I just had a number of interior doors replaced in an old house that I am having renovated. The door replacements were done to make all of the interior doors in the house match instead of having mismatched door styles throughout the house. The original doors were 77" to 78" high. I had the doors replaced with inexpensive hollow core Masonite veneer 6-panel door slabs.
The replacement door slabs were 80 inches high, so they had to be cut. But the cuts meant that either the top or bottom ended up as just an open hollow space between the front and back veneers. Somehow that doesn't seem right to me. What do contractors normally do in this situation? Do they really just leave the top or bottom open like that? Do they try to fill in the space with a replacement filler piece?
When I search in stores and on the Internet, I can't seem to find interior door slabs that come in any size less than 80' high. Am I missing something? Don't manufacturers sell hollow core doors that are 78" high so that when they are cut a little shorter there is still a solid end piece at the top and bottom?
Is my only other option to use solid core replacement interior doors? And, if so, do they sell solid core interior replacement doors that are 78 inches high?
There is at least 2 inches of solid wood at the top and bottom of the door which can be trimmed. Try pinching the door in the store or use a stud finder to determine the exact cutoff limits.
If it were much shorter than you would need a solid door but you should be able to trim 2" total, 3" will be close. Look for a spec sheet for the door, it may be there.
Cut as much as you can from the bottom then the rest from the top so it looks good.
You use the section you cut out. Pull off the masonite veneer and the edge and you have a straight piece you can use in that "open hollow" Glue and finish nails to hold it in place
They sell really nice solid wood 6 panel pine doors you paint about 100.00 each.
Dude you never cut the top of a door. NEVER! If you cut the solid piece out of the bottom you reuse it in the hollow area. 2-3 inches off the bottom of door is not that big a deal. Your largest panels are at the bottom. as you go up they get smaller, including the stiles.
Yes, you can piece in the filler strip, but it is a pain in the ass. You may need to cut from the top and bottom of the blank, to avoid trimming away the entire strip on one end. Your contractor is an idiot, or lazy. I wouldn't accept the work.
What I prefer in that situation is to buy prehung doors, and sawzall the opening, fix the drywall, and then it takes a standard door. there is usually enough meat in the header to do that without compromising the structure, when not, you can build a new header inside the wall. It is a bit more work, but the results are worth it, and if a new door is needed in the future it will fit.
I'll check again and post back here tonight or tomorrow, but I don't think that's correct. I saved the pieces that were cut off and I think the solid part at the top and bottom is much less than 2 inches.
Thanks. I was thinking that may be what they do. I saved the cutoff pieces in case that is the way to do it. I haven't tried separating the masonite from the wood filler strips, but hopefully thta won't be too hard to do.
Well, supposedly they are genuine bona fide real-life contractors with experience in the field. They have all of the right tools and equipment and the impression I got is that they know what they are doing. I decided to start them out on a couple of basic things first to see how they work, etc. Now I am finding that I have doubts about their true skill level, but I thought I'd check here to see what is considered normal and what isn't.
I did think about that option, but it's an old house with and older style trim throughout. If I used pre-hung doors, it would mean changing the trim on both sides for more than a dozen doors. So, I thought that just replacing the slabs would make the most sense.
When looking at the job, they measured each door and I just assumed that contractors could buy hollow core interior doors in various sizes, including
78-inch high doors. Then each door would only require minimal cutting to fit the opening.
To my surprise, it appears that no one sells new 78-inch hollow core 6-panel interior doors. It also appears that no one sells hollow core interior doors with pre-cut door hardware openings.
Ummm.... 78" high is a standard door height. Just one that they don't stock it in the stores. You have to order it. It's more expensive than an 80" door, but not by a whole lot. In my opinion, better than hacking more than the manufacturer's recommended amount from an 80" door. Most people are too stuipd or lazy to do it the right way and actually order a door that's the right size.
Never? And in all caps? That's a pretty drastic statement.
