Prehung interior doors-how do I know?

[aristocatz]

As weird as this sounds, I've asked my DH for new interior doors for my birthday We are recent first time homeowners & I am loving updating our house.

Our house was built in 1975 & I"m guessing our current doors are the originals or close to it (brown wood, shrink & expands with the weather). Not sure if just the slabs are original or the entire frame, but I'm guessing if the slabs are original, than the frame is as well?

I was looking on the Lowes website and found the style I want (white pre-painted composite). How do we know of we need pre-hung doors or just the slabs? Should we just assume we need the prehung??

This will determine whether we can get just a few doors or replace all of our doors.

Thanks for any info you might have!!

 

[zurgswife]

Unless your DH plans to reframe every single door frame in your house. You just need the door. Pre-hung is usually used with new construction...where you are building a doorway.

 

[aristocatz]

Unless your DH plans to reframe every single door frame in your house. You just need the door. Pre-hung is usually used with new construction...where you are building a doorway.

Thank you!! You just made my day!!

So, dumb question: Can we assume that a new slab will fit in our current frames?? As mentioned, I am guessing our current frames are original to the house (1975). They do not appear to be cracking or anything. I"m not sure if frames swell & shrink with the weather, as our current door slabs do-?

 

[tvguy]

Prehung doors aren't just used in new construction, but also in remodels and upgrades like you are doing.
There is no wiggle room if your new door if too big or too small for your existing frame, plus you have to try and line up the hinge mounts and striker.
By getting a pre-hung door, the door is perfectly fitted to the door frame, and then you can make adjustments between the framing of the house and the door frame, then cover that up with trim.

 

[wdwmom0f3]

Prehung doors aren't just used in new construction, but also in remodels and upgrades like you are doing.
There is no wiggle room if your new door if too big or too small for your existing frame, plus you have to try and line up the hinge mounts and striker.
By getting a pre-hung door, the door is perfectly fitted to the door frame, and then you can make adjustments between the framing of the house and the door frame, then cover that up with trim.

Thank you OP for the question, and thank you tvguy for this information. I too am wanting to replace a few doors in my house but one needs the frame and everything replaced. So for that door I would need a pre hung door right, and then have someone install it? The rest should be standard I'm guessing.

 

[DaretoDis]

When replacing a slab, more than likely it will have to be trimmed to fit. Most doors come in 24 inch (2-0), 30 inch (2-6), 32 inch (2-8) and so on. There are some simple devices to use to mortise for the hinges. What I usually do is place the old door on the new one and line it up and scribe it to cut with a skil saw...usually a little oversized so the door can be planed on that side to hide any blade marks. That is the size I would put the hinges. I would not drill for the door locks/handles until I have the door hung.

A good straight edge can be clamped to the door to make the width cut as straight as possible. You have to be real good to cut it freehand.

The limiting factor may be the tools that will be needed...chisels/router, skil saw, hole saw, power planer, etc.

ETA: Slabs do not come mortised for hinges or have holes for handle/lock sets.

 

[Patch'sD]

I am in the process of replacing all my interior doors, with 6 Panel Molded Solid Doors. Three doors for downstairs which is 1935 Construction. Doors are weird widths and are only 78 inches Height. Rather go through the cut and glue method as described above, I ordered custom sized doors for the weird width and height doors. Those 3 doors will come with Hinge sets installed, Lock set holes drilled and painted to a color that is very close to what I have painted trim. I will have to install a new strike plate which should not be an issue. The cost of the custom doors is $400.00 for three. Since I have plaster interior walls, reframing the doors was out of the question.

As for the upstairs doors I need eight, but that is 1990's Construction and the doors are standard width and 80" in Height. Again using six panel molded Solid filled doors with predrilled Hole for the Lockset. I will have to put in new strike plates and will have to mortise the hinges. The Hinges can be mortised with a Sharp Utility Knife and Wood Chisel. Just trace the hinge on the new door and use the utility kife to cut the width of the hinge. Then again with the utility knife make several cuts the width of the chisel on the part of the door you want to remove. Chisel out the wood and the hinge should be perfect. The doors for the upstairs will run me about $45.00 per door and the lock sets should be about $20 for the curved handles I am looking for.

 

[Patch'sD]

When replacing a slab, more than likely it will have to be trimmed to fit. Most doors come in 24 inch (2-0), 30 inch (2-6), 32 inch (2-8) and so on. There are some simple devices to use to mortise for the hinges. What I usually do is place the old door on the new one and line it up and scribe it to cut with a skil saw...usually a little oversized so the door can be planed on that side to hide any blade marks. That is the size I would put the hinges. I would not drill for the door locks/handles until I have the door hung.

A good straight edge can be clamped to the door to make the width cut as straight as possible. You have to be real good to cut it freehand.

The limiting factor may be the tools that will be needed...chisels/router, skil saw, hole saw, power planer, etc.

ETA: Slabs do not come mortised for hinges or have holes for handle/lock sets.

