New thick carpets and sticking doors!

morg_monster

Hiya

We've just had our new house recarpeted throughout. With 11mm underlay and a pretty thick pile it feels fantastic underfoot but most of the doors are now sticking. I don't think it'll just press down enough over time and some are so stiff that I'm worried about damaging something when forcing the door open.

What's the best solution? Not sure whether to go down the route of removing a slice of wood off the bottom of each door (probably 5mm max would be enough), or installing hinges that lift the door as it opens? (rising butt?)

Planing a bit off seems like the "proper" thing to do, but what equipment do you need to do it? We haven't got a work bench or a saw or a plane, so would need to buy/find all that (I'm sure they would all come in useful later but wasn't necessarily planning that expense right now). Any ideas how much it would cost to get someone over to the house and just do all of them at once (if we'd already removed them and rehung them after)?

The pros for new hinges are:
The house is a bit drafty and i think it might be good to avoid a gap under the door when they're closed; also the tendency that doors with these hinges have to close by themselves might be useful in some areas.
The doors are very new and really nice and I'm a bit scared of taking splinters off them...
It seems an easier solution that we could accomplish this weekend!!

any thoughts or considerations from DIY experts... Thanks!!!

andrew-b

If you don't have the tools or can't beg/steal/borrow them then you may be better off getting a carpenter in. If they have the right equipment it shouldn't take them long. For the humble DIYer the usual way is to take off the doors, trim them (plane if it's not much..saw if it's more), fit them back again.

However there is a relatively cheap and easy alternative..hire a door trimmer that allows you to trim the door in situ:

http://www.hss.com/g/3141/Door-Trim-Saw-inc-Blade-.html

..so find your local hire shop!

Only thing is are the doors solid doors or hollow? If they are hollow you are limited by the thickness of the timber forming the bottom edge. Taking 5mm off should be ok usually but if the doors have already been trimmed it could become a problem.

Vibrant

Personally I would go for rising butt hinges, in the long run they are a better solution. I fitted them to both my lounge doors and they are very good (no draughts).
Fitting was fairly easy. Providing you have some DIY experience, you should have no problems. But as you have no tools, I would suggest hiring a handyman, or carpenter, as the cheapest/best solution.
The door trimmer suggested by Andrew-b looks intriguing, but it looks like it needs a flat level surface to run on. So up with those carpets, lol.

andrew-b

Vibrant wrote: »

The door trimmer suggested by Andrew-b looks intriguing, but it looks like it needs a flat level surface to run on. So up with those carpets, lol.

Fair point..so lay a piece of board or something on the carpet first

wallbash

£28 . 75 plus vat plus you collect and return .

You dont say how many doors??

Doors are sticking , but can be closed with care ??

roses

Yes I use rising butt hinges too, they are fantastic! 80p a pair here:

http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Clearance/Hardware/Rising+Butt+Hinge+75mm+LH/d50/sd2683/p99295

morg_monster

Thanks everyone! I thought my question had disappeared off page 1 never to be seen again!
The doors are very difficult to open and some don't open more than about 45 degrees with the force I can put into them. Only 4 doors actually have the problem, the other 2 internal ones are fine. There's also a cupboard under the stairs door which has had to be completely taken off, but it's so thin I'm less worried about this one.

With the butt hinges, i'm wondering whether i'd have to get a plane anyway to take off a little from the top inside corner to give clearance when it rises up?

i'm veering towards the hinges as there's already about 5mm gap above the door bars, so with another 5mm there could be quite a draft.

Have just hoovered over the whole house for the first time, emptied the hoover 5 times!!! I could have warmed a whole sheep I think with the fluff that came up! It looks SOOOOOOOOO nice though I'm so happy!!

edited to add - we do have some tools, mum bought us one of those 50 tool sets from homebase and I got a cordless drill for Christmas, yehh! Don't mind spending a little bit of dosh (eg I'd buy a chisel and mallet) but was wondering about the workbench / planer being a bit more than we wanted to.

keystone

andrew-b wrote: »

Fair point..so lay a piece of board or something on the carpet first

Good idea but if your board is 4 mm and you only want to take 5 mm off the bottom of the door and the min cut on the trimmer is 5 mm you'm stuffed! You can't guarantee that the cut will be even side to side doing it tis way either.

IMHO its far easier, seeing as the doors are coming off to change to rising butts, to do it flat outside with a circular saw - you can set your fence to whatever you want - even angle it slightly if required. Use a 40 tooth blade mind not the 24 tooth these things typically come with if you get one from the sheds. 24 tooth blades rip a door to shreds in no time if you are not careful!

Oh and the nice new carpet doesn't get full of sawdust either.

Cheers

themanbearpig

Buy an electric planner (or manual if you can be bothered) - Cost about £30 for screwfix.

Remove door, plane, rehang.

Whats the problem? Its not very hard!!