you can cut the entire bottom off with the wooden edging block inside the cut off portion so the door is the right height (or a little taller if you want to plane it after), remove the wooden block from the door part you cut off, then reglue it inside the door. Once dry, plane it flat to tidy it up if you have too.

I narrowed down a kitchen door frame by adding two pieces of wood either side of the frame to make it narrower, then replaced the existing architrave on both sides (inside and outide of the room) with something wider to hide where the old architrave was, and to cover the added pieces. Then I hung the door. I glued and screwed the new pieces to the casing, but make sure there are no screws where the hinges will be going, just in case they get in the way of the hinge screws. 686mm wide hollow doors are cheap and easy to fit and should do the trick.

Gary
 
With the one you've pictured, you could probably replace the entire casing with a standard one as there looks like room to do that now you have everthing exposed.

Like the others have said, I'd go for packing out the width of all the other door frames and trim down a 686mm wide door.

Trimming the bottom is easy like Geps said if it's a hollow door - you can cut the entire bottom off with the wooden edging block inside the cut off portion so the door is the right height (or a little taller if you want to plane it after), remove the wooden block from the door part you cut off, then reglue it inside the door. Once dry, plane it flat to tidy it up if you have too.

I narrowed down a kitchen door frame by adding two pieces of wood either side of the frame to make it narrower, then replaced the existing architrave on both sides (inside and outide of the room) with something wider to hide where the old architrave was, and to cover the added pieces. Then I hung the door. I glued and screwed the new pieces to the casing, but make sure there are no screws where the hinges will be going, just in case they get in the way of the hinge screws. 686mm wide hollow doors are cheap and easy to fit and should do the trick.

Gary
Thanks Gary

I think a 686mm door will be too much to deal with at only 27" its going to look odd plus i'm pretty broad and i don't want to be squeezing in like a sardine. Also bringing in furniture that my wife always seems to change will be a right mare.

I think it is plausible to remove some of the brickwork as like you say the hallway is being done soon as my guy becomes less busy as i get mates rates. So in that time i will try to get a builder out to do the work.

It shouldn't disturb the living room too much as i just hope it means chopping the brick from the other side and cutting the plasterboard down in the living room. I can but hope that will be the case!

Someone mentioned about a lintel having to be in place. I cant see one to be honest and above the door holding the floor upstairs is a steel beam not resting on the door that is but above it.

So if there is a lintel i cant see it.

Most helpful anyway thanks.
 

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