Options for Custom Interior Doors

Matt929

My 1900s era terrace house is clearly in need of a bunch of new interior doors but measuring the frames out they seem to be smaller than the smallest door size offered by most of the big DIY chains. For example the smallest is the bathroom door measuring in at 1932mm by 685mm and the largest is one of the downstairs doors at 1975mm by 764mm.

The smallest door i can find on most sites measure at approx. 1981mm by 838mm, with the option to shave off 10mm on each side so it looks like this won't work for the bathroom door (and it may only just fit for the largest door). Since i'll want the doors to all have the same design it doesn't look like i can go with standard options.

There's a few things i was hoping to get some help with:

1) Would i be able to get away with a standard larger door (more the solid wood ones than the hollow ones obviously) that i could shave down to size, or would these become unstable past the recommended amount?
2) If not, could anyone recommend a UK supplier (in the Leicestershire area if not national) that sells smaller doors more fit for terrace houses?
3) If not that, then what should I be looking for if i had to do a custom order with a joiner?

Thanks in advance.

Doozergirl

I have no idea where you're looking.

I just googled quickly for Howdens 24" inch door (smaller than you need, even) and it gave me this one.
https://www.howdens.com/doors-joinery-collection/internal-doors/internal-moulded-panel-doors/6-panel-grained-door/

I'm not suggesting you buy that particular style of door, but doors smaller than 838mm (33 inches) are incredibly common! Most houses will have smaller doors than that. Just look at the list available - different widths and heights.

Your doors are perfectly standard 27" and 30" doors.

onomatopoeia99

Matt929 wrote: »

My 1900s era terrace house is clearly in need of a bunch of new interior doors but measuring the frames out they seem to be smaller than the smallest door size offered by most of the big DIY chains. For example the smallest is the bathroom door measuring in at 1932mm by 685mm and the largest is one of the downstairs doors at 1975mm by 764mm.

The smallest door i can find on most sites measure at approx. 1981mm by 838mm, with the option to shave off 10mm on each side so it looks like this won't work for the bathroom door (and it may only just fit for the largest door). Since i'll want the doors to all have the same design it doesn't look like i can go with standard options.

Don't know what sites you are looking at, but the sizes you are talking about all seem pretty standard.

Wickes certainly have doors in or close to those sizes, e.g.

http://www.wickes.co.uk/Products/Doors+Windows/Internal-Doors/Internal-Softwood-Doors/c/1000655

(Other DIY sheds are avalable)

Were you looking at full door sets including the frame on the websites, rather than just the size of a door?

Matt929

Thanks, but unless i'm missing something the links you both gave me show doors that are 1981x686mm, meaning length-wise they're not suitable for a frame that's 1932x685mm. The majority of the doors I've looked at so far suggest i can shave up to 10mm on each side, whereas i would need to shave off 50mm in order for it to fit.

Unless shaving of 50mm won't matter for a solid wood door, which is what i'm trying to find out. I spoke to one of the guys at B&Q, who said he can't recommend doing it, but i imagine that was in part store policy.

Edit: Just realised where the confusion comes from. I typed '1981mm by 838mm' when referring to the example door. I meant to type '1981mm by 683mm'. Horrible typo on my part. Sorry

Doozergirl

Who is hanging these doors? You can definitely shave more than 10mm off a decent quality door. It doesn't have to be solid wood.

We've replaced hundreds upon hundreds of doors and rarely had to do anything exciting to make an off the shelf one fit.

Really, I'd get the person hanging the doors to organise the purchase for you.

Matt929

Fair enough. At this point i was still doing basic enquiries so I've not got a joiner or anything yet. I just noted that all the doors i was seeing in B&Q and the like has markers on them saying only so much can be trimmed off each side. Since i needed to trim about 5cm off it looked like it could have been a problem but if not then there'#s no problem. Thanks.

Furts

If you are taking 25mm off the top and likewise the bottom you should be OK. Taking 50mm off in one chunk could weaken the door - it depends how it was made. Therein lies a problem - there are some dire quality internal doors on the market so check out your choices with care.

DominicH

Do Jeld-Wen or Premdor count as "decent quality"? This Jeld-Wen solid door allows only 5mm trimming per edge, while it's the same for Premdor products.

TRB

Cutting 50mm off the height of a hollow door is no problem all you have to do is glue in the solid strip back into the door.