Door Lining: Change Location of Door Hinge Notch

paperclap

Hi all,

We'll soon be fitting new doors.

At the start of our renovation, we decided to use the existing door linings.

However, now we're at the stage of fitting new doors... we'll also of course be fitting new hinges. I've just now realised that all of the existing door hinge notches are wildly different.

As far as I'm aware, it is common practice to set the top of the top hinge 6 inches from the inside of the door lining. And, set the bottom of the bottom hinge 9 inches from the floor. That way, when you look at it, it is optically correct.

The existing notches are 5 inches here, 6 inches there, 8 inches here, 4 inches there, etc. Not ideal. Going to the trouble of replacing the doors, it would be nice to have all the hinges line up.

What is the best solution? Don't really fancy replacing the door linings.

Can't fill the existing notches with Ronseal, as when I come to chisel out the new notches, I don't think that'll go too well.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

rob7475

Rather than completely filling with filler, use a slither of wood fill the gap and plane / sand it smooth.Do this after you have cut out for your new hinges.

paperclap

rob7475 said:

Rather than completely filling with filler, use a slither of wood fill the gap and plane / sand it smooth.Do this after you have cut out for your new hinges.

Thanks Rob!

Speaking of slithers of wood, can you buy these strips (rather than making them)?

Would be good to pack out the outside of the door lining too actually, where the architrave sits on...

FaceHead

Agree with Rob that the right answer is to glue a slither of wood in there and then plane, fill round, sand and repaint. 

However, I've never had any issue just filling it with easifil. A router or multitool (which I prefer to a chisel, at least to get started) makes a nice notch even when it's across wood and a filled area. 

Ok you might get a better bit of grain with the slither of wood method, so can just about tell where the filled bit is with the filler-only method if someone pointed it out. However no one, not even you, will look that hard ever again. There are things that aren't quite perfect in my house that irritate me as I walk around (e.g hairline cracking in plaster) but filled hinge notches isn't one of them. 

rob7475

laurencewhymark said:

rob7475 said:

Rather than completely filling with filler, use a slither of wood fill the gap and plane / sand it smooth.Do this after you have cut out for your new hinges.

Thanks Rob!

Speaking of slithers of wood, can you buy these strips (rather than making them)?

Would be good to pack out the outside of the door lining too actually, where the architrave sits on...

You can get flat mouldings in your local DIY shed. They usually have a range of thicknesses from around 4mm upwards. They'll be too thick to fill the hinge space but once planed and sanded, will look fine.

As above, easifill etc will do the job  and it's possible to sand it to a good finish for painting over. You do sometimes find that it cracks though over time, especially in a door frame that can be subject to knocks, vibrations from  door shutting etc. 

It's all down to personal preference and if you're painting the wood rather than staining, you've got multiple options.

paperclap

I thought plaster over wood was a no-no?

Will take a look around for those thin pieces of stripwood.

Think I'll chisel out the new notches, glue those pieces of stripwood in place with wood glue, then tidy up with Ronseal filler and sand paper

Gavin83

laurencewhymark said:

I thought plaster over wood was a no-no?

Will take a look around for those thin pieces of stripwood.

Think I'll chisel out the new notches, glue those pieces of stripwood in place with wood glue, then tidy up with Ronseal filler and sand paper

Who’s suggesting plastering over the wood?

I agree with the others, a strip of wood in there, plane it down, fill the gaps, sand then paint. If you do a good job you won’t be able to tell. Even if you do a bad job you probably won’t really notice it.

paperclap

Gavin83 said:

laurencewhymark said:

I thought plaster over wood was a no-no?

Will take a look around for those thin pieces of stripwood.

Think I'll chisel out the new notches, glue those pieces of stripwood in place with wood glue, then tidy up with Ronseal filler and sand paper

Who’s suggesting plastering over the wood?

I agree with the others, a strip of wood in there, plane it down, fill the gaps, sand then paint. If you do a good job you won’t be able to tell. Even if you do a bad job you probably won’t really notice it.

Two people above have suggested using EasiFill. Is this not plaster?

Gavin83

No it’s filler. You can certainly use filler on wood, although I’ve admittedly no experience with EasiFill. I normally use No Nonsense from Screwfix.

I don’t know much about plastering but I suspect you could even use that on wood if you used PVA first.

paperclap

I’ve used a little EasiFill on existing plaster, in areas leading up to the door linings. In some cases going over the lining. Most of the time, is cracked and fell off as it didn’t adhere to the surface.