Thread: Done floors, now doors are too short

Depends how much effort you want to go through and the finish on the doors... The quickest way is to get a raven internal seal that goes on the underside of the door and from memory takes up 20mm or so and this will reduce the drafts under the doors.. Alternatively take off doors and replace or put another piece of timber under the door and repaint


cheers utemad

The best outcome would be to remove the doors, nail or screw a piece of timber moulding under the door, stain & varnish to match.

A less ideal but much easier shortcut (which a lot of people would frown on, but depending on how good the surface area contact is and how much movement/stress the door will face, may or may not be very strong) would be to add the same piece of moulding under the door, but instead of removing the door, just apply contact glue (the type that glue sniffers use) on both surfaces (under the door, use a flat stick with a cardboard on the flow below to avoid glue getting on to your floor); then let both sides dry till tacky (about 30 minutes or so) and then carefully press both sides together. Align the moulding carefully to the door and use a flat object eg. steel rule to apply upward pressure to the moulding. The 2 items will stick and hold immediately so you cant get the alignment wrong when you press them together.

Just an alternative you may want to consider.

To get the finish to match, you'll need to test out different stains (on offcuts) then apply an appropriate varnish or other finish.

If you have forced-air heating and cooling, with only one or two return-air intakes, the gaps may be beneficial to ensure that return air is gathered from all the rooms.

Food for thought.

Joe

I would go to the local veeneer supplier and buy two sheets that are larger than the door. I would then glue and pin nail a extention to the bottom of the door , then laminate the new sheets over the door on both sides, trim everything and then re coat the doors. They will not even know that you have just fully renovated. The veeneer comes in 1 or 2mm thickness . Perfect

To be honest, I'd leave it. Doesn't look too bad to me. Not enough to warrant the extra work anyway. I'd only worry if heating or cooling was a big issue that would be really affected by the extra gap - given that even if you lengthen them there'll be a gap anyway.

Peter

on the external entry door , i would just lower that triangle piece and mabe attach a piece the same species to the inside. Do a fresh cut with a new blade on your saw to get a clean line and then glue , nail and clamp the new piece on till glue dry. Plane back all sides untill all is matching, then fine sand it all then recoat.

If you really want to mess around and get a good result, you could do this:

1. rehang the door lower so that the gap is at the top
2. pack the header to fill the gap at the top (removable door stops would make this easier)
3. reposition the top stop
4. trim the side architraves to suit the smaller door
5. reposition the top architrave to suit the smaller door (and hide the header packing)
6. move strike plate to lower location
7. fill/patch old hinge and strike plate holes
8. patch plaster if required
9. paint plaster

Effectively, what did does is resize the doorway to match the smaller door - rather than resize the door to match the doorway!

If you really, really want to mess around, you could also reduce the doorway width as well so that you can simply plane off the old hinge rebates from the door and start afresh.

I vote for chrisp

Originally Posted by Larry McCully

I vote for chrisp

And I vote Larry!
Thanks for the responses fellas.
I like Chrisp's - don't make the door bigger, make the frame smaller! Trouble is these are metal frames, so I can't resize them.
Joe, my heating/cooling system involves open doors and windows in summer. And then closed doors and a burning fireplace in winter. But I do need to eliminate drafts on external doors for wind and leaves. I like Larry's idea best and lower the triangular thingy (does it have a name?).
I can't leave the interior doors for aesthetic reasons. Again, I like Larry's solution to reveneer. Trouble is I don't where one can get such size sheets here if at all, so I'll have to look around. This would have the advantage of renewing the doors which are 50 years old (as are the floors) and in need of freshening.
The simplest is to glue and nail an extension, but I'm not sure about my staining abilities. And the veneer's chipped away a fair bit on the one door.

Geday mate, chrisp was sooooo close. I liked his the best, But steel jams...Hmmmmmmm,
Ok ,back to the new venneer method, it will also refresh the surface of the doors. I do a re-veeneering on risers on old and damaged stair risers sometimes. They look fantastic. It is a bit of work , but it can be done,I normally use a high quality adhesive and after it is down and trimed, i then apply the coating as usual. The coating i use on timber doors is the same product i use on the floors. If a oil, i use a Feast Watson oil product x 3 coats.

http://www.ifatimber.co.za/product_page.htm

I dont know if this close to where you live or even your contry, but i typed in veeneer sth africa in the searvh box. If you do the same you will come up with a supplier.

Originally Posted by Larry McCully

I would go to the local veeneer supplier and buy two sheets that are larger than the door. I would then glue and pin nail a extention to the bottom of the door , then laminate the new sheets over the door on both sides, trim everything and then re coat the doors. They will not even know that you have just fully renovated. The veeneer comes in 1 or 2mm thickness . Perfect

Not picking on you Larry I promise... Just a little to much free time on my hands today... A new door goes retail i guess 140 bucks solid core is it really worth all the work and if you add a veneer on the jamb side you'll have to rehinge the door as it will bind on the jamb...

Whats veneer worth these days?

Hope your flat out mate with a trail of dust chasing you all the way to the bank


cheers utemad

I guess your right cuz, it would be cheaper and quicker for a new door and cut down to size.

Originally Posted by Larry McCully

I guess your right cuz, it would be cheaper and quicker for a new door and cut down to size.

Flamin heck, I'm not sure why on earth the easiest solution comes last!! I was reading some of the suggestions and thinking ?