To a lot of homeowners, the idea of pre-hung doors can be a bit confusing. To put it simply, a pre-hung door is one that comes already attached to its jamb—the rectangular wood structure that sits in your opening and forms the basic structure of the entryway. Having a pre-hung door to install is helpful for a number of reasons. For one, it saves you the time of having to rout out your own hinge mortises, a process that can be difficult and requires special templates to do properly. With a pre-hung door, the hinges are already routed out and set in perfect mortises at the factory, saving you from tackling this difficult step. In addition, the door edge should come properly beveled, assuring a clean open and close swing. And most importantly of all, the door handle and strike will be already drilled, a tricky task that you only get one shot to do right.
So if you are unhappy with your doors, jamb, and trim, and would like to take an easier path to replacement, purchasing and installing pre-hung doors may be a good option for you. When you are shopping, you will see that some of the doors available come with a casing and some come without. You can choose one or the other depending on whether you’d like to put on your own casing. You will also find they come with the door handle opening on either the left or the right hand side. To determine which you need, just look at your existing door hinges. If the hinges are on the right when you pull the door open, it is a right-handed door, and if the hinges are on the left when you pull the door open, it is a left-handed door.
The basic materials for the installation are as follows:
- Pre hung Door
- Door handle and strike plate
- Casing molding
- Shims
- Finish nails
- Tape measure
- Level
- Square
- Screwdriver – drill
- Hammer
- Hand saw
Once you have taken off the nails from your existing door and made measurements from wood stud to wood stud, you should start by removing the existing door assembly. Tap the hinge pins up and out, and then use a pry bar to remove your casing and door jamb. Take care to go gently on your casing if you are intending to use it again for your new door.
When you have an accurate measurement of the opening and you have purchased a pre-hung door to fit you can begin the installation. First, take the pre-hung door off it’s jamb to make things easier, and remove the stop molding in the center. Then place the whole jamb assembly in the opening and shim the top and sides level. At this point you can begin to attach the hinge side, using shims along the side between the stud and jamb to correct the level of the door. Use finishing nails to then attach the jamb to the stud as you go along.
Bear in mind, that every application will be different depending upon the framing of your home. So don’t be surprised if you have to make additional adjustments with shims between the jamb and framing to get the door just right. But once you get the hang of it, you can save yourself a whole lot of time and money by taking this DIY approach to door replacement. We find that in many Los Angeles remodeling projects, homeowners are eager to find simpler ways to do upgrades, and this is something we recommend quite often.
502 San Vicente #105 Santa Monica, CA, 90402 USA
marc@jannonedevelopment.com • 310-989-3499
