Internal door height problems re height when buying new

Discussion in 'Carpenters' Talk' started by sally green, Dec 29, 2021.

  1. sally green

    sally green Active Member

    I want to buy 6 internal doors.
    Looking at B&Q and wickes, their height for the vast majority of internal doors
    is 1981mm. Problem is my doors are between 1960 to 1965mm high (On the ground floor they are taller)
    Its a mid-ish 1960 property.
    Width is about 757mm

    Do people add a strip at the top or bootom? Othwise I'm very
    limited for choice.

    I don't want to spend more than 130 a door plus door furniture and labour.
    I've liked a couple of shaker doors at 70/90 quid each



    Thanks
     
  2. sally green

    sally green Active Member

    Btw you can only often trim 10mm max off most moulded doors and about 20mm max off a solid pine door -
     
  3. Hazza

    Hazza Member

    Hi Sally
    If your doors are 1960 you'll be taking 21mm off your new doors (They're normally 762mm wide...2'6" in old money) All you have to do is clean out the exposed egg box inside your new door when its been cut. Clean off the veneer and ends to the piece that's been cut off. Add some PVA and slide the cut off piece back into the bottom of the door. If you sort a carpenter to hang your doors before you buy them he's sure to give you sound advice...
     
    whatsthenews and Astramax like this.
  4. sally green

    sally green Active Member

    Thank you. I am safely assuming from what you are saying that any half decent carpenter would know that and price me accordingly?
    TBH, I'm not following what you have said but will put it to the door hangers when i get round to questing within the next two weeks.
     
  5. Astramax

    Astramax Super Member

    I wouldn't work for anyone who pre sets a price and tells an experienced tradesman how to do the job. :cool:
     
    Paulie1412 and Kingscurate like this.
  6. Hazza

    Hazza Member

    Refixing the timber back into the bottom of the door is not a major job. Youtube..... how to trim a hollow core door..... will give you some understanding better than I've probably explained.
     
    Astramax likes this.
  7. Astramax

    Astramax Super Member

    Tis only major if you don't what you are doing. ;)
     
  8. sally green

    sally green Active Member

    Many thanks again, Hazza
    Just looked at a vid and I have clear understanding now. Therefore, I
    will put it to the carpenters re the doors I am considering
    and would they fit as the fitting instructions state you can only trim
    off 10/12mm but the difference of my openings is a couple more centimetres than that.
    Then I will see what they say and if it sounds good and seek a quote. This way, armed with the help you
    have provided I will be better prepared and leave it to them show
    me what they are made of IE have the skills to do a good job at a reasonable price.
    thank you again for taking out time to help me

    I hope 2022 is a great year for you and the ones you care about.
     
    whatsthenews likes this.
  9. sally green

    sally green Active Member

    Hi again.

    Looking at soild wood internal doors as you can often trim up to 16mm per edge but lacking choice as i want to paint
    https://www.internaldoors.co.uk/seville-pre-finished-oak-internal-door

    Anyone - let's say the standard doors could fit our rooms with a bit of triming and that cost us 75 pounds per door x 6 inc furnture fit.
    How much extra would a decent carpenter charge per door for if they had to trim the 1981mm doors down to 1960mmish.

    6 x 75 = 450 quid - a great pay day for two full days for a good carpenter imo - so should 75 quid do a decent door fit inc trim and insert and adjust edge.
    I am aware the door edge will need to be glued and left overnight etc.

    Thanks again.

    PS. Any sites that do good, non hardwood, solid wood doors reasonable price, thanks.
     
    whatsthenews likes this.
  10. Adamfya

    Adamfya Screwfix Select

    Are you totally away with the fairies?
     
  11. whatsthenews

    whatsthenews Member

    Why are you being rude? Because she said she wanted to paint and was looking at Oak veneer doors, or because she said £450 for 2 days work is good?
     
    sally green likes this.
  12. sally green

    sally green Active Member

    Thanks but I just ignored the troll.
    I have been considering solid wood doors as you are able to cut more off them. I was wondering id hardwood doors take statin paint well. We had hardwood double doors in the old house we had them done and we painted them gloss and you could see the streaks of hardwood. Not sure if we used the correct underacot at the time

    The money for the door fitting is based on doing one door being more expensive but if they have six, IMO its good money for 2 days work ie 7 hours a day

    Thank you for your help.
     
  13. DIYDave.

    DIYDave. Screwfix Select

    Although you can in theory cut more off a solid door, you can’t cut too close to where it’s dowelled / jointed / as you will weaken the construction

    With a hollow door, although they state the max amount that can be trimmed from all 4 sides, that’s just because the edge frame is no more than 25mm thick - so usual, 10mm max to remain some strength to the frame

    However, as been said, it’s easy to totally remove batten and reduce the door as much as you like, then refit batten. This is easy for a diy’er or a chippy, will do with his eyes closed

    If it’s a panelled hollow door, can only cut off from flat section before you reach the panels, obviously ! But there’s usually a big flat chunk at bottom of door to play around with and smaller section at top

    With most panelled doors, often looks more balanced to remove some material from both top and bottom - but does depend on how much you need to reduce door by

    If you fancy a hollow, flat door, ‘ply flush doors’ from Wickes are decent for the money (around £70 ish) and again, can be reduced more than the manufacturers guide, with just a little more work

    As with any painting, the finish is only going to be a good as the prep you put into it, materials used and of course, skill level

    Chopping any doors more than recommended amount will obviously cancel the warranty they come with but, avoid the obvious pitfalls (damp, new plastered rooms for door storage, etc) and all should be fine

    Your using a pro wood butcher to fit doors so all the above will be merely bread and butter to him/her

    Obviously the amount of fettling required will set the price per door, with solid doors costing more than hollow to fit

    Hope this helps in some small way - all the best
     
    Hazza likes this.

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