Door frame hinges recesses

avantra

We are changing some internal doors, these will be changed by our local joiner next month and we are preparing the door frames at the moment.
The problem is that the recesses for the hinges on the existing door frames look like they were drilled many times in the past and they pretty unusable for a new set of screws as they just go all the way in and not catching.
What should we do?

boongi

Depending on the size of hole you can use pieces of wooden dowel - Will cost more than the matchsticks idea, but works so long as they're a tight fit.

Plastic wall plugs also work well but you may need a wider screw than you had before.

avantra

Thanks,

These doors are 35 kg each, will these solution be safe to hold the hinge in place? What can happen if we simply fill the existing recesses and position the hinges just above the old location?

27col

I've always used matchsticks when up against this particular problem. It seems to work just fine.

loracan1

I've also used splinters of wood and cocktail sticks when available.

ormus

any bits of wood mixed with glue will do the job. let it dry and trim off any excess.
if using dowells, then drill the centres, ready for the new screws.

avantra

andrew-b wrote: »

I'm sure the matchsticks with the glue will be fine (evostik wood glue claims to be as strong as the wood itself) for heavy doors you should have 3 hinges so the weight will be distributed amongst 12 screws so less than 3kg each screw if the weight is evenly distributed. Making good the old hinge recesses is a bugga..it's possible but takes time to get a good finish (i've done similar moving locks by chiselling out the frame and piecing in a piece of MDF, filling and painting. The matchstick method is tried and tested and will cost next to nothing. Dowels will be bigger than the screwholes and your more likely to split the wood of the door frame (or damage surrounding area) whacking them in unless you widen the holes enough.

Ok,found the old cocktail sticks and some PVA and yes, it's work!
I don't remember when was the last time we used these sticks:rotfl:

avantra

Rant, the joiner came yesterday and said that the recesses for the old doors are all over the place (look like a diy bodge of former owner :eek:) at different heights and generally in the wrong place so he will need to make new recesses for our new doors.

What is the best technique to fill these ugly bits and get a good finish? look like a pig job in my eyes.

The joiner said to mix some pva with the filler to make it less prone to cracking.

BTW the door frames will get a white eggshell as a finish.

keystone

What do you mean by recesses?

What ugly bits?

Did you forget to attach a pic to go with your text?

Cheers

Edit - Just fallen in! Duh! You mean that part where the hinges go! Take a piece of wood of approx same thickness (but oversize) and cut to fit. Glue frimly in place. When dry sand back level with rest of frame then fill small gaps as described by your wood butcher.

Cheers

avantra

keystone wrote: »

What do you mean by recesses?

What ugly bits?

Did you forget to attach a pic to go with your text?

Cheers

Edit - Just fallen in! Duh! You mean that part where the hinges go! Take a piece of wood of approx same thickness (but oversize) and cut to fit. Glue frimly in place. When dry sand back level with rest of frame then fill small gaps as described by your wood butcher.

Cheers

Thanks Keystone, I mean the place where the hinges sits

keystone

Oh I see - answer doesn't change from my edit. I see he's already cut at least one door so presumably the frames have to change because the cut in the door desn't now match up with the exsting cut in the frame? Or am I being a tad cynical?

Cheers