Wanting to install interior door with their own hands, many overestimate their strength. Without availability the necessary tool and certain skills in working with the material can hopelessly ruin an expensive product. If the decision is made, you must first familiarize yourself with the installation rules and scrupulously follow the recommendations of professionals.
Installing interior doors with your own hands: step-by-step instructions
The process of manually installing doors between rooms begins with certain actions. Let us describe step by step the stages of the work being performed:
- Remove from hinges old door, then tear off the cash. You can use a hammer and a wide chisel or a small hatchet for this. Using a bent crowbar, you should dismantle the old box.
- Then you need to prepare an opening for the door to be installed. If its dimensions are suitable, everything remains as it was. If it is necessary to enlarge the opening, use a hammer drill. The width of the opening must exceed the dimensions of the door leaf by 10 cm, and the height by 5 cm.
- To fit the box you need to use a clean and level surface. First, adjust the upper horizontal part. You can calculate its length by adding to the width of the doors twice the thickness of the vertical posts of the frame and 6 mm as the necessary gap to ensure free movement of the door leaf. Then you need to adjust the height of the vertical posts. It should be taken into account that for a door without a threshold the length should be increased by 10 mm. Another 3 mm must be left for the top gap.
- After this, they begin to cut the loops onto the canvas and the box. To do this, at a distance of 200 mm from the edges of the canvas, you need to hollow out recesses. The insertion of loops begins with their application to the canvas to mark the boundaries of the recesses. The work must be done with a router or chisel. It is advisable to treat the resulting recesses with varnish, otherwise the wood will dry out over time. Then you need to put a loop in the prepared bed and mark the places for attaching the screws. It is best to pre-drill them using a drill bit with a slightly smaller diameter than the thickness of the screw. After this, you can screw the hinges with screws, attaching their halves with a protrusion to the frame, and those with a hole to the door.
- Now you can finally assemble the box, connecting its parts at an angle of 45°. You can fasten the box with self-tapping screws.
- Carefully lift the box and begin installing it inside the opening. Carefully check the verticality of the product with a level, the perpendicularity of its components and the horizontalness of the bar from above. The gaps formed in the opening should be eliminated using wooden wedges and then polyurethane foam.
- After installing the box, it must be secured with dowels.
Here are the steps you need to take. The video “How to install an interior door with your own hands” will help you finally understand all the details:
Installation of sliding interior doors
There are many different options for sliding doors. They differ in material, appearance, and other characteristics, although the principle of operation and design remain unchanged. Any such system has a canvas, rollers and guides.
Important: Installing sliding interior doors with your own hands is carried out in different ways, it all depends on the purpose for which the sliding door is installed. It is usually installed to save space, since it frees up the space needed to open the swing door.
Schematically, the installation of the structure is divided into the following stages:
- Installation of guides.
- Attaching holders and fittings to the door leaf.
- Door installation.
- Installation of closers and limiters.
- Fastening the extensions and platbands.
- Final adjustment.
Detailed installation of sliding interior doors with your own hands is shown in the video:
Installation of interior doors with extensions
If the thickness of the existing opening exceeds the width of the box, then to add aesthetics it is necessary to use extensions, attaching them directly to the block. The advantage of such components is the uniformity of all structural elements and quick installation. Before fastening, it is necessary to determine the dimensions of the extensions. To do this, measure the required width of the plank by inserting a box into the opening and measuring the uncovered width of the opening.
Important: Door access Can be cut to size with a circular saw.
To secure the extension, you need to screw the mounting strips on the back side and connect them to the box.
It is enough to use three fasteners on each element. Then you should install the box with the addition into the opening and secure it. After this, you need to go through all the existing cracks with professional foam.
Two ways to install interior door panels with your own hands in the video:
Installing butterfly hinges
Overhead loops called "butterflies"– do not require insertion, they are easy to install. It is enough just to attach the product to the door end and to the frame, screw it with self-tapping screws, so that the door is ready for use.
Let's take a closer look at this process:
- We apply a hinge to the door end, maintaining a distance of 20 cm from the edge.
- We use an awl to mark the points where we need to make holes for the screws.
- The inner part of the hinge is attached to the door, and the outer part is attached to the frame.
- Drill holes according to the marks.
- We fasten the hinges.
Installing a lock and handles in the door leaf
To install a lock on an interior door with your own hands, you should follow these procedures:
- Measure 90 cm from the floor and attach the lock body to the resulting point.
- Mark the place where the handles will be attached.
- Execute with a drill through hole at the place where the handles are attached.
- Mark the boundaries of the lock mechanism niche on the door end, then use a feather drill to drill a recess for it.
- Check the depth by inserting a lock into the recess. Then use a chisel to make a small niche into which the fastening strip of the lock mechanism will fit.