Consider a 6 panel pine door that needs 5 - 6" cut off. True situation - basement bathroom remodel in a house with a really low basement ceiling.
If I cut everything off the bottom, it would have look really out of balance and the door knob would have been down around my knees. Instead I determined the proportional differences of the top and bottom rails and divided my cuts proportionally. Came out great.
try the custom desk at a big box, or at a real lumberyard. you can also look up doors in the yellow pages. when i was building my house, i found a small shop that just builds doors for custom houses, that was the same cost as buying all the doors at a big box.
: OK...Let's make this simple. Having just cut down about 15 of these very same doors (six panel hollow-core), from 80" cut down to as small as 76", let me say this:
1) Any so-called contractor leaving open ends on a door is not a real contractor. Don't pay them. Don't hire them. Don't let them on your property.
2) If you're cutting the door down by 3/4 or less, you can cut the bottom. Don't cut the top.
3) Contractors habitually don't cut the top because (a) if you've got a pre-hung, you'll leave a gap, or (b) if it's a replacement slab (you're just replacing an existing door and keeping the old jamb and stop) with no hinge or handle cut outs, they'll measure top-down to get hinge placement on the door vs. the ones they'll route or chisel out on your new door. However, this isn't a hard-and-fast rule (see #4 below).
4) If you've got to cut down more than say 2 or 3 inches, and you feel that the 'balance' between the door panels is too wacky from top to bottom, you CAN cut the top and bottom. However, you're going to have to chisel out a new hinge placement to ensure you don't leave a gap a the top of the door. In the case where you're replacing existing doors, buy a 'slab' door with no hinges and handle cut outs, and buy an inexpensive Irwin doorhandle/hinge install kit at Home Depot and a good, sharp, 1" chisel. It worked perfect for me.
To cut down a hollow door more than 3/4" and make it right, this is what I did:
Measured the offset *carefully* on my circular saw to the outside of the blade, in my case, 1 12/32".
Clamped a straight-edge to the top or bottom of the door that I wanted to cut. This was measured off at Offset + the amount I want to shorten the door by.
Cut the door with the circular saw. I ended up with a cut end with the entire solid plug sandwiched between the veneers of the door.
Used table saw to line up the plug to trim *just* the veneer off. Worked awesome every time. I set it so I could literally peel the last bit of veneer off about the thickness of a piece of paper, so I knew the plug was perfect.
Spread wood glue on inside of door where plug will go. Wipe with finger to get even coat. Do the same on the door plug. Insert. Clamp for 30 minutes.
Done. I've done both bi-folds and interior doors with this method, and it works awesome. I have a 1962 basement+main with original doors at 78", plus a new basement reno that is 80" standard with a lower ceiling in my laundry taking it down to 76".
PS: If you need to cut the door lengthways to trim it, use a table saw and get a friend to help you handle it through. Don't use the circular saw method for that ... too slow, and if it's not perfect, you'll notice the tiniest imperfections lengthways, whereas at the top and bottom, you don't notice any small stuff at all (like saw blade marks).
Your 'contractor' is an incompetent buffoon. Sorry...I've had one of those too...who hasn't?
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"nnnnnnnnn" wrote in news:X9Kdnf0qwv5_oq_VnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com:
As Dennis said,
1) Any so-called contractor leaving open ends on a door is not a real contractor
I am not a real contractor either but I sure wouldn't do that. If the door looked OK after the cut and hung I would have taken the paneling off the cutoff piece which would leave the wood "filler" piece, put some glue on it, slide it back up in the opening and clamp for a few hours. Heck, might even get away with not clamping and just put some brads in to hold it till dry. Probably never see them. Especially if they get painted.
I appreciate everybody's responses, yet no one has answered the question, "where can I get a non standard sized door?" SOMEBODY makes them, because builders continue to install them. The door I am trying to replace is 23 5/8 inches wide, but yet is a standard height. It's a 6 panel hollow core interior closet door. It came with the house - do I need to go back to the builder and get a door from them?
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