Made to measure interior pine door - too cheap?

TEK7676

Hello. I'd like to replace plain flush hollow doors in my house with pine framed ledge and brace doors to add more character. Unfortunately, all the door openings are much shorter than standard, so off-the-shelf doors are out of question, as I understand.

I've been looking around for quotes to get the doors made to measure. The best price so far is £70 per door. I've found this supplier over the internet. They also have an eBay shop and reviews are good (although not many of them are for similar job).

This sounds very tempting but I have doubts - is it too cheap for a door of reasonable quality? Most local chippies quote £140+. I don't want to spend a fortune but don't want to waste money on some rubbish either.

The company says that door frames are constructed using mortise and tennon joints, the v-groove boards that form the face of the door are stapled/pinned to the frame and the braces are glued and pinned. Does this sound like a reasonable job?

busiscoming2

You say your openings are shorter than standard. Have you looked at Howdens website: http://www.howdens.com/product-range/doors-joinery-collection/internal-doors/ they do small sizes.

ormus

how much shorter? most standard doors will take some cutting off. top & bottom.

TEK7676

There are 4 door and their openings range from 1,870mm down to 1,735mm, so given that the shortest standard door height i've seen is 1,981mm you're looking at shaving off 110-245mm. I've read it's not advised to cut more than 20mm.

ormus

you could easy take off 100mm off some doors. (50mm top and bottom).
ive just checked my back door.

245mm is a bit too much i grant you.

phill99

Remember that getting a local chippy to make a door is expensive as they aredoing it as a one off. The internet supplier will have a factory where all the jigs etc are already set up and it will take thema fraction of the time. Also they will be buying their timber in bulk and getting it at a much lower price. Hence they can do it much cheaper.

TEK7676

Thank you all for responding.

Phill99, you have a valid point.

paddy.maguire

£70 is cheap in my opinion the saving is somewhere whether it be quality of finish or quality of timber or wherever ,from the sound of your frame heights it sounds like you live in a 150+ year old house/cottage. I do quite a lot of handmade doors for these type of houses. One thing you need to check is the thickness of door that your existing casings will accept, I had a quick look on ebay and the doors on there are 44mm doors ie exterior doors which will not suit casings for a 35mm door which is what are likely to be. If they are original casing they will be what is called rebated casing rather than modern plant on lining with a strip that can be moved.

The other thing to bear is that if you have solid timber plank doors rather than modern engineered, they absolutely will move and twist regardless of what finish is put on them. Timber planks doors although they are fantastic to look at were very much the poor relation of pre 1900 doors. They were cheap and quick to make and really dont like central heating, that said they do look amazing and in my opinion are well worth doing.

Nice things to have on doors such as these to make them look fantastic is to have an matching moulding on each plank to make them look unique. If you were to have a houseful of doors you should be able to have this done easily. It will make them look original rather than looking like gates!
When you get the doors they will need to be laid out flat and acclimatised for a month or so in your house to minimise the movement of the doors.

Finally when it comes to hanging them ideally get the bloke/lady who made them to hang them. Hanging a houseful of temperamental doors like these is really a job for someone who knows exactly what they are doing.
I would have thought a realistic price supply only for these would be around the £130-£140 mark and you would probably be looking at around £75 for hanging them. Of course you will get people saying that £205-£215 per door hung is a lot and that they bought doors for £12 and had them hung for £15 but handmade bespoke traditional doors are a bit different to B&Qs cheapest! Doors can make a house look amazing and I guess it is just a judgement call.


As I said I get a fair few jobs doing these and you are a long way away from where I am (rural Leicestershire) but depending on how many doors you wanted to do I could do you a price that I am sure would beat Surrey carpenters/joiners but I am fully booked until June but I do work as far afield as Glasgow and Brighton

TEK7676

Martin, thank you for such extensive advice. You’re bang on about the old cottage BUT it’s been “processed” by builders/developers in 1980s, so apart from awkward sizes there is nothing original about the doors (and most other fittings) – all linings are quite modern in their construction and the doors themselves are plain flush plywood ones. You make a good observation about the thickness of the doors - I’ve checked with the company and they make these in 44mm or 35mm, as required, so this shouldn’t be a problem.
I think I’m going to go ahead with the order and looks like I’ll have ample time to find a fitter while the doors are acclimatising J