www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk

I trim loads of sticking doors, one of the many s****y jobs i do

Anyway, i remove door, powerplane normally 2-3 mm off, reset locks etc, rehang. What i have noticed is some doors (mainly old hardwood doors) appear to be not cut square on the edge, and not even all the way down, and you can get 1mm or so of a paint ridge on the corner.


If removing just a few mm, i think the power planer is the way to go, but it wants to 'go with' the errors on the edge.

What would you do to get a perfectly square edge on a old door

I'm no joiner handy, but I would use a straight edge down the jam face and look for risen areas, scribble them and remove - repeat. Could use the power plane on a fine setting (you won't loose so much skin then ) would depend on the depth of removal, hand plane if fine. I guess on the final cuts hand plane would be the tool.

On the other 'across' the jam face, I'd use a square and do the same.

I'd like to know how a joiner would do it though?

hank, what you are talking about (ithink) is called the 'leading edge'

if you think of a door and the corner where the hinge knuckle is being one point and the opposite corner of the closing side, this is actually longer than the width of the face of the door.
when closing, this 'leading edge' gets the closest to the frame till it is shut wherein it is ok again.
there is no need for this to be drastic but on some doors they have gone over the top.
as for the paint ridge on the corner, i have noticed alot of door fitters nowadays dont bother to knock off the 'Arris'. i do this by just running a block plane at 45 degrees along all the edges after i have planed it to fit.
this allows the 2 faces of the paint to meet without forming a ridge.
ive had a late night and this is a bit early so forgive me if i have re read it

it the side that has the lock on it that i find sticks on the frame when closing (opposite the hinged side)

the closing side.
what can happen alot is that the hinge side gets bogged up with paint and starts to bind, slightly throwing the door over. doorframes also move.
my point is that you dont want a perfect square edge on the door as the door as in effect you have to have a bigger gap between door and frame to clear the 'opposite corners rule' (just made that term up cant you guess)

its like measuring across the corners of a square measuring more that edge to edge.
the thicker the door the more it has to have the leading edge off.
in fact i think some prefinished doors actually come with their leading edge already off.

A bit like this?

yes, but the hinge side should be eased as well to stop any binding from pain or a twisted frame.

if its done right then the full side of the door is chamfered. alot of the time half is flat and half is chamfefred which leaves a ;little ridge down the middle.
this doesnt look good.

It was only a quick drawing to help

I'm not a Joiner!

2 crys?

now now jaegs, it was indeed a great drawing. more than i could do.
why not do another to emphasise the chamfer on the hinge side?

please

i know im late for this one. however. the solution is simple and never endingly the same for a carpenter

the carpenter should first remove the paint from (both) door edges, second reomve the paint from (both) door jambs

99% of the time the original door will fit the original opening. WHY...............

because 99% of the time the carpenter who fitted the door in the first place fitted it correctly

SO it must be the painters fault. NOT always.

IF householders wont pay painters to remove old paint..........................

ps panlid is correct, a 3 degree chamfer on both door edges makes fitting easier, quicker and best of all

2mm margins ar simple (as they should )


ANYBODY who fits any door with margins of more than 2mm is a carletan cowboy cheap builder chav bodger rip off merchant.

because its as easy to do it right as it is to do it wrong

and now im on the rant. why do fire doors have to have door stops finished thickness 25mm

because builders employ "carpenters" who are totally incapable of fitting a fire door with a 2mm margin.

5mm is not an unusual door margin for "builders" carpenters (hence the 25mm (finished) thickness

Here's a better one....

allan, havnt you got any hobbies?

allan, havnt you got any hobbies?