| In
This Article:
A 24" wide solid wood
door is ripped narrower and hinge pockets are routed with a
guide template and template bushing. The door is mounted on
the jambs and held together with braces. |
Related
Articles:
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| Skill Level:
3-4 (Moderate to Advanced) |
Time Taken:
3 Hours |
By
Bruce W. Maki,
Editor
In our double-bathroom remodel
project we were faced with a minor challenge. We wanted to keep some
form of adjoining door, similar to what the previous owner had
installed when they first converted the bedroom to bathrooms. But in
our revised floor plan, there was minimal room for a door, only
about 24 inches. So we purchased a 24 inch wide solid wood 6-panel
door, with the intent of ripping it narrower, once the exact
dimensions of the opening were known. We knew there was no way we
could rely on cutting 2 inches from a hollow-core door... they often
only have about 1 inch of side rail material.
As the title suggests, the essence of this job is creating a
pre-hung door from readily available materials.
 |
This is the door rough opening. It looks narrow
because it is narrow... only 24 inches. |
 |
| The raw materials, from left to right: The
6-panel solid door, the door jambs, the colonial door stop
trim. The door has just been ripped narrower, by cutting 1
inch from each side, on a table saw. |
 |
A close-up view of the top ends of the side
jambs. These are sold as single boards, about 82" long,
with this rabbet cut into the top end.
These jambs are actually veneer-covered plywood. (Some
people call this engineered lumber.) Being plywood they
should be very stable and not be prone to warping or
splitting. Jamb material is normally 5/8" thick. These
jambs were 4 - 9/16" inches wide... just right for a 2x4
wall with 1/2" drywall on each side. |
| This is a close-up of the colonial door stop
trim, purchased by the lineal foot from the local Home Depot. |
 |
 |
The edges of the door were quite rough from the
sawing operation, so we sanded the edges down with a belt
sander. This took about 3 minutes.
The door is held in a custom fixture that we made. Sanding
the edge of a door is a major pain in the rear unless the door
is held firmly... on edge. |
| Then we finish-sanded the edges with a fine-grit
sanding sponge. |
 |
 |
The basic Black & Decker router. This very
economical power tool has come in handy many times. |
| And the best thing about this B&D router...
it accepts template guide bushings made by Porter Cable ($30
at The Ho' Depot). |
 |
 |
The Porter Cable guide bushings have a knurled
locking ring that clamps the steel bushing into place. |
Why Guide Bushings?
The guide bushing rubs against the metal guide plate... and
prevents the router bit from from hitting the guide (which would
surely destroy the bit). It sounds like a lot of trouble, but it
works well.
| The Porter Cable bushing set has 7 different
sizes of guides. These devices are necessary for projects such
as routing letters and signs. |
 |
 |
The other product used here is a Butt Hinge
Template set from Sears. This $8 set includes a template for
4" hinges (typically for exterior doors) and a template
for 3-1/2" hinges (for interior doors), which is the one
we will use. |
 |
For the top hinge, we made a mark 5-1/2"
below the door's top.
For the bottom hinge we made a mark 9-1/2" above the
bottom of the door. |
 |
| The template is set against the door edge (the
hinge pin goes on the same side as my hand) with the lower
edge of the steel against the pencil mark.
Note the little notch in the steel, right above my pinky...
this 1/8" deep notch serves a purpose... for helping to
layout the hinge position on the door jamb. Following
the product's instructions is crucial here. This is kind of
hard to explain, even with pictures. |
 |
 |
We attached the template with pan-head sheet
metal screws. The instructions recommend nails... but they
never worked for me, the wood grain diverts the nail and the
template ends up crooked. |
| Setting the cutting tool depth:
We placed both hinges on top of the template and sat the
router on top of that. Then we positioned the cutting bit so
it was just touching the wood... |
 |
 |
...Like that. |
| And away we go. This is easy, just turn the
power on and swish the router around inside the confines of
the hinge template. |
 |
 |
That was quick, maybe a minute.
