www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk

hi,first post,great forum.im renovating a farmhouse and i need a door for the livingroom,problem is its 7ft high. i cant find a door off the shelf anyone know where i could get one?
I have an old photo of the room and the door is a two piece,like a stable door,so thinking of cutting two doors and doing this .Any ideas?
Thanks Ross

hi ross.

you could indeed find 2 doors that you could cut to make a stable door.

if i was to look at this job i would try to find out how much money you would want to spend.

have you thought of getting a local joinery company to make a door for you?

if you are going to buy 2 doors and do all the work involved it is a serious option.

is the door 2'6" wide?

if so a standard door is 6'6" tall. depending on what you want another possibility is to plant on 3" top and bottom.

you could also build the frame down.

there are lots of ways of dealing with this but it is quite hard to know what the best idea is due to not knowing how picky you are. if you like things to be just right then getting a door made is the way i would go.

Hi,yes thats the width,just finished the skirting and facings,i wish i had lowered the door at the time! all painted now though.
The door will be painted so adding a bit may be the way to go.should i add the piece to the top?
Got to fit a carpet first,first time! here we go!

is the door panelled?
in other words has it got a rail of about 4" running alot the top?
if so it will look odd to add just to the top.
i would add to the top and bottom if this is the way you want to go.

how are you going to fix it?

if it is 3" top and bottom i would drill, glue and screw using 4" screws. i would also sink the screw heads in about 1/2". this will help if you need to plane the bottom of the door for carpet.

also make sure you use redwood timber and not whitewood.

you need to get some 4x2 redwood from your local timber yard and then plane it to thickness. normally 35mm for internal doors. i say 4x2 because 3x2 is finished at 2 and 3/4 inches so not quite the 3" you need top and bottom.

Hi Ross, welcome to the forum, Panlid's advice is spot on, however i would be inclined to still keep it as a stable door for the character value.
You can still follow Panlid's instruction's in doing this and it might even make it easier in handling the job if working on 2 parts.

Yes i think so,how would i go about this?
i know about fitting it,but should i just have one handle and a bolt to keep the doors together when desired?

yep. ideally the doors should be rebated at the joint and fixed with a bolt. the rebate should be so that the handle goes on the top leaf and even without the bolt it will all stay shut.
so top rebate over the bottom.
if you dont want to rebate then just bolt them.
internally it isnt too much fuss if not rebated.

as for keeping in character with an old photo, what was on before the stable door, and so what if it was a stable door. how many old houses have an internal stable door?

the other thing you could do since its an old farmhouse is make a 'ledged, braced and batterned door yourself.
dead easy, in keeping and whatever size you want.

http://www.jonathanelwellinteriors.co.u ... braced.htm

mind you stable door would be handy for keeping the kids in!
will think about what to do once i try and fit the carpet,stone floor,have screwed carpet grippers onto it.

if im right i think the room used to be a cheese house before being converted

pictures please.

i would make a ledged and braced door dead easy job for even a diyer

and it would be in keeping

At last found a 7ft door for under £200 so i think i will just buy it will post pics once i get it fitted and the room finished.
Thanks for the advice