Replacing a door

[Tony K]

Afternoon all.

I'm trying to replace an old door. The door itself is 750mm wide. Standard doors, including the ones I am thinking of buying, are 762mm.

 

The outer part of the existing opening is 750mm wide, then there is a simple timber frame outside the outer face of the door, then there is the door itself on the inner part of the opening.

 

What I can't quite tell is whether a 762mm wide door could be made to fit. 

 

It seems to me that the door hinges are fixed into timber, suggesting that I could break out the architrave and the timber and make space for a new door.

 

Am I missing anything here? Is there a way to tell whether a 762mm door would fit before I buy one, which doesn't include ripping out the architrave etc?

[BotusBuild]

Just fitting doors myself. Most doors will have a strip of solid wood around the edges. The ones I bought had 8mm.

 

You can trim the width of the door to fit a gap, but you shouldn't take any more than 4mm from each side according to the manufacturer's recommendation (Howden in my case).

 

However, I've had to, in a couple of cases, take significantly more. I used a circular saw with a guide to remove the 8mm solid wood in one piece, then cut off the extra I needed from the "core" of the door, then used PU glue to refit the solid 8mm wood back on the door. The doors are now hung and working well.

 

This approach is easier than removing the architrave and wood behind and replacing all that IMHO

[JamesP]

You would need to check the lipping amount on each vertical edge. Our internal doors have 6mm lipping.

External doors are usually constructed using solid strips / blocks of timber but you would need to check the door spec on each stile.

You probably need to move / replace the door stops depending on thickness of replacement.

 

 

 

 

[Oz07]

It's probably a bespoke door. Look at the age of it. You might be better off with a 726x2040 metric and lipping both sides but it depends what construction you go for, chipboard be no good if cutting it down a few inches at the bottom.

[Tony K]

So if I buy a second hand composite door, am I causing myself a big problem, as it can't be shaved down?

[JamesP]

1 hour ago, Tony K said:

So if I buy a second hand composite door, am I causing myself a big problem, as it can't be shaved down?

Correct, most composite doors have a solid timber / foam core surrounded by uPVC.  

[dpmiller]

I'd expect a composite door to come in it's own frame?

[Tony K]

10 hours ago, dpmiller said:

I'd expect a composite door to come in it's own frame?

Yes, they often do. My thinking was that I may be able to remove the internal architrave and some of the timber lining and fit the frame in there.

[Redbeard]

I m a little confused by the first few posts. Isn't the easiest way (to find out whether the potential extra space exists) to take off the architraves and measure the masonry opening? If you want to be truly 'belt-and-braces' you could hack a little plaster off on both sides above the door to see by how much the lintel bears on the masonry each side. This would give you an idea of whether, in extremis, you could widen out the masonry opening without risk - a not inconsiderable task, BTW.

 

Find the dimensions of your composite door *and frame* and if that dim is smaller than the masonry opening you are set to go. If not, you're not.

[Tony K]

28 minutes ago, Redbeard said:

I m a little confused by the first few posts. Isn't the easiest way (to find out whether the potential extra space exists) to take off the architraves and measure the masonry opening? If you want to be truly 'belt-and-braces' you could hack a little plaster off on both sides above the door to see by how much the lintel bears on the masonry each side. This would give you an idea of whether, in extremis, you could widen out the masonry opening without risk - a not inconsiderable task, BTW.

 

Find the dimensions of your composite door *and frame* and if that dim is smaller than the masonry opening you are set to go. If not, you're not.

 

You have it spot on. My question really was whether there was a way to establish the dimension of the inner masonry opening without ripping off the architrave etc, as my worst case scenario is that I do all that only to find that a new door won't fit anyway.

[Conor]

20 hours ago, Tony K said:

 

You have it spot on. My question really was whether there was a way to establish the dimension of the inner masonry opening without ripping off the architrave etc, as my worst case scenario is that I do all that only to find that a new door won't fit anyway.

Drill a couple small diameter holes through the door frame on each of the three sides  then insert something like a small Phillips screwdriver until you hit the masonary to determine the depth, and therefore the true width. The holes can then be easily filled and painted over.