How To Install A Prehung Door This Old House

A door is a precision instrument. It should consistently snap into its latch, articulate its jamb, and swing effortlessly on its hinges. The fine tolerances needed to accomplish this kind of operation help explain why hanging a door is considered a truthful measure of carpentry skill.

"I started out using little more a hammer, a chisel, and a screwdriver," says This Former House general contractor Tom Silva. In those days, he'd gather the jamb, paw-cut the hinge mortises, and hang the door separately. "It took a good long time and lots of patience," he says.

What Is a Prehung Door?

A prehung door is a unit that comes with hardware and a frame, ready to be installed into a doorway. Purchasing one does simplify and speed up installation, but the term "prehung" is really a misnomer. These doors and jambs must still be carefully adjusted to business relationship for shortcomings in the wall frame. "Information technology requires accurateness to put in 1 of these," Tom says. "If it'due south non installed right, it won't hang well."

Mutual Mistakes to Avoid When Ordering Prehung Doors

Back when carpenters assembled the parts around a door piece by piece, they could easily customize their piece of work, brand changes, or correct problems. With a prehung door, however, near of the assembly work is done off-site, then a fault made when you lot place an order can turn a perfectly good unit into worthless chip. Here are two steps for avoiding that outcome.

KNOW YOUR OPENING: Prehung doors are fabricated to fit rough openings two to 2 ^one⁄_ii inches bigger than the corresponding dimensions of the jamb. The jamb'due south depth should match the thickness of the wall, including the plaster or drywall. If the opening already exists, check that the trimmers are plumb, parallel, and square to the wall and the header. If they aren't, read "Prehung Door Swing: Getting It Perfect" (beneath) before you order.

SPECIFY THE SWING Direction: Your supplier needs to know which way you lot want the door to swing, but beware of the question, "Y'all want a left-mitt or a correct-hand door?" Those terms don't e'er mean the aforementioned thing. So rather than answering straight, say instead which side you lot want the knob to be on when opening the door toward yous. Let that person effigy out what the door'southward "handedness" is.

Split Jamb And Main Jamb With Casings On Prehung Door

Prehung doors hang on a jamb that is "carve up" into two pieces. The door is attached to the main jamb, which is installed first. The divide jamb has a groove under the stop so it can slide over the edge of the main jamb. Typically, both jambs are furnished with casings already attached.

How to Install a Prehung Interior Door

Parts of a Prehung Door

ane. Check the rough opening

Man Using Level In Doorway To Install Prehung Interior Door

Place a 4-human foot level on the floor in the doorway. If the swivel side is lower than the latch side, slip shims under the level nearest the hinge jamb. Adjust until the level'due south bubble is centered.
Tack the shims to the flooring with a finish nail. If the latch side is lower, no shims are needed.
Bank check the walls and the trimmer studs for plumb using a level or plumb bob. Too, check the trimmers' faces with a framing square to see if they are foursquare to the wall.
Finally, check that the trimmers are parallel by measuring between them at the top, lesser, and eye of the opening. If the wall is out of plumb, or the trimmers are out of plumb, out of foursquare, or not parallel, encounter "Prehung Door Swing: Getting It Perfect" below.

2. Shim the trimmers

Man Taking Measurements With Plumb Bob To Place Shims

On the hinge jamb, measure from the bottom of the jamb to the heart of each hinge. Marker the hinge locations on the hinge-side trimmer past measuring up from the flooring (or top of the shims).
Tack the plumb bob to the tiptop of the hinge-side trimmer, and measure the gap between the string and the trimmer at each swivel location. Where the gap is the smallest, place overlapping shims.
Adjust the shims to 1/viii inch thick, and tack them with a stop nail. Measure out the gap between the shims and the plumb bob string.
Identify overlapping pairs of shims at the other two hinge locations. Adjust each pair'due south thickness until the gap betwixt shims and cord equals the gap at the start pair.
Nail each pair to the trimmer and cut off the ends with a utility knife and then they don't protrude past the drywall.

3. Fit door into opening

Man Fits Prehung Door In Rough Opening Of Doorway

Lift the door into the rough opening and push the hinge jamb tight confronting the shims tacked to the trimmers.
Tack an 8d finish boom through the confront of the hinge-side casing 3 inches below the miter, into the trimmer. Hold a level against the confront of the casing and adjust the jamb in and out until plumb.
If the wall is plumb and the casing rests flush against information technology, tack 8d finish nails through information technology at the other ii hinge locations.
If the wall is out of plumb and the casing does non balance against it, shim behind the casing at the swivel locations to brand the door plumb.
Nail through the casing and shims and into the trimmer. Fill whatever gaps between the casing and the wall with tapered wood wedges.

4. Adjust the gap between the door

Man Checks Horizontal Gap Or Reveal Of Doorway

Check the horizontal gap, or "reveal," betwixt the summit of the door and the head jamb. It should be uniform from left to right and 1/eight- to 3/16-inch broad.
If necessary, adjust the reveal past pushing up the caput casing. Set this reveal by driving an 8d smash through the face of the latch-side casing and into the trimmer, near the top of the door.
Check the vertical reveal between door and jamb on the latch side. It should be about the thickness of a nickel. To accommodate it, grab the casing and move the jamb by hand.
Open up and close the door to check that its leading edge, the i that rests against the end, clears the jamb by a consistent 1/8 inch.
Prepare the reveal by driving 8d finish nails every sixteen inches through the latch-side casing and into the trimmer. Make sure the reveal remains consistent.

