Raising a UPVC door with flag hinges

Jessm96

We have a low lying upvc front door with very little clearance. Currently a very thin carpet with no underlay. Can’t fit tiles, laminate or any decent carpet and still have a door that opens. 

Any advice on how to lift the door higher- don’t really want to buy a new door as we’ve just moved in and we’ve been quite £1000ish. 

Alternatively, anyone know how easy it would be to fit a new upvc door ourselves (baring in mind we’d need it higher)? 

TIA

FreeBear

Jessm96 said: Alternatively, anyone know how easy it would be to fit a new upvc door ourselves (baring in mind we’d need it higher)?

Does this door have side windows ?

It may be possible to take the door off the hinges and remove the frame. Once out, trim a little off any brickwork above the opening and refit the frame slightly higher - But there is usually a lintel in place to scupper that idea (do not go cutting in to a lintel). Getting a frame back in so that there are no draughts coming through is not easy..

Another option is to get a new door & frame made that will give you the clearance you desire. But fitting a new door & frame requires Building Control approval. If you employed a suitably registered fitter to do the work, they self certify the work and provide a FENSA or similar certificate - That would save you a ~£300 BC fee and you get a warranty on the door & fitting. Shop around for a few more quotes and try the smaller one-man independent installers.

Jeepers_Creepers

Hi Jessm.

I presume you've looked at tweaking the hinge height adjustment as much as possible? How much more clearance do you need after doing this?

If you only need to gain a few more mm extra, you can - cough - plane the bottom of the actual door's flange. You'd need to examine it closely, but many PVC door outer frames have quite a bit of spare meat beyond where the rubber seal is fitted. Obviously, you'd need to be sure this is ok in your case, and also realise there's no going back...

In a similar manner, if you remove the door and it's frame, you can trim the top of the frame before refitting it with compensating spacers along the bottom - that will lift the whole caboodle up.

greenface2

If you have clearance in the plaster above . take the frame out . cut an inch (or whatever you need)off the top and use the off cut underneath the cill . refasten .