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We want to replace six internal doors at our house and I suspect that a joiner would charge an arm and a leg for what doesn't seem to be too difficult a job.
The doors we are going to be fitting are oak from Howdens. I have a tracksaw and will probably pick up a Makita battery powered router for doing the hinge and lock cutouts.
I have a plane but would an electric plane make the job easier?
What else will I need and how difficult is this going to be given that I can use the existing doors as templates?
It's far more difficult than you ever imagined.
How many do you need to do?
You are gonna need hinge and latch jigs for that router and some sharp chisel. Are the door jambs removable?
How good a job are you willing to accept? Are you painting the doors after hanging to hide mistakes?
If you know what you're doing, it's still easy to make a mistake.
We had our upstairs done, 4 doors. Including collecting the ordered doors and cutting them down (all different sizes) and then fitting hinges, handles etc plus various 'tasks' on the frames etc took our joiner about a day. He charged us his normal daily rate (plus VAT).
No way could I have got near his quality, in a week.
I've done it myself a fair bit.
It's job that needs a few tools to make it go well and more importantly some skill/judgement when you discover that the frame is wonky.
If you're not a pretty confident joiner, I would pony up and pay the professional.
I did all mine a few years ago, there's loads of tricks and tips to it, my dads a carpenter and he took me through the first one and I did the rest on my own. I just used some sharp chisels, a handplane, thin cardboard for packing and a little piece of wood the size of half a hinge , when you move to power tools that's when you start needing jigs, also power tools tend to muck it up much quicker (possibly menaing the door is scrap) than hand tools. Most of the time is spent offering the door up marking your next cut then taking it down again to make the cut. Think it took around 2 hours per door in the end, only the first one was a little bit too narrow to latch properly, the rest were fine. I'd bet a pro with a full set of tools will still take 30 minutes a door. If you have a tracksaw I'd use that instead of a power planer, it's only going to be any use for initial trimming to size anyway, you'll be finessing it by hand anyway.
The typical going price for fitting a door is about £50-70. I personally know my limitations, so wouldn't go any where near trying to fit a door myelf, but even if I was bit more handy with a chissel, £500 for a job well done, and not bodging £1,400's worth of oak doors is money well spent.
I fitted ten internal firedoors when we moved in, replacing the existing ones. I watched a friend do the first, helped with the second, he watched me do the next couple and I dod the rest on my own.
I have a plane but would an electric plane make the job easier?
I bought an electric plane but rarely used it. Do it by hand I would say.
will probably pick up a Makita battery powered router for doing the hinge and lock cutouts.
Again, I did thiese by hand with a chisel and mallet but if you have a good template for your router that will make it quicker
the hardest part for me was moving the doors around, but that was in part becuase they were so heavy, being fire doors
I made a pair of saddle and blocks to hold the door upright while planing the edge / cutting the hinges and locks etc
https://www.carpentry-tips-and-tricks.com/Saddle-and-Block.html
A lift will help for getting it in position - I use 2 screwdrivers, one parallel with the door and the other over the first screwdriver, flat blade under the door with me stepping on the handle to lift it
Newish house ?
First step I would take is to check the frames are square, level ,plumb.
Then check the width of the frames.
If your incredibly lucky and the frames have been installed by a decent joiner the doors may just slot in and all you need to do is fit hinge/handle.
I've done it before and found it straightforward. Having a door 'template' helps to get it right. Tools were fairly basic, chisel, Mallet, the right drill bits and electric planer.
I will try most things and with effort and care often get a good (if very slow) result. Hanging doors is one thing, getting them to open and close smoothly is quite an art, pros make it look easy but it is not. I am happy to rehang doors now and again but if I had more than a couple to do. I would pay a pro. He will have them done before you get back from Screwfix with the tools you need...
One door, DIY anymore get someone in.
Replaced 11 doors in my old house and got a pro in, got a good price as I helped out, all done in one day I would have still been doing it weeks later if i'd have done it myself.
I've done a few in our house now, using hand tools (chisels, hammer, lever of some sort for lifting) and an electric drill. None of them have been all that hard so far since I tend to make the door casing as "nice" as possible so the door just slots in -- more or less.
But still, it seems to take bloody ages. Getting it opening and shutting how I want, not binding anywhere, nicely aligned in the casing, etc, just seems to involve far more faffing than you'd expect. That's the downside of being a DIY bloke rather than a joiner I suppose.
I would agree that as a one-off job, assuming you have the tools, it's not too big of a deal. If there are lots to do, I'd look at paying a tradesperson.
To add: I have a door lifter that can be invaluable.
The typical going price for fitting a door is about £50-70. I personally know my limitations, so wouldn’t go any where near trying to fit a door myself, but even if I was bit more handy with a chisel, £500 for a job well done, and not bodging £1,400’s worth of oak doors is money well spent.
+1 Get someone in.
Pretty much as above, you'll need a chisel, and it will need to be sharp, Oak is a tough wood to work. other tools like hammer, screw driver, correct hinges for that weight of door,
But its not really just fitting the hinges.
