[SOLVED] Salvaged door conundrum

[Vala]

EDIT: Finally found a door that fits!



So as some of you know, the only modern door in my entire home is the back door, which I so badly want to replace with a more correct door. Every time I get a salvaged door, it has 2 problems:

1. It's always too small - my back door is 82" x 33 3/4" every door I find is usually about 78-79" x 32" - True I could add more material and re frame or whatever the word is to make the smaller door fit, but then we have the 2nd problem. The crappy modern door I have now is 79" x 32" with about 3 inches of pre painted junk wood in the old frame now but I wouldn't want to attach a solid wood door to that junk.

2. I always get doors that swing open the wrong way for my back door. My back door, if you are facing the wall opens to the right, I keep getting doors that open to the left. I had thought about turning the door the other way around, but then you would get the weathered side inside and in most cases, oranmentation on the door is meant to be on the outside, not the inside would now be facing in. I had also thought about having the lock and knob put on the other side of the door to make it swing out the correct way but I was thinking that would probably be more trouble than its worth, then the holes would need to be plugged and filled on the other side.

So short of ordering a custom door I really don't know what to do. Any advice would be appreciated. I would like to just get a custom door but with so many other projects, like custom windows etc just haven't had resources to get one yet.

This is the current door in question. It's a single pane window, the 6 panes belong to a salvaged storm door behind it.

Opinions, suggestions or comments welcome. Thanks again.

salvage door.jpg (403.79 KiB) Viewed 496 times

[phil]

If you want ot keep the weird opening size just find a door you like. the one int he pic would look noce if the paint were stripped off.

run the whole door over your tablesaw removing the hole for the lock

cut a groove along the length of the cut edge. add a strip of wood to fit the cut, make ti about 3/8ths or so. cut a mating groove in your new piece

glue and clamp. I would do both sides to match to keep the window centered. If you want it taller I would splice a piece on to the bottom, but you could add to the top if you wish.

I would add the top or bottom piece before doing the two sides so you can run the cut right through.

You might want to cut the groove with a router as it is a bit awkward to run a door through the saw on edge, even harder to run it through on end.

your replacement pieces should be of similar wood. If you need to you can splice other boards together to get the thickness dimension.

Its nice to have access to a jointer but if not you can use a hand plane. Just spend the time to get a good square flat surface on each joint so they dont' show.

If you dont' have a tablesaw it could be time to buy one or if that isn't on your list just find someone who can do a bit of joinery for you.

I wouldn't incur the cost of trying to make a whole custom door. Just add to what you have.

You will have to also router or chisel out new hinge pockets.

on some doors you can flip them upside down, they can look funny if the lock is really low , because then they become really high after the flip and you can't flip one with a window upside down.

this is less work than patching the knob hole and trying to make an invisible repair. If you re going to paint it then you can be less fussy about matching the wood type, grain pattern etc.

You can do it with a circular saw and a saw guide if you wish. Your cut won't be quite as square and true so you'll have a bit more to hand plane if you dont' have access to a jointer.
If you didn't want to cut the grooves and add a tongue you could use a biscuit jointer instead.

I would suggest a waterproof glue as it will be exposed to the elements.

If you have access to a tablesaw , jointer and a router that would be best, but if you are patient this is a good way to practice using hand tools. It could be accomplished without power tools but I think this is less practical unless you are comfortable with using them. If you want an easy solution I'd take it to a joiner (cabinetmaker) as they will have these tools. hand planing the edges to fit nicely requires some skill but if you can just run the pieces over a jointer that will make short work of it and produce a good straight square edge so the pieces fit and will glue up properly.

making a whole door or having one made would be more costly or time consuming and you'd then need the knives for the profiles of the other joinery. - that's much more complex than just splicing pieces on the the edges.

I'd be tempted to add to the bottom rather than the top as you will notice repairs less there. You don't want the window height to look too funny but you might have some leeway there.

there are also various jigs to cut the knob hole , or this also can be done with hand tools.
the other option is to reduce the opening and install a new 32" door frame.

if it were mine I'd make the door fit by adding the three pieces to the edge and leave the frame you have. Its not that hard if you have the machines.

If it were done in a commercial joinery shop they could add the side pieces and run the whole door through a sander and that will take off about 1mm on each pass so if the pieces you joined were a bit proud ( about a mm thicker) it would even them up to the surface, but I'd get rid of any paint first.. it clogs the paper up. To do that you'd have to temporarily remove the ledge and I'm not clear how that is joined in. this could also be done with a belt sander or hand plane and then you could leave the ledge in place.

I don't think you'd go far wrong if you just picked up the door as is and took it to a cabinetmaker to see how much he would charge and I'd ask him if they have a thickness sander and if they would allow it through. they could refuse and say they won't run used wood through their machines, it depends on the shop. They could also probably install the knob if you gave them the distance to the floor but you want to be accurate so you hopefully don't have to move the striker too far. I'd expect you'll need to adjust it a little. during refitting. a locksmith might hang the door for you and fit the hole and lockset if that is difficult.

