Is it possible to cut interior doors. Instructions on how and with what tool you can cut the interior door to the height. Belt sander

Over time, the swing doors are deformed, and then the question arises of how to cut the interior door in height. Such a need arises as a result of subsidence, swelling (in the case of a wooden door leaf), or a change in floor level. After installing laminate or other new flooring on top of the old one, you also need to shorten the interior doors.

Depending on what exactly the door is made of, the methods differ. Most of the questions arise with veneered models. Such a canvas is not uniform, and the veneer itself is quite easy to damage when cutting. However, it is allowed to shorten even such doors, although it will take more time.

Note that it is important to take into account the device itself: hollow products cannot be cut by more than 1 centimeter.

What is needed to trim an interior door in height?

The cut-to-height tools are the same as the standard cut-to-width set. This procedure will require:

Clamps. With their help, the canvas is fixed. You will have to make sure that it stays stable, since a slight shift will put all the work down the drain.
Square, ruler. Desirably long, since the quality of the cut depends on the evenness of the cut line.
Knife. A sharp and thin tool is required to remove the veneer. It is recommended to sharpen it before starting work.
Sandpaper. If the veneer is varnished, it will need to be cleaned.
Planer - milling cutter - circular saw. Any of these tools will quickly and accurately shorten the height of your interior door.
PVA glue. It is needed at the final stage of trimming for fixing veneer or furniture tape.

In addition, you will need to stock up on masking tape and metal guides for the cut tool. Just in case, it is better to buy a veneer sheet - it will be needed if it is not possible to preserve the integrity of the native door covering. You can use a matching colored furniture edge band.

Let's clarify that PVA glue should be thick. It is preferable to use special D2 glue for wood.

Trimming interior veneer doors

Before starting work on trimming, the canvas is removed from the hinges. All accessories such as hinges, handles and locks are removed from it. After that, the door:

It is fixed with clamps or in any other available way. The main thing is immobility and reliable fastening of the canvas.
Marking is applied. For these purposes, a square and a ruler are used. If the veneer on the door is located on both sides, then the cut mark is also made on both sides and at the ends.
The guides are attached. The iron guide is fixed to the canvas with masking tape.
Veneer cutting. With a sharp knife, thin deep cuts are made along the guides. If the door is fully veneered, such cuts are made on all sides.
Removing the veneer. At this stage, pay attention to the varnish (if any). If it cracks, then before removing the veneer layer, you will have to remove the coating with sandpaper.
Removing the unnecessary part of the door leaf with a plane, saw or router.
Cut processing. If necessary, the place of the cut must be processed with sandpaper.
Preparation for gluing. The cut site is degreased with alcohol.
Veneer / furniture tape gluing. The cut is covered with PVA glue, after which veneer or furniture tape is attached to it.
The final stage. Excess glue is removed, if necessary, the surface is varnished.

It is worth stopping and considering in detail the question of what is better to use when trimming an unnecessary part of the canvas.

Removing part of the door leaf: planer, router, saw

The classic tool for cutting a veneered interior door is the plane. You can use both conventional and electric tools. It provides gradual removal, easy to handle. The disadvantages include possible surface irregularities and inconvenience when used in large areas. There are no special requirements for planers.

A circular saw requires experience with it to get a satisfactory result. You will need a carbide-toothed saw blade to trim the interior door. For a clean cut, it is recommended to choose a blade with as many teeth as possible. The advantage of this tool is that even a large area can be processed in a short time. Disadvantage: the work on trimming veneered interior doors must be done very carefully and slowly, otherwise the veneer may chip.

A manual router is the preferred option as it allows precise removal of the blade layers and is easier to control than a saw or even a plane. Of course, it is not necessary to buy such a specific instrument - it can be rented or borrowed from friends. When cutting, the cutter gradually approaches the guide, which allows you to efficiently and carefully get rid of the unnecessary part of the door leaf. This tool leaves fewer chips or snags than others. With a responsible approach to business, after the process of shortening the door is completed, sanding may not be necessary.

