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Thread: Installing Internal French Doors
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2nd May 2018, 12:29 PM #1New Member
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Installing Internal French Doors
Hi all, just after some advice re internal "French Doors". I have a width of 1450mm and was thinking of using two 720mm doors (no rebate) leaving 10mm between doors. I am assuming that by the time the hinges are put on they would move the doors closer by roughly 2.5mm each... closing the gap to about 5mm between the doors. As they are internal only and don't need locks etc I am assuming that the 5mm gap will be fine and I can use roller catches at the top of each door. Is my thinking right? The frame already has the hinges cut out (three on each door by previous owner) so is there anything I should watch out for when attempting to match them up with the doors? Any thoughts / advice would be appreciated.
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2nd May 2018, 03:39 PM #2GOLD MEMBER
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Welcome to the forum. I’m sure someone will be along to give advice to you query.
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2nd May 2018, 04:05 PM #3
I don't know if it is the proper way to fit french doors, but what I have done previously is to temporarily fixed the doors together and treat the fitting as a single door. Once the set fits the opening as one I then added hinges to each leaf and made any fine adjustments to the closing rebate. I think
Instead of ball catches on my last set I used rare earth magnet catches I found on the shelf at the green shed next to the ball catches. I used 20mm ones and they are almost too strong.Franklin
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4th May 2018, 08:45 AM #4New Member
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4th May 2018, 07:42 PM #5GOLD MEMBER
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Hi Peejayjay, a 3 mm gap is the preferred size and what you will get with most better quality hinges.
Your opening size should work out fine once you even out the gaps
Before fitting the hinges put the doors in the opening to see if you need to scribe the head or stiles in if the jams are not plumb or head is out of level.
if the doors are not flush panel, keep in mind lining up the rails or any other routered features or inlays when you set the heights up.
themagnetic discs as mentioned that fit into the top edge of the door are neate and easy to fit but the brass roller catches work fine as well
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8th May 2018, 11:40 AM #6New Member
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Thanks for the reply Beardy… it all makes sense so I reckon I'll give it a go. I'm hoping to put a couple of single 'lite' doors on. I will have to takes 10mm off the bottom stiles. As the 3 hinge rebates already exist on both sides of the frame (doesn't look like they are particularly deep though which may be a good thing) the hard part will be lining them up to with the new hinge rebates on the doors but I suppose I will just have to take my time and try (very hard) to be meticulous. Thanks again.
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9th May 2018, 03:59 PM #7Novice
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I would fit each door individually .Use timber wedges under the bottom to hold in place to first check the top edge edge and the stile are are good fit and correct as necessary . Sometimes the stile will have a bow and you may have to plane the door to fit and possibly the top also .Then hold the door in the correct location with the wedges allowing suitable clearance at the top I normally use a large nail which is approx 3 mm dis With the hinge edge of the door hard against the style mark the position on the hinges and fit accordingly. Repeat with second door .Then check what clearance you have between the doors and and work on one or both to provide clearance between the two . You can use a large nail as a gauge to check clearance between the two doors . Keep in mind that all door styles and headers in an older house may not be square and plumb consequently the need to fit each door individually and then attend to the gap Nothing worse than looking at a set of doors with an uneven gap
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15th May 2018, 10:01 AM #8GOLD MEMBER
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somewhat a threadjack, but I'll have a need to refit a *lot* of French doors (internal and external onto verandah) on a circa 25yo house some time in the next year. There's enough settling happened to make pretty much every one of them sticky, some a little, some a lot. Anyone with good tips on a process to deal with that? Obviously the hinges are already placed, so for small adjustments it'll be about planning top and bottom to get clearance even, but on some I suspect there will be a bigger movement and may need long face adjustments and/or hinge adjustments.
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15th May 2018, 07:11 PM #9GOLD MEMBER
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There is not a lot more to it than what you have said, while the doors are closed use a thin packer or 20c piece to scribe the tight areas then remove the door and plane in as required to the marks.
if you need to lift a door up you may have to do some patching around the hinges or if it is polished work you could go to a larger hinge to cover the existing checkouts
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