Interior doors

[chasssmash]

I have decided to replace all the interior doors in my house- probably with solid core doors.

Any advice for me?


I am always wary of buying stuff at home depot but are their Jeld Wen interior doors decent- the price looks good.

[troidus]

Do you have any joinery experience? If the frames are good, you could make new doors yourself and have a much nicer product that looks exactly how you want. Or, if they're all the same, you might find a small shop looking for mid-winter work that could crank out a batch for you.

Earlier this year I had a local shop make a garage door panel for me, using the rotted original panel as a template. $360, made from cedar. Fit like a glove.

[troidus]

I installed a Jeld-Wen fire door a few months ago. It went well enough, once I redid the wall to properly accept a door.

[SJSharkfan]

Solid core 3 hinge doors.

I've done both pre hung and cut to fit existing frames. Pre hung is the way to go if you are doing a lot of doors and plan on changing the moulding. One old house I bought had strange, non stock size doors. I had to custom fit every one. Major PITA. If you don't already posses them, buy some good tools and air compressor/ finish nailer.

[kobudo28]

Originally Posted by chasssmash

I have decided to replace all the interior doors in my house- probably with solid core doors.

Any advice for me?


I am always wary of buying stuff at home depot but are their Jeld Wen interior doors decent- the price looks good.

If you have a building recycling center in your area you might consider going there to see if they have enough matching doors for your job. It may take some labor on your part, but older, well made doors.......speak for themselves.

I don't know the style of your house, painted word or natural finsh, etc. It pays to do your homework on this one. The doors on the main floor of our house are Doug Fir, solid as can be. Whoever finished the upstairs used hollow core doors. They look cheap, feel cheap, are cheap.

[chasssmash]

Just found a really good carpenter who will do 12 doors for about a grand plus materials. Very talented guy so ill spring for it.

Chasbo

[SJSharkfan]

Originally Posted by chasssmash

Just found a really good carpenter who will do 12 doors for about a grand plus materials. Very talented guy so ill spring for it.

Chasbo

That sounds like a great deal.

[Dr Klaun]

Originally Posted by chasssmash

Just found a really good carpenter who will do 12 doors for about a grand plus materials. Very talented guy so ill spring for it.

Chasbo

Not sure how many doors you have to know if that's a good deal or not, but I don't think that matters. Lifting / fitting SC doors is kind of a bitch by yourself. I did slab SC doors in my old house (modern finishes) and the doors were 100 lbs. + -each. I'll pay someone the next time.

[ChromeSux]

The previous owner of my house is a friend of mine, he had a SC door put on the master bedroom, along with a dead bolt, the guy has plenty of money and buys only the good stuff but the builder only put the regular length screws on the hinges, the other day i noticed the door did not want to close properly, i checked it out and determined the door frame was not strong enough for the weight, i could see the frame move a little on the hinge side, to remedy the situation i put long screws on the hinges that go into the door frame, made sure they were long enough to go into the 2x4 studs, it closes properly and the frame work does not move now.
I like the security aspects of the SC door and the dead bolt.

I am no carpenter but it looks like the door frame is only attached to the 2x4 frame work by finish nails, is that correct?

Now i am debating if i should put better screws in the side of the hinge that goes into the door.

[troidus]

Originally Posted by ChromeSux

I am no carpenter but it looks like the door frame is only attached to the 2x4 frame work by finish nails, is that correct?

It shouldn't be that way. The door I recently installed used #9x3.5" screws, six on the hinge side and four on the strike side.

[Dave]

Originally Posted by SJSharkfan

Solid core 3 hinge doors.

I've done both pre hung and cut to fit existing frames. Pre hung is the way to go if you are doing a lot of doors and plan on changing the moulding. One old house I bought had strange, non stock size doors. I had to custom fit every one. Major PITA. If you don't already posses them, buy some good tools and air compressor/ finish nailer.

^^^^^ This.

Since you're going for slabs and not pre-hung, you have the enviable task of making sure all the jambs are square and straight.

If your carpenter is making the doors all the same size, you'll need to make sure all your frames are the same size, too. You don't want big gaps or the door pinching anywhere. Better yet, let him measure the openings, putting the onus on him to make sure the doors are the right size.

See you in the spring!

[Infracaninophile]

I did it about 6 years ago. We bought a 1974 tract home in nice condition which had original non-solid doors. We used Home Depot and got solid core Weld Jenn doors and had them installed. IIRC we had about 11 doors and 2 more that were pre-hung with frames due to code changes for the garage and the door to the mechanical room. The total cost was about $3200.

They did a great job. The doors took about 5-6 weeks to arrive as they were special order and the install took 2.5 days. The guy that did it was a real pro and we could not be happier. It was definitely something way beyond my skill level. It definitely made the house look and feel nicer. One of the best bang-for-the-bucks things we did.

Tom