The black marks on the wood are burn marks. This old router
bit was really dull (I know what you're thinking... just
like the Editor...) so we stopped to sharpen it. Then it
actually cut the wood, and left no burn marks. |
Before the template is removed: We measured from the top
of the door to the bottom of the notch. This will be the
measurement used to lay out the template on the jamb.
This measurement is taken for each hinge, always from the
top of the door to the bottom of the notch.
| The routed hinge pocket.
Remember that this can be done with just a chisel and
hammer, but that is a chore, and it often leaves an
uneven surface, which puts the hinge out of alignment, and
causes too much grief. I will never go back to the old
way. |
 |
 |
We used a 1 inch chisel to remove the rounded
corners. |
| Here's another "must have" tool. This
tool is called a Vix bit. It is a drill bit inside a
spring-loaded guide. The guide is tapered and fits into the
conical hole of the hinges. Just drill and push and the hinge
holes are aligned perfectly. |
 |
 |
Here's a little demonstration. The drill bit
pokes through the hole in the hinge, while the guide keeps it
perfectly centered.
The Vix bit really helps give professional results, and
quickly. This tool was bought at Sears, in a kit with some
other gadgets, for about $20. Other stores and catalogs carry
them too.
|
| The template was laid out on the jamb.
The measurements we took above (before removing the
templates) are marked on the jamb, measured from the edge of
the rabbet (where the finished surface ends, not the
end of the board)
Then, the normal edge of the template (not the notch)
is laid against the pencil mark.
|
 |
Why? This results in the
hinge being 1/8" lower on the jamb than on the door...
which means that the assembled unit has a 1/8" gap between the
top jamb and the top of the door... which is WHAT YOU WANT. Without
this rigmarole, you would end up taking the door off the hinges and
sanding or planing the top to create a little one-eighth-inch gap.
Can you say H-A-S-S-L-E ?
 |
The hinges were installed on the door...
... and then the jamb was held in place and the hinges
screwed into it. Luckily, our work was accurate enough that
only a minor adjustment in one hinge pocket was required,
which was done with a knife.
|
 |
 |
The top jamb was cut to length (the door width,
22", plus 1/4" for the two side gaps, plus the
combined rabbet depths).
Then the side was nailed into the top with a couple of
2" finish nails.
|
| The striker-side jamb was also nailed to the
assembly. We kept the door off the floor with some blocks of
wood, so the protruding hinges would not get in the way. |
 |
 |
We also drove in some 2" deck screws to
hold the jambs together. |
| Then we cut the colonial door stop trim (the top
joints are beveled, which was done on a power miter saw) and
fastened them with 1" brads. We used scraps of cardboard
to provide a small gap between the door and stop. (Otherwise,
the stop trim will fit too tightly and the paint will rub off.
This is really only necessary on the hinge side.) |
 |
 |
Finally, we tacked a couple of scraps of lumber
across the jambs, to hold everything together. This is a
technique borrowed from the manufacturers of pre-hung doors.
In order to make installation easy, we must be able to pick
up the door and carry it without the jambs shifting at all. |
| The finished project, actually an intermediate
step: a pre-hung door made from off-the-shelf components.
Note that we have already drilled the holes for the door
knob. This step is not necessary to hang the door... we did it
early because of other reasons. |
 |
See this pre-hung door installed.
See the door knob installed.
About The Power Tools We Used:
We'll admit that we use a few tools that the some
homeowners do not have.
- The pneumatic finish nailers just save us time. Their
work could be done with ordinary hand-driven finish nails.
- We used a table saw to rip the door down. This could be
done with a circular saw and a good straight-edge.
- We used a power miter saw to cut the door stop trim.
This could be done with a plain old miter box and back
saw.
- The power belt sander makes short work of material
removal, but this could be done with a rasp, a block
plane, or a surform tool (which looks like a cheese
grater).
|
|
Tools
Used:
- Cordless Drill/Driver
- Belt Sander
- Router & Straight Bit
- Butt Hinge Template
- Router Template Guide
- 1 Inch Chisel
- "Vix" Bit
- Table Saw & Miter Saw
|
Materials Used:
- Raised Panel Slab Door
- Door Jamb Kit
- Door Stop Trim
- 3½" Hinges
|
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