Bonding veneer to a finished door

Despite the apparent simplicity, this stage has its own subtleties. Is it possible to attach veneer or furniture tape without knowing them? It is possible, but the quality and durability of such work cannot be guaranteed.

Before gluing, be sure to degrease the surface. After that, a layer of PVA for wood is applied to the door. Wait until it dries completely. Fastening veneer or tape with fresh glue is not recommended.

Next, a sheet of veneer or tape is applied to the cut. A hot iron is passed through a sheet of paper over the entire surface (the regulator is set to the middle position). Along the way, remove the protruding glue and make sure that no scorch marks appear on the veneer.

Important note: if a new sheet is used, it must be cut so that the edges protrude slightly. You can trim them after final drying.

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When carrying out repairs in individual buildings of an old building, where there are very low ceilings and not quite standard doorways, the question often arises of changing the size of the purchased standard door. The same questions can arise when installing and repairing floors, as well as after laying a new floor carpet.

Most modern stores now have the opportunity to change the size of the doors on sale, since they take into account the needs of buyers and have organized small carpentry workshops directly in their stores, or cooperate with companies that can provide this type of service.

But it is not always possible to find people who will take on the changes in the standard door. And sometimes it is necessary to fit a door that has already been purchased and delivered home. And it is impractical to transport it for shortening. Therefore, the question of changing the size of doors at home remains relevant.

And believe me, it is possible to solve this issue on your own, practically at no cost, except for your ingenuity and your own labor.

How to trim a door

To change door standards, first of all, you need to know the design features of the door you have.

According to the manufacturing method, the designs of interior doors are divided into panel and frame (paneled, strapping).

Panel doors consist of: a frame - a frame made of wooden bars (strips), cladding made from both sides, of sheet material, and filling in the form of paper honeycomb, polyurethane or spiral shavings. Panel doors can be blind and partially glazed.

Frame doors consist of: strapping (main bars), midships (bars dividing the door leaf into parts) and filler (panels). Glass, fiberboard and chipboard are used as panels.

If you shorten the doors yourself, at home, it will not be difficult, then changing the width of the door is much more difficult, but it is also quite possible.

But let's dwell on the shortening. Before starting work, be sure to remember the old Russian proverb: "Measure seven times and cut once." It is necessary to carefully calculate everything, prepare the necessary tools, the necessary materials.

We will need:

a hacksaw with fine teeth,
hand circular electric saw or angle grinder (in common people - "grinder"),
plane,
wood glue and wooden blocks of a suitable size. We use bars - 30x30 mm.

If we use a "grinder", then a cutting wheel for metal is best suited for the production of work. When working, it will give off a lot of smoke and burning, but it will allow you to get a cut without delamination and cracks on materials such as fiberboard and MDF.

If we shorten it with a hand-held circular saw, then for work we take a disk with fine teeth and as many of them as possible - 80-112 pcs.

We will make the measurements we need and proceed to the shortening process itself.

We mark the canvas

And if we cut off with a circular saw, then on the back side we attach a board to the door in order to get a smooth, burr-free saw.

If we will carry out the work with the help of a "grinder", then it is necessary to make a wooden structure on both sides of the door. By attaching and securing the boards on both sides. This design will serve to abut the circle in it.

We shorten the door

The lower section of the door leaf consists of a solid wooden bar, taking into account the possibility of shortening. But usually, its width is not enough for trimming. Therefore, it will be useful for us, a bar of 30x30 mm prepared by us. To close the cavity that opened after shortening. Using a hacksaw, we prepare the block we need in length, adjust it in thickness with a plane, and mount it with glue.

When cutting off the door leaf of a paneled door or panel door with glass inserts, it is necessary to remember the proportions of all its components (the ratio of the sizes of all parts and the whole to each other). By drastically changing the size of the bottom of the door, we can break its harmony. Both the door itself and the entire interior will be completely different.

