How do you reframe a frameless door?

October 26, 2016 4:46 PM

I've got three beautiful unframed old doors I want to install. They were taken out of an old house and the frames did not come with. I know how to install a door that is in a frame but how the hell do you put a door IN a frame?

I have a compound miter saw and a handheld circular saw. I also have a kreg jig. However, I am not sure I would know what I'm doing. Is this something I could do on my own? Is there a class of professional who could put them in frames for me? Am I totally borked?

posted by Foam Pants to Home & Garden (11 answers total)

Here is one way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sViv0iGE67w
posted by JayRwv at 5:06 PM on October 26, 2016 [1 favorite]

You can likely do this on your own, but it isn't going to be all that quick. A basic door frame is just two sets of three pieces: you need the frame itself (the jambs and head), which is typically 1" material at the width of your door opening thickness (including drywall), and the stops, which you can just use 1" wide 1" stock for (i.e. 3/4" x 1"). You can just screw the head to the jambs from the outside and use finish nails to attach the stop to the frame after the door is hung.

The tricky part is cutting the wood to the right width, which is called ripping. This is tough to do well without a table saw. If you are very careful, you can attach a straight edge to the material so that you can run your circular saw along it and make the cut in the right place. You may be able to buy a door jamb cut to width and length, depending on what material you are looking for, at a big box store or a lumber yard. If you want something less common, a decent lumber supplier should be able to make the rip cuts for you for little cost. Look for a place that sells hardwoods, not construction lumber (even if you want a softwood).

Assemble the frame, slide it into place and secure it, then hang the door. This part is also a bit tricky. Before you assemble the frame, you need to cut the mortises (little slots) in the door jamb: the easiest way is to use a router. You can do it carefully with a chisel. Get the edges right and the outside edge of the mortise flat and the rest will be covered by the hinge. You'll just space these to match the existing hinges or mortises on the door. Once the door is hung, attach the stops with finish nails and a nail set.

The professional who does this is called a finish carpenter. Depending on your skill set, this may take you a while, but a pro won't need long at all.
posted by ssg at 5:11 PM on October 26, 2016 [4 favorites]

Are you doing an interior door or an exterior door? Matters more for materials than the labor.

I work in a lumber yard like ssq talks about. One of my coworkers looked into ordering just the frame for an interior door earlier this week and it came out somewhere between $100 and $150 for the customer. So getting the frame already made might not be an economical option.

Do the door slabs have spots already carved out for hinges?
posted by theichibun at 5:33 PM on October 26, 2016

Hanging old doors in new frames is a fairly finicky and specialized task that is best done by an experienced carpenter who has done this before. It's a level of mastery in the craft tradition. I personally wouldn't recommend doing this myself if you've never done it before.
posted by ovvl at 6:01 PM on October 26, 2016 [4 favorites]

How old is your house? I know when my dad tried to do this he ran into issues because the house is not level; it was a big pain in the butt and he is very handy.
posted by pintapicasso at 6:03 PM on October 26, 2016

Save the pain and hide it out.
posted by LoveHam at 7:48 PM on October 26, 2016

I've made a couple of door frames and hung doors in them. I copied an existing one by measuring the various widths of timber needed and bought them all in pse softwood (I painted it afterwards). Also found similar architrave. I used a router for to cut out the hinges and latch recesses. All went fairly well although this was in new properties with straight walls and ceiling, I'd have struggled if they weren't (and probably not realised until too late!).
posted by JonB at 11:01 PM on October 26, 2016

I did this once—with the same tools (iirc, I didn't use the kreg jig), instructions found online, condo in a ~1920 building, door from within the building, but not that particular opening. The original frame had been removed in previous remodel. I'm pretty handy, but not a carpenter by a long shot. It was a major pain in the ass that, god willing, I will never again face in this lifetime.

If the opening/surrounding walls are noticeably out of true, I would hire a finish carpenter.
posted by she's not there at 12:41 AM on October 27, 2016

With old, used doors there are a lot of potential complications. The doors might've been trimmed due to swelling or for a non-standard opening, the top and/or bottom edges might be angled to compensate for settling, the whole thing might be warped or twisted, etc. Building a frame isn't rocket science, but my experience with beginners taking on something like this (I manage a student workshop) is that most people get into trouble by making incorrect assumptions, e.g. that the door is flat and square, widths and thicknesses are consistent, edges are straight, etc. It's also very common for newbies to underestimate the degree of precision necessary to do a good job. You can probably work your way through this, but you'll need some more tools and chances are that you'll hang the first door three times and blow through some extra material before you're even moderately happy with the result. If you get that far, the second and third doors will be much easier. If you're not that interested in finish carpentry, then hire a finish carpenter.
posted by jon1270 at 5:42 AM on October 27, 2016 [4 favorites]

I've done this - old doors, weird sized doorways, custom-cut doors. It requires patience and is fiddly work, but totally doable if you have some experience in working with wood and are comfortable with home renovations. I have a router, but I always use a chisel for the hinge and strike plate. The video linked up top is excellent, as is jon1270's advice. Worst-case scenario you waste time and wood and learn a few things along the way. Do the old doors fit your doorways? You may also need a decent plane to shave the doors -- old doors tend to be wonky and require adjustment. You may also need a table saw to rip wood to width.
posted by fimbulvetr at 8:30 AM on October 27, 2016

Also, as no-one has mentioned it (it was in the video though): the wall door openings must be bigger than the door and frame put together, to allow room for putting in shims to level and true the whole thing, and to allow for space under the door so it swings without scrapping the floor. If it is not bigger, this project will end in tears. You may have to adjust the size of the old doors.

Every time I deal with a door frame, I always swear that *next time* I will just use a pre-hung door. Unfortunately, literally every single door in my old house are of different sizes and none of them are standard.
posted by fimbulvetr at 8:47 AM on October 27, 2016 [1 favorite]