[Mick_VT]

Switching a door from left to right hinging (or vice versa) is an intermediate skill level carpentry job. Most good carpenters can do it and fill the holes appropriately. You probably don't want to do it with a door that has lots of holes but for a good door with minimal locks it is fairly straightforward.

What is much easier is switching the casing to accept a door that swings the other way so the hinges and lock etc. are on the opposite side to that of your current modern door. Ergonomics of the space would dictate if this is a possibility.

Generally on an exterior door you dont want to add any material to make it fit, but if you do only add it to the top or bottom, the rest will give you major headaches. Also try to add wood of the same species to help avoid cracks opening at the join, and properly joint the new wood to the old

[Vala]

I'm not skilled enough to do any of those ideas.. and where I live it's really rural and its hard to find people who do this stuff and the sides would need material added. This is why I feared a custom door is the way to go.. But thanks again.

The problem with switching the swing would be that it would open into the middle of the room and onto a window instead of to the back wall/corner.

And like I said the original frame/casing isn't accessible to me unless I tear out the new cheap wood they used to make that modern door fit. They removed all the stop moldings/hardware etc of the old door and put the new wood into the old frame to make the smaller new door fit.

[phil]

the other thing I'd check before you invest heavily in fitting is weather or not the door is twisted.. If you lay it on a table and set two straight sticks across it one across near the top, the other across near the bottom.. then just stand back and eyeball the two sticks to see if they are parallel.. these can be anything straight, they are called winding sticks. you could use two pieces of pipe or whatever. If it has some twist It might still be usable but it's good to know if you have severe twist before you commence if that is the case. only takes a minute , then you'll know.

[Vala]

Decided to add some pics of the door casing as it is now.

I felt some pics might help. What I'm saying is the sides and the top are already "shimmed" to make the new modern door fit, this would have to be ripped out and replaced with something sturdier and of higher quality for the replacement door. Unless I got a door that fits 82" x 33 3/4" without having to add material. You mentioned adding material to the sides was a bad idea, well they have already done that

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modern material added.jpg (173.72 KiB) Viewed 482 times

door 2.jpg (164.28 KiB) Viewed 482 times

[phil]

commercial doors ( like fire doors and such) are 36" Im not sure if you could find one that was also an old door that size but maybe you could cut something like that down.. otherwise as mick suggests , at least you have a big enough hole you could change the frame to a more normal size of 34 or 32" What you have there is a kludge.. because it's a weird sized opening. do you care if it is a big door or would something more normal suit you? the inside and outside casings could hide a lot there perhaps?

Then how about the baseboards? Narrow the door now the baseboards or plinth blocks might be an issue or if there is no plinth block maybe you can add one to solve that?

Normally your doorjamb fits the door. Behind it there is room for some wedges and then the framing is behind that. The wedges can be adjusted to push the door jamb until you get the right clearance then a screw or two through the doorjamb might hold the wedges in place and the casing hides it all

Anyone with a tablesaw can cut a doorjamb to fit the door you like..

Also look at the threshold sometime it is rotten or not done right and that can cause issues with it not shedding the water nicely It should slope down so the rain that hits the door can drop on it then get carried out but sometimes people put them level or allow flooring to get exposed to the wet outside.

[Kashka-Kat]

What is the 33 3/4 x 82 measurement- is that the size of the door slab, or the opening? Either way you could prob find a 34 x 84 door ....which arent too common, but still more of a standard size than what you have.... and then shave off the excess to get it to fit. Youd have to look closely at the door construction to make sure that you could get away with taking some off. And then theres the hassle of cutting more slots for hinges, etc.

[Vala]

You see in that picture the extent of the stained wood? My 33 3/4" measurement is from stained edge to stained edge. Measured several times yes its a bit odd.

[Willa]

In my area, in old houses, exterior doors are typically 80 or 82" x 32, 34 or 36" - but this measurement is approximate. I have several interior door jambs (original, unmodified) that require a 31.75" door, which is also what I need for an exterior storm door.

The nightmare apartment was missing its screen door, but had chisel marks where hinges for one had been. It needed a 29.25 x 83.5" door. I looked for months on CL, etc. but only found one interior door that came close to fitting, which wasn't what I needed. (Landlord was a slumlord so he wasn't going to provide a screen door. I was willing to buy one, but the only option was one with custom measurements which got pretty expensive.)

Why there would be such odd measurements puzzles me, too. If a typical door comes in 2 inch increments - and the jamb needs to be 1/4" larger - then ??? (looking for late 1800's carpenter logic).

Like others have said, it is possible to add some wood to the top or bottom of the door to make it the right height. Adding width is *possible* in theory but a really major headache. Same with reversing hinge, knob and lock location.

I would focus on looking for a door that is 34" wide then trim that down on the hinge side to fit, and build up wood as needed to make it the right height. A painted v.s. stained door will be more forgiving with concealing the extra length.