5. Anchor the jamb

Man Slips Shims Between Jamb Near Top Of Door Opening

Slip a pair of shims betwixt main jamb on the latch side and the trimmer, near the elevation of the door opening. When they are just touching the dorsum of the jamb without putting any pressure on information technology, nail them to the trimmer with 8d finish nails.
Nail additional pairs of shims a few inches in a higher place the base of this jamb, as well as simply in a higher place and below the strike plate. Without these shims, the jamb could flex.

half-dozen. Supervene upon hinge screw

Man Removes Center Screw From Top Hinge Leaf Of Prehung Door

On the hinge jamb, remove the middle screw from the superlative swivel leafage and replace it with a spiral that's long enough to penetrate the trimmer. This prevents the door from sagging and binding.

Tip: If the long screws don't friction match the ones that came with the hinges, install them behind the hinge leafage.

vii. Attach the split up jamb

Man Attaches Split Jamb Of Prehung Interior Door

Starting at the bottom, gently push the edge of the divide jamb into the groove in the primary jamb. Tap the two jambs together using both hands.
Nail the casing to the wall on both sides of each miter, and about every 18 inches along the casing.
To agree the 2 jambs together, drive 8d finish nails through the stop and into the trimmers: 1 nail at each swivel location, 1 through the shims nearly the elevation and the lesser of the latch jamb, and 1 each just above and below the striker. Do NOT blast into the head jamb.

8. Mountain the latch hardware

Man Installs Latch Hardware On Prehung Interior Door

Fasten the strike plate to the mortise in the latch jamb using the screws provided. If the plate is bigger than the mortise, put the plate on the jamb, outline it with a pencil, and chisel to the outline.
Skid the latch commodities into its diameter and fasten its plate into the mortise on the door'due south edge with the screws provided. If the mortise is too tight, suit its size in the same manner as you did the strike plate.
Fit the knobs to both sides of the latch bolt, then insert and tighten the connecting screws that hold the knobs together.
Close the door and listen for the latch sliding into its strike. If the door rattles, curve the prong on the strike plate slightly toward the stop. If the latch doesn't catch, bend the prong abroad from the terminate. Tighten all the screws.

Prehung Door Swing: Getting It Perfect

Just as it's easier to build a business firm on a level foundation, it's simpler to hang a door that'southward level, plumb, and square. While these are rare qualities in nigh quondam houses (and an unfortunate number of new ones), the fact that an opening is out of sorts doesn't hateful the door has to exist. The play a joke on is to conform either the opening itself or your door-hanging technique.

OUT-OF-PLUMB WALLS: When a wall is more than 1/8-inch out of plumb between the top of the opening to the floor, the door should be plumbed independently of the opening. Only plumb the swivel and latch jambs with a level or a bob and agree them in identify with shims. In that location will be a gap between the casing and the wall, so cut a piece of wood to fill up information technology. A carve up jamb can fit over a 2x4 stud wall upwards to 1/two-inch out of plumb. More than than that, and you may need to alter the jamb.

OUT-OF-PLUMB or NON-PARALLEL TRIMMERS: Shims can make upward for out-of-plumb trimmers, unless they are and so bad the the door doesn't fit. If the fit is a bit also tight across the lesser (and the wall is newly drywalled), you may exist able to gain ane/2-inch or and then with a niggling pounding. Remove the screws that hold the drywall to the trimmers, then coax the trimmer ends into the wall with a sledgehammer. Toenail them back to the sole plate, cut the plate back flush using a reciprocating saw, and reattach the drywall screws. A sledge won't work if the opening is too tight at the top, or if the wall is covered with old plaster. In those cases, reframe the opening or order a smaller door.

OUT-OF-SQUARE TRIMMERS: A framing square tin tell you whether the faces of the trimmers are square to the wall surface. If they're not, you lot might end up with jump hinges or uneven gaps betwixt the door and the jamb. To correct this, add together a third shim to the standard opposed pair. Slide the third shim back and forth under the other ii to change their angle with respect to the trimmer. Notation: If yous have done this on the hinge side, double check that all three sets of shims are plumb earlier installing the door.

What to Do After the Door Arrives...

Measure the length of the head and side jambs. The corresponding dimensions in a plumb and square rough opening should be 2 to 2 ^ane⁄_ii inches longer. (Worst case, a door could be installed with as little equally 1/8-inch clearance, side to side.) Also check that the jamb depth equals the wall'southward thickness.
Check that the door will swing in the correct direction after it's installed.
The clearance between the bottom of the door and the terminate floor should be iii/8-inch or less. This clearance is gear up by trimming the ends of the hinge and latch jambs. Just be sure to allow for a threshold or thick carpeting before making these cuts.
Examination-fit the lockset in the holes bored in the door. Holes that are besides minor tin be rebored. Holes that are too big will have to be plugged, sanded, and so bored again. If possible, turn this job back to the shop that did the work.

Read How to Install an Exterior Prehung Door for information on outside door installation.

Tools

Source: https://www.thisoldhouse.com/doors/21016350/how-to-install-a-prehung-door

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