Hanging Interior Doors

The only thing holding up this Momplex from getting trimmed out now is the lack of interior doors.

To get the baseboard trim down, we first have to add case moulding to the doors and windows. And to add the case moulding, we have to first install the doors.

This is no chicken and egg thing - nope, it goes simply door then trim.

Because we installed a heated floor on top of the subfloor, this means our doorways got shortened by about 3/4".

So we have to first shorten the door. We measured the opening.

And then trimmed off the ends of the door jamb.

The door jamps are cut a little shy of the overall height to allow the floating floor to move under it.

We've installed quite a few doors over the years - both interior and exterior - and have always gone the old fashioned wood shim way.

But the Ram saw <a href="http://www.homedepot.com/p/Quick-Door-Hanger-10-Door-Value-Pack-202/202…; target="_blank">these on his last trip to the Home Depot</a> and picked them up. They are about $5 a door, so a little more than a bunch of wood shims, but still reasonably priced. They come in singles packs too.

How about that, instructions on the box!

Looks easy enough ... we'll see!

On the hinge side of the door, near each hinge, we screwed the hardware brackets to the door jamb.

There's one on ... you can't screw this one up .... I promise you, you'll nail it on the very first try.

Three more of the hardware brackets are screwed to knob side of the door jamb, directly across from the hinges.

Then we took a level and drew a line about a 1/2" in on the drywall, on the hinge side (I'll show you that in a second).

And then just fit the prehung door in the opening.

Then we attached the door on the hinge side to the wall with longer screws to reach the studs in the wall, lining the hardware brackets up with the line we drew

This way, we know for sure that our door is hung straight, regardless of the rough opening of the doorway.

Can you see the gap all the way around the door is about the same? The brackets make it easy to adjust the door jamb so the gap is consistent ...

And a consistent gap means an easy to open and close door!

She works!

We've got a lot more doors to do, but before we get to them, I'm taking care of one issue right now, right here. 

Notice there's no gap under that door? It's a pet peeve of mine, doors that get stuck on throw rugs.  Or squish your toes when the kids open them unexpectedly on you.  Ow.

So we pulled the hinge pins and took the door off and headed downstairs

And ran the door through the tablesaw

Brought the door upstairs and replaced the hinge pins

My toes likey!

When we add the case moulding, it will secure the outside of the door jamb to the wall framing, so that's next up. 

Using the Quick Door Hanger Kit really was a slick way to hang the doors, and I'm pretty sure these old DIYers aren't going back to door shims. 

How about you? Have you hung interior doors? Do you prefer shims? Have you used the hardware kit? We'd love to hear how you DIY door hanging too!

FYI - This post is not sponsored by Quick Door Hanger Kit.  I'm sure they are weirded out that they have a crazed fan and have no idea who I am.  But definitely worth buying if you are hanging doors!