You'll need to understand how the door fits into the opening, and how to make that a tight fit without it fouling on the lining- theres an undercut needed on the leading edge of the stile.
Probably need to check the opening is square and not twisted, and what you do to hang a door in such a twist. Again making sure the door is hung plumb so it doesn't swing - it can swing shut - ok, or it can swing open - not ok and damned annoying.
Then theres the weight of the door, which most dont realize until they get one off and find its heavy as hell and trying to manhandle it about, into the space, a way of lifting it to measure where the hinge will fit, also levering it up to get that first screw in etc etc and etc
And these are normal sized doors. Here's one I made as a front door for a big house and its nearly 8' high and about 3 1/2' wide in 2 1/4" oak and it weighed a bloody ton.Took three of us to get it into position.
All in all its an art, and a joiner will have mastered it and be aware of many things you wont have thought of.
Just buy one door. Try fitting that. If it looks good and you didn't hate it, do the rest.
If it's put you off, get someone in.
Doing itt quickly in an old house. Very difficult. Taking your time with good frames? Not too bad..
I have hung a few doors and it came out fine to my eyes but unless you want to spend days on it and risk your fancy doors get a pro in
Which Howdens doors, some are very thin veneer! We had 10 of the more expensive ones they do but I paid (well got a family member) to fit who is a real craftsman. Glad I did as a couple were real buggers with twisted frames.
One thing he said was don’t use the Howdens hardware, he said it was excrement. Not sure where he got the stuff from in the end but it’s lasting well.
Oak, harder than a whores heart. That's what my BIL always says.
I've bung a few doors with him, it all starts easily enough until it becomes clear the door opening is nowhere near square.
Not unusual to have it on and off half a dozen times, if your cutting downstairs that gets tired very quickly.
Get a pro.
The blow up bags are handy for adjusting the angle but I've not tried installing from scratch
Which Howdens doors, some are very thin veneer!
The Dordogne door.
I'd be fairly happy to keep the (solid hardwood) doors we've got and just paint/fit new hardware but we've made a new doorway and can't get a matching door for the existing ones.
Looks like it's a job for a joiner.
I used to assess NVQ apprentices and door hanging was the one job with which I used to gauge the skill level of the candidate. If the door had been hung correctly and all the furniture fitted to a good standard then you knew they were going to be competent at most other carpentry tasks.
My advice would be to employ a joiner as unless all your linings are perfect, and even then a DIY’er is going to make mistakes.
@dyna-ti - That is a beautiful piece of work, looks almost too good to use! 😂
My vote is get someone in, which I’m doing for 7 squint doors in an old house in the new year. Will be £600 happily spent in this case for the fitting.
Thanks for the help all - stopped me buying another toy making a mess of it!
question, wouldn't it be simpler knocking out the frame and fitting a new one over trying to make a new door fit in an old twisted frame?
I have this job in the future and we definitely have wonky frames.
but we’ve made a new doorway and can’t get a matching door for the existing ones.
Are you really replacing 6 perfectly good doors rather than fitting one that doesn't quite match!? Some people really do like making extra work. If it really matters to you maybe get a custom door made. Still less work and much less waste.
I put a couple of extra doorways in. I moved one door from another location so all the facing doors are the same then put two new doors in elsewhere. I just put doors in that are a similar style and period but not identical.
For some of the doors we made, we made the door already hinged to the linings. So you would place the door flat, build the lining around it and hinge it on. Then lift the entire lot into the door opening and just screw the lining directly to the frame saving a shed load of work trying to lift it and mark hinge spacing's etc. All the gaps around the door are preconceived so you know it all opens and closes and the gap around it is all uniform.
Admittedly this is easier when you have a 9'x4' bench to work on and a building full of industrial woodworking machinery. But if you've any area big enough it shouldn't be too difficult.
Are you really replacing 6 perfectly good doors rather than fitting one that doesn’t quite match!? Some people really do like making extra work.
Yes, yes we are.
It's part of an overall change in the style of the house.
It may also be sold next year and TBH, your house might be ok with odd doors, but this one won't.
The doors will be sold on so they won't be wasted.
I had 10 of those Dordogne oak doors fitted last year. They are bloody heavy and my joiner (who is fit as foo) was cursing.
Difficult to cut too. We've got neat circular roses and latches and he had some trouble getting them routed. Also, they're pre-finished, so need some care with power tools, moving and hanging not to mark them.
Look good though!
I've had them all off again for decorating - bought some inflatable doorlifters as wedges/screwdrivers WILL mark the door / floor because of the weight. Very easy with these!
I've been paid to fit quite a few doors in my time. Hate it 😂
I'd pay someone else to fit them.
I somehow managed to f*** up 2 yesterday, thankfully just trimming old doors to "that'll do till they're replaced" levels of precision. The gap under the bathroom door isn't quite enough to make it indecent 🤣