Written by Nick Jurkowski
Hanging a door is not prohibitively difficult, but great care must be taken, or else you'll end up with final product that is crooked, or uneven. In the worst case scenario, the door might not even close or latch, and you'll have to redo the whole thing. In order to avoid this unfortunate outcome, make sure you measure carefully, and don't rush anything. Please not that this guide assumes you have your door-frame in place. On to the how-to!
Step 1: Measure the door opening. Naturally, you will want to measure the smallest distances within the door frame.
Step 2: Purchase and mark the door. Once you have purchased a door that fits the opening, you will need to trim the door so that there is space between the frame and door. Before you do this, you need to measure and mark. Mark a 2mm (or 1/16th of an inch) on the top and sides of the door, while on the bottom, you will need ¼ inch to ½ inch of space. This is dependent on the thickness of carpeting in the door's room. For carpet that isn't to thick or thin, think 3/8 of an inch.
Step 3: Trim the door. Either saw or plane the door to your measurements. If you are sawing, a jigsaw is ideal. Either way, make sure that your cut is straight. No one likes a crooked door. Sand the edges smooth. No one likes a rough-edged door either. Once this is done, check that the door fits into the doorway. If not, plane the door down further. Remember – it is better to initially take too little off than too much; it is easier to remove more than to put material back.
Step 4: Hinges! The door should open into its room, so with this information, you can figure out where your hinges will go (the back of the hinge will be flush with the end of the side of the door which opens into the room). The light-switch in the room should be accessible the side opposite the door's hinges. Once you know where your hinges should be placed, measure six inches from each end of the door. These lines form the markers for the top and bottom of the bottom and top hinges, respectively. Trace the outline of each hinge on the door.
Using these outlines, use a chisel to carve hinge resources into the door. Again: don't chisel out too much. Remove a modest amount of material, and then take a little more if needed. Ultimately, the hinge size should be flush with the surface of the side of the door. Once you have these recesses chiseled out, you can attach the hinges. Mark the holes in each hinge and drill pilot holes (always drill pilot holes!), and then screw in the hinges. Now, you have a door with attached hinges, ready to hang!
Step 5: Hang the door. Repeat the process for attaching the hinge to the door frame (measure, chisel, drill, and screw!). Congratulations! You now have a fully functional door!
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