At Lowes, door slabs do have holes for locksets.

 

[DaretoDis]

At Lowes, door slabs do have holes for locksets.

That's wishful thinking that a predrilled hole for a lockset will line up with an existing latch hole. I've done dozens of door/slab installs, and never found one with any predrilled holes or hinge mortises.

I'll swing by Lowes today just to satisfy my curiousity (sp).

 

[DaretoDis]

I stand corrected. Not sure if those styles are what the OP is looking for, but might work.

Depending on what kind of trim/casing is around the jamb and if it can be salvaged, it might be best to just do the prehungs.

 

[EMode]

We just replaced the very last ugly old brown door in our house with white 3 paneled ones. We went with pre-hung. My dh didn't want to deal with all the issues mentioned here (hinges, holes for locks etc) on just the door. It is quicker for him to pop in a pre-hung. We also replaced all the casings and floor trim so that made it an easier decision too.

I would be worried on an older home that you say has issues with swelling/shrinking. If the frame has changed a little just putting a door in may be troublesome.

 

[Disneychix]

In our last house we replaced all the doors. Only on one did we replace the whole frame. This was the only door in the house that closed completely and with no sticking.

I would consider the pre-hung for your most used doors- bathrooms and bedrooms in use.

 

[aristocatz]

We just replaced the very last ugly old brown door in our house with white 3 paneled ones. We went with pre-hung. My dh didn't want to deal with all the issues mentioned here (hinges, holes for locks etc) on just the door. It is quicker for him to pop in a pre-hung. We also replaced all the casings and floor trim so that made it an easier decision too.

I would be worried on an older home that you say has issues with swelling/shrinking. If the frame has changed a little just putting a door in may be troublesome.

Thank you all for your replies. It seems like pre-hung might be the safer choice. All of our current doors have issues with sticking and swelling, with the exception of our basement door and upstairs bathroom.

Is it possible for my DH to remove the old frame & door and install the new ones by himself or is this really a two person job? He has never done it before, but he is quite handy. Just wondering if you really need two people to do this.

My job would be to watch our baby at this time, so she keeps herself out of danger and trouble!

 

[clh2]

Aristocatz - IMHO - this is easier if it is a 2-person job. In my case - my husband thinks that EVERYTHING is a DIY project. I usually try to get an estimate from someone on Craigslist, so that my husband will know how inexpensive some handymen really are.

With hanging a pre-hung door - if I recall - there is shimming (based on levelling and making sure everything is plumb) that needs to be done. My guess is - that process will go a lot faster if one person "holds" and the other person "shims".

Same with moving the doors. Can one person move them? Sure they can. But it will go a lot faster if two people are doing it, plus - i'm willing to bet that 2 people will have better control on "not nicking or dinging" the walls while the doors are being moved.

Now - I'm only mentioning the above based on DIY'ers. An experienced carpenter/handyman would probably be able to do these projects "solo". We are having the door replaced between our house and our garage in a couple of weeks, and this will be a "one-man" show, and he should be able to handle this work himself. DH will be at his normal computer-desk-type job when this happens!

 

[EMode]

Thank you all for your replies. It seems like pre-hung might be the safer choice. All of our current doors have issues with sticking and swelling, with the exception of our basement door and upstairs bathroom.

Is it possible for my DH to remove the old frame & door and install the new ones by himself or is this really a two person job? He has never done it before, but he is quite handy. Just wondering if you really need two people to do this.

My job would be to watch our baby at this time, so she keeps herself out of danger and trouble!

A handy person could definitely do it by themself but like the other poster said it would be easier and quicker with a helper. I barely helped dh with some of our doors and my ds helped him with the last one. By help I mean I just was handed the old trim to take out onto the deck and plug in the air compressor

Check out a youtube video to give you an idea of what it entails.

 

[DaretoDis]

The secret to success installing a prehung door is minimal shimming on the hinge side. If it is plumb without any shimming just attach it to the framing and shim the latch side.

Do not rely on finish nails to hold the door jamb in place, at least at the area of the top hinge. Pull out one of the screws holding the hinge to the jamb and use a 3 inch screw to pull the jamb to the framing. You can nail the rest of the way down, or screw through other hinges.

The above is why most doors sag and catch at the top edge of the latch side. Gravity wins all the time. Always pull out one of the short screws holding the hinge to the jamb and use a 3 inch screw to hold it tight.

To tell if your door is in right, the space between the top of the door and the jamb should be equal all the way across.

Good luck.

ETA...As far as handling the whole prehung door assembly, it is a function of how heavy a door you are getting...solid or hollow core or vinyl. You can pretty much take the door off the hinges until you get the hinge side attached, and then rehang the door to shim out the latch side.

 

[lisaviolet]

As weird as this sounds, I've asked my DH for new interior doors for my birthday

Didn't sound remotely weird to my ears. On the contrary.

Oh man, I love shaker doors. I think I'll ask for a door for my birthday.