UKH

I know lots of you have good ideas on diy so going out to the UKC collective. I’m looking for some new interior doors but my house currently has slightly Mis-sized door frames.

Standard new doors are 1981mm and are trimmable by up to 20mm in total. my doors go as small as 1945mm.
So, in my position would you (a) over trim the door (b) order customer built doors (c) replace the door frame (d) get a professional in to sort t out (e) other?

Cheers

In reply to stevieb:

B, order correct (ish) sized doors and plane to fit.

In reply to stevieb:
Go to your local reclamation yard and have a look to see if they have any irregular sized doors, maybe?

In reply to stevieb:

I had a similar situation and when I over trimmed the door was left with the hollow part of the door. I measured the internal dimensions, bought some wood to suit and glued it in place.

In reply to stevieb:

e) youtube.com/watch?v=-9UwXOzmIEo&

In reply to stevieb:

I bought cheap doors on sale and over trimmed one to see if it would be ok. It was fine

In reply to stevieb:

You could buy solid doors or more expensive doors with thicker internal batons that would allow you to trim them more.

In reply to stevieb:

Depends on the type of door. The moulded hardboard ones are filled with eggbox cardboard and have a wooden batten to frame it. If you over-trim and the batten falls out, just glue another piece back in. The only issue might be if the batten doesn't drop out but there isn't enough to hold the hinge well. The way these are made means they can stand a fair bit of abuse and are cheap if it all goes wrong.
The pine ones can be harder as they are held by joints in the wood. If you take too much off you can cut into joint and weaken it. Nothing catastrophic but over time the weight of the door (they are much heavier than hardboard ones) will pull open the joints, the door will sag and drag on the floor. I guess a couple of decent length screws drilled in from the hinge side into the stiles would reinforce it.

In reply to stevieb:
Get hold of a single new door and trim for the worst case condition and try option a. (I'd trim some from the top as well as the bottom rail.) Chances are it'll be fine. If it is, get the other new doors and do the same as your tester.

In reply to stevieb:

Hi, thanks for all the answers, I am looking at hardwood veneer doors, so yes they will have a cavity, I wasn’t sure quite how wide the solid strip will be. I might give it a go, but I’ll be taking 18mm off top and bottom in the worst case.
I need 6 matching(ish) doors so reclamation is trickier

In reply to stevieb:

The head and base rails will probably be only 18mm max. Just take it off the bottom in a single cut and glue a new base rail in the cavity.

If possible, use a circular saw with a good blade. Clamp a batten to the door as a guide. Pre-cut the veneer on both sides of the door a fraction above the cut with a straight edge and a Stanley knife. This will prevent the blade picking up the veneer. Use masking tape on the face of the door if they are pre-finished and the saw base may scratch the laquer.

In reply to FactorXXX:

I have boroadly this strategy in mind for such a door re-size - but I must 1st cut away internal 5mm bracing. I ned a tidy way to cut into the end of the door at fixed depth. The only saw which will do this would be circular - but how to support and control in 'wrong' axis ??

In reply to LeeWood:

It's probably me and my brain now being in 'holiday mode', but I can't understand what you're planning on doing and what you're actually asking. Are you able to clarify?

In reply to Fraser:

The door has internal bracing of 5mm laths (glued). I would like to cut these out of the end without damage to the skin-outer - then fix a rigid 35mm batten internally to restore the original design / and robustness. A circular saw would be perfect in depth control but unwieldy - esp to use in vertical axis.

In reply to LeeWood:

Sorry, I still can't quite picture what you're trying to do. (I'm guessing it's essentially 'scooping out' part of the bottom rail to allow you to stick in a solid batten as a replacement.) If so, would a router be a better tool?

In reply to LeeWood:
Sounds like something that would be easier done with a router.

In reply to Fraser:

That might work depending on the length (NB. not diameter) of the Bit

The real prob is the setup and visual access - better end-up. It sounds onorous but poss better to set the door on end - outside using building trestles - so that I can get on top of it in good lighting

In reply to LeeWood:

Oscillating saw/multitool, router or a nice sharp chisel.

Make a little wooden jig to hold the router especially if you have a few to do.
Jk

In reply to stevieb:

Carefully cut the worst case door down so you can understand the internal structure, make your plan, beef up any weak bits with timber blocks then salvage the batons you trimmed off and refit them to close up the open edge.
Jk