Changing door hinge sides

sussexbaker

Hiya

We have a number of doors which we'd like to change the side of the door frame that the hinge is on. So the door still opens the same way (ie into the room) but hinged on the left instead of the right. I assume it's not as straight forward as unscrewing the hinges and screwing them on the other side, so I wondered what I needed to know to do it (or get someone in to do it)?

Thanks

greyteam1959

It is fairly easy to do.
You need to move the hinges obviously....
Then fill the holes in the door frame from which they have been removed.
The door catch depending on what type it is will need changing.
Its not a difficult job by any means but to do a 'good' job you do need some skill & the right tools.
Might be cheap to get somebody in who knows what they are doing to be honest

tanith

Remember when you change to door opening the light switch is then behind the door when its open... I have this in my kitchen and its a pain but you do get used to it..lol

sussexbaker

Hiya and thanks for the replies

I'm thinking the same mervyn, I assume I'd just be looking for a joiner?

We'd planned to switch the doors, so when we had the house re-wrired we had all the light switches moved to the 'correct' size. So it's just a pain at the moment while the doors are 'wrong'!

Leif

One point to note is that for some doors the lock must be on one edge, not the other, due to the way it is made. So if you reverse the hinge edge, you might have to turn the door round, so the two sides change rooms. Now that might be possible, but doors are devils, and if it is irregular (due to an irregular frame) you might need a new door. (Basically there might be big gaps if you try to rehang it.)

Take a look at the door and you will see what you need to do. You will have to chisel out wood for the hinges on what is now the lock side of the frame, and chisel out the hole for the latch plate on what is now the hinge side of the frame. If you just reverse the door, you will have to chisel out wood for the new hinge positions on the door side (basically moved a bit from original positions), and partly fill the original holes (just nail a few bits of wood, sand, fill, paint).

If you need to hang a new door, well that really is quite hard to do, and you'll need to buy tools, I'd recommend a joiner unless you really really want to learn, and you are reasonably good with your hands. In fact just get a joiner, unless you really want to do this.

Hope I have not rambled too much.

greyteam1959

Leif wrote: »

One point to note is that for some doors the lock must be on one edge, not the other, due to the way it is made. So if you reverse the hinge edge, you might have to turn the door round, so the two sides change rooms. Now that might be possible, but doors are devils, and if it is irregular (due to an irregular frame) you might need a new door. (Basically there might be big gaps if you try to rehang it.)

Take a look at the door and you will see what you need to do. You will have to chisel out wood for the hinges on what is now the lock side of the frame, and chisel out the hole for the latch plate on what is now the hinge side of the frame. If you just reverse the door, you will have to chisel out wood for the new hinge positions on the door side (basically moved a bit from original positions), and partly fill the original holes (just nail a few bits of wood, sand, fill, paint).

If you need to hang a new door, well that really is quite hard to do, and you'll need to buy tools, I'd recommend a joiner unless you really really want to learn, and you are reasonably good with your hands. In fact just get a joiner, unless you really want to do this.

Hope I have not rambled too much.

I said all the above in my post.........coniderably shorter as well.

Leif

mervyn11 wrote: »

I said all the above in my post.........coniderably shorter as well.

I think you need to learn to read (and spell ).

Where did you mention about the lock being only on one side for some doors? And where did you mention about the latch plate? And where did you mention about it not necessarily being possible to reverse the door due to the frame being too irregular e.g. diamond shaped? Oh, and it is possible that the door might open one way, but not another i.e. it will hit the floor, for various reasons, so the door might have to be planed a bit. Another point to note, doors can be heavy, and sometimes you need two people to do the job, and even then it is tough.

And as for it not being a difficult job, that depends on who is doing it. For many on this forum it would be easy enough, but for many people this would be a difficult job, it all depends on how good they are with their hands. I often meet very intelligent people at work who cannot do even the simplest jobs.

greyteam1959

Rambling...........you said it not me !!

Leif

mervyn11 wrote: »

Rambling...........you said it not me !!

I pointed out many things you had not mentioned, and you are too full of yourself to acknowledge that fact.