Oh dear - what's happened to my door?

Soubrette

After some excellent ceiling advice on here (thanks guys :beer: ), the room is decorated and the door needed to be planed to size after the new carpet turned out to be much thicker than the original.

The trouble is that I seem to have run out of solid door but I still need to take another cm off?????

Have I wrecked the door and so need to replace it? and if so, how can I ensure that I buy a door with enough of a solid bottom to plane off enough?

If I don't need to replace the door - how on earth do I make the bottom solid again rather than just open?

Hope that makes sense

Sou

Steph998

Sounds like you have bought a hollow door instead of a solid wood door?
These interior doors have a very small frame at all edges. I think you can buy semi solid doors....but you would need to measure very carefully and get some advice from wherever you buy it.

Soubrette

Steph998 wrote: »

Sounds like you have bought a hollow door instead of a solid wood door?
These interior doors have a very small frame at all edges. I think you can buy semi solid doors....but you would need to measure very carefully and get some advice from wherever you buy it.

Thanks Steph - I'm a complete diy idiot

The doors were there when I moved in but they definitately are hollow:eek:

Sou

Ebe_Scrooge

I know what you mean. A lot of internal doors these days are hollow - that is, a wooden frame with plywood or similar fixed on top. Sounds like you've planed away all of the bottom frame, leaving unsupported plywood.

This can be fixed - basically you need to replace the bottom member of the frame with some fresh timber. Simple enough in theory, and actually not particularly difficult, but very fiddly and time-consuming.

In hindsight ( yes I know, it's always easy in hindsight ! ), if you're taking off a fair bit of depth it's better to trim the top and bottom equally, then reposition the hinges as necessary. Again, quite a fiddle but not difficult.

In your situation, if you don't fancy repairing the door you may well be better off getting a new one. A plain, standard sized interior door is not expensive in any of the big DIY stores, and it may well save you a lot of hassle ( although, you'll still have to fit the hinges and handles and trim as necessary ). So it's a toss-up really, depending on how confident you are with your carpentry skills. Having fitted a lot doors in my time ( and I'm just a DIY-er ), there's nothing particularly difficult, but it does take a lot of time. And remember the old maxim - measure twice, cut once :-) Hope this helps.

Soubrette

Thanks Ebe - I'm thinking I might go down the route of a carpenter

Sou

Steph998

I'm not that great at DIY myself....but OH is brilliant. That's the only reason I know some internal doors are hollow! (I thought you had bought the door...but re read your post and realised it was already there)

Actually....do you really need to put a bottom back on the door again? It's never going to be seen....so maybe if you made sure it was planed completely smooth, and not skimming the carpet at all, you might be able just to re hang it?

Probably speaking a lot of nonsense....maybe it affects the strength of the door or something . OH is not here right now or I would ask him. I'll ask him when he gets in!

Soubrette

Thanks Steph (again) my OH is definately not good at diy either so I have husband envy at the moment

My plan of action at the moment is to measure the depth and width of wood that I would need and get a length at b&q or something. Then fix that to the bottom of my (hopefully) neatly sanded door. I shall then attempt to wood glue that in - unless you tell me that it doesn't matter in which case I shall do as you suggest and just leave the bottom open but neat.

If all that fails then I shall get a carpenter in

Good luck with the kitchen worktop

Sou

Steph998

Hi Sou
OH says where do you live and he will do it! LOL (We are in Scotland)

He also thinks that the bottom being left open will reduce the strength of the door in that area, (especially as some people tend to push the bottom of a door with their foot) but, if you replace the wood as you say (get a piece of wood the exact fit to insert into the hole, say, a stick of wood about 30mm x 40mm x 600mm, depending on the size of your door) then panel pin it in, it should be ok. As long as there are no jaggedy bits to snag your lovely new carpet. If all else fails, a new hollow door is about a tenner at B&Q, but you would have the hassle of hinges, handle etc.

Good luck!
x

27col

Several of my recently fitted doors have the bottom strip missing. No problem at at all. In fact I did not know that the bottom was missing until now. I have just gone and checked after reading the OP post. It is simple enough to glue strip in the bottom, but I will not be bothering unless the door started to warp. There is absolutely no sign of that happening. The doors have been in place for about 4 or 5 years now.

Steph998

Are we are talking about the same thing here? It is not so much a 'strip' that is missing on the OP's door..the whole solid frame has been planed off, leaving the hollow shell in the centre of the door exposed. The manufacturer of the door obviously thinks the bottom frame should be there...or they wouldn't bother fitting it in the first place....:)

27col

Yes we are talking about the same thing. I have precisely what you describe and there has been no problem. With a hollow door you cannot see the strip, the only way to know is to feel for it under the door. I have just done that and it is not there. The faces of the door are held in place by the honeycomb of card that is glued between the two faces. Obviously, if you replace the bottom strip the the door will be a bit more stable. It is not hard to do. Except for the fact that it might be difficult to get the exact thickness that you need, without planing the timber. This not going to be an option for all those people on here who say that they "I can't do DIY".