Therefore, we need to consider the possibility of trimming the canvas from both sides and from the top and from the bottom.

In the same way as described above, it is possible to resize the door in width.

But I would not recommend doing this, because trimming, using the tool we have available, to a length of 2 meters, will be very problematic and all the resulting flaws will be very noticeable. It is better to do such work on special machines and entrust it to professionals.

And we can, if necessary, try to change the size of the doorway.

In general, we see that it is quite realistic to change the size of the door, if necessary, at home.

Get to work, you will definitely succeed.

How to trim a video door

In such cases, it is most rational to use primed panel doors with fiberboard linings. Such a door leaf can be purchased for $ 15-20. After trimming and additional processing, the canvas is painted and in appearance is almost no different from the standard canvas.

With fiberboard overlays, it allows you to cut the door leaf from the top, bottom or side rather quickly, simply and practically without prejudice to its appearance.

Work technology:

1. To reduce the width or height of the door leaf to 0.5 cm

can be used:

Jointing machine. Gives the best result, but not everyone has such a machine;
Electrofuganok. It gives a good result, but it is also rare on the farm;
Electric planer. It gives a good result, but you need to work carefully, because at the end, if the plane is not held, it often chooses an unnecessary depression;
An ordinary plane or jointer. If the height of the door decreases, then the mullion beams must be shortened with a circular, hacksaw or jigsaw.

2. To reduce the width or height of the door leaf by 0.5-1 cm

can be used:

Circular machine. Gives the best result, but again, not everyone has such a machine;
Hand circular saw. It gives a good result, but it is also rare on the farm;
Jigsaw. Almost never, the cut does not turn out to be even and therefore the canvas needs to be additionally planed, therefore, it is necessary to saw with a small margin;
Hand saw (hacksaw). The cut is more or less even, but often not perpendicular to the planes of the canvas, and therefore the canvas needs to be additionally planed, so you need to saw with a small margin.

After cutting, the ends of the door are processed by grinding. It is advisable to remove the chamfer from the fiberboard sheet in the cutting places (slightly round off the ends). It is best to do this by hand, using a sanding paper attached to an iron or plastic float.

Note: when reducing the width of the door, it is advisable to cut the door on the side where the lock will cut in, and not on the side where the awnings will be placed.

3a. To reduce the width or height of the door leaf by 1-3 cm

preliminary disassembly of the door and glue will be required to strengthen the door structure. Disassembly success depends on the quality of the adhesive. Try with a wide chisel to separate the canvas from the wooden block of the frame in the place of the future cutting of the fiberboard. If the canvas comes off easily enough and does not collapse, carefully release the frame block, pull out the metal staples that hold the frame together and carefully cut the fiberboard canvases with a hacksaw. After that, you need to reduce the width of the upper and lower frame bars (if you reduce the width of the door), and remove the extra honeycomb (with a wallpaper knife or simply by hand) in order to insert the frame bar. The bar can be screwed on or shot with staples. After that, the canvases are glued to the bar, for this you can use PVA glue and ordinary masking tape if there is no press.

3b. To reduce the width or height of the door leaf by 1-3 cm

additional pieces of wood and glue will be required to reinforce the door structure. If it was not possible to separate the fiberboard of the canvas, then you will have to cut along the frame (the tools are the same), then knock out what is left of the bar, remove the extra honeycomb in order to insert a new bar of the frame. It is advisable to screw the bar. After that, the canvases are glued to a new bar, for this you can use PVA glue and ordinary masking tape if there is no press.

Notes:

You need to cut the door only with goggles and do not rush, since there is a high probability that the cutting part of the tool will hit the metal brackets that hold the frame together.
If the door is paneled, then it is advisable to cut in width on both sides to maintain the symmetry of the pattern.

4. To reduce the height of the door leaf by 3-5 cm

you will need glue to strengthen the door structure. Cut off the excess part by any of the methods described in clause 2. Using a wide chisel, knock down the remnants of the fiberboard from the wooden block, remove the excess honeycomb (with a wallpaper knife or just by hand) to insert the frame block. After that, the canvases are glued to the bar, for this you can use PVA glue and ordinary masking tape if there is no press.

After the glue dries, the ends of the door, if necessary, are planed and processed by grinding. It is advisable to remove the chamfer from the fiberboard sheet in the cutting places (slightly round off the ends). It is best to do this by hand, using a sanding paper attached to an iron or plastic float.

5. To reduce the height of the door leaf by 5 cm or more

you will need glue to strengthen the door structure. Cut off the excess with a jigsaw or wood hacksaw. This is done quickly, since basically only fiberboard canvases have to be cut. Using a wide chisel, knock down the remnants of fiberboard from a wooden block, remove excess honeycombs (with a wallpaper knife or just with your hands) to insert the frame block. After that, the canvases are glued to the bar, for this you can use PVA glue and ordinary masking tape if there is no press.

Note: If the door is paneled, then it is advisable to cut it from above and below to maintain the symmetry of the pattern.

It takes 1-3 hours to cut the door in 1 and 2 cases. To cut the door in cases 3-5, it will take 2-4 hours, well, it is advisable to wait 1 day until the glue is completely dry, although you can install the door with scotch tape.

How to properly trim a video door
It would seem, why cut an already installed and serviceable door. However, sometimes such a need arises, for example, if the installation of interior doors has already been carried out earlier, and during the next repair, the owner needed to lay the laminate on the floor, but the doors were not designed for this in height. In this case, it is much easier to shorten the door than to replace it with a new design. The question is how to do it correctly and competently.

Any homeowner, producing, expects that the new structure will serve him, as they say, faithfully, for many years. To do this, he chooses reliable and high-quality doors from trusted manufacturers or orders from professionals and wants to be sure that he will not need to repair the interior doors. In most cases, this happens, but there are situations when it is necessary to trim the door in height, for example, if during the next repair the owner wanted to replace the floor covering, and he decided that laying a laminate or parquet board would be an excellent option. As you know, the laying of parquet boards and laminates is associated with a change in the floor level, and, therefore, it is necessary to shorten the door so that it does not touch the floor covering when closing and opening. After all, hardly anyone would think of buying and re-installing interior doors, which entails large expenditures of funds.

And here comes the most difficult moment. Few of the non-professionals know how to properly cut the door to avoid possible damage and spoiled appearance of the structure. Of course, ideally, you should contact the specialists who install and repair interior doors, and have professional knowledge and tools to perform this, by no means a simple operation. But if this option does not suit the homeowner or is impossible for some reason, he can cut the interior door on his own. And for this he will need either a manual or a manual router, available in the arsenal of most home craftsmen, as well as a video instruction on how exactly the door should be cut so as not to spoil it.

By the way, with the help of a hand-held circular saw, you can shorten the interior door without even removing it from its hinges. To do this, it is first of all necessary to carefully measure the required size of the saw cut, setting the circular saw blade in such a way that when passing on a flat floor surface and sawing the door, making an even horizontal cut along the entire width of the blade. You can visually see exactly how the door is trimmed without removing it, on the first video instruction in this section. This operation is carried out, as a rule, before the laying of the laminate on the floor has been carried out, since otherwise it is much more difficult to cut the door without removing it from the hinges.

In this video you will see how to cut an interior door without removing it from its hinges.

A more complex, time-consuming, but at the same time more convenient way to shorten an interior door is to use a manual router. In the second video, you can see the whole process in detail. To do this, the door must be removed from its hinges, fixed on a flat surface of a table or workbench with the help of clamps, pressing them on top of an evenly exposed wooden block, which will serve as a guide for the router. It is important to install it so that the cutter will cut the wood exactly at the required distance. With a router, trimming the door will take longer than with a circular, because you have to make several passes, gradually going deeper into the canvas. However, this method of shortening the door is more reliable, especially if the home craftsman is not a specialist and