- Apply varnish to all recesses.
- Secure the lock with screws and attach handles to it.
- Install the counter part of the lock mechanism in the same way.
Cash fasteners
Are ending installation work for installing doors between rooms with casing fasteners. This process is not difficult.
Until recently, installing interior doors with your own hands was quite a difficult task and required serious experience and skills from a person. Now everything has become much simpler; having a good tool and knowing the procedure for installing interior doors, any home craftsman is able to finish the job in a day. Next, we will show you step by step how to properly install an interior door in two ways.
Options for interior doors.
Before installing an interior door, you must first select it. When choosing, there are 2 main criteria - the size of the structure and the material from which the doors and the frame to them are actually made.
Material selection
It is not so important to install an interior door in a wooden house or in a room in a city high-rise building; the design must not only be beautiful, but also reliable, and this primarily depends on the material.
Fiberboard is perhaps the most common option. The structure is a hollow box covered on both sides with thin fiberboard sheets and based on a frame made of wooden blocks.
There is no need to rush to install such a door; it is, of course, light and cheap, and it may look quite decent, but the reliability is not all right; such a structure can even be broken with your fist, plus there is a high probability that in a couple of years it will begin to delaminate.
MDF is the golden mean between cheap fiberboard and good wooden structure. The array is dense, durable, and most importantly completely environmentally friendly. Self-installation interior laminated MDF panels at home is an excellent solution if there is no money for installers, and beautiful door I want to.
The MDF canvas must be laminated with high quality, then it will not be visually different from wood.
Natural wood - traditionally it is believed that installation wooden doors this is the most the best option, but this is wrong, here you need to look at the quality and manufacturer. Believe me, sometimes it is better to install interior doors from good MDF laminate, rather than take a damp pine tree, which will fail in six months.
At the time of buying wooden canvases the quality of the forest must be carefully assessed.
If you decide to change interior doors and you have a high-quality wooden panel, then you don’t have to touch it, you can only replace the panel. In this case, the technology for installing interior doors will be much simpler.
GOSTs, tolerances and unclear issues
The size of the doorway for installation is perhaps the most important of the initial parameters. To this day, all such designs are made according to Soviet GOST standards; by the way, the Chinese also focus on these dimensions, but in Europe, despite the supposedly uniform standard, many countries do it their own way.
So if our minimum blade width starts from 600 mm and then in increments of 100 mm, it reaches 900 mm, then France produces blades starting from 690 mm, but the graduation also occurs in increments of 100 mm.
Germany, Spain and Italy, as well as all countries of the former socialist camp, in this regard are guided by almost the same standards as our manufacturers.
Interior doors have clear standards that need to be checked before installing an interior door yourself.
As for tolerances, a gap of 3 mm is left on the sides and top between the box and the canvas itself. According to the rules, there must be at least 20 mm between the floor and the canvas. This gap is needed for normal ventilation in the apartment.
Along the perimeter of the frame in block buildings, you can leave any gap, up to several millimeters, the main thing is that the frame is level, but if we cut doors in a wooden house with our own hands, then we set the tolerance to at least 15 mm, it is needed in case the house fails shrinkage
When choosing an interior door, installation is the last stage, before this you need to read the description in detail, because the price can be indicated depending on the configuration, there are 3 options:
- Sold only door leaf– this option is good if the door is planned to be installed on an old frame;
- The canvas is sold together with the box, but the box comes disassembled; here, even before installing the interior door with your own hands, you will have to cut it to size and assemble the box, which in most cases is even good;
- Fully assembled blocks with a finished frame, canvas, locks and hinges are installed only if preparation of the opening is not required. There it is enough to cut the racks to the height and install the interior door yourself.
Do not forget that it is not enough just to install interior doors in the opening, complete installation The design of an interior door involves the arrangement of platbands, extensions (if necessary) and fittings, so it is also advisable to take them right away, otherwise the shade may not be suitable later.
Installation of interior doors will not be complete without platbands and fittings.
There is one more important question– when to install interior doors during renovation? So, the instructions for installing interior doors say that such structures are installed at the very end of the renovation, after finishing the walls, floor and ceiling, but before installing the floor skirting boards.
Two mounting options
With dimensional tolerances and others thorny issues We figured it out, now it’s time to find out how to install an interior door yourself. But to assemble and install the structure, we need a tool.
A few words about the instrument and accompanying material
To install interior doors we need:
- A hacksaw for wood, but ideally it is better to have a miter saw, it does not leave chips, plus you can set the exact cutting angle;
- To create openings between the frame and the wall, wedges are required;
- Hammer;
- Chisel;
- Screwdriver;
- Electric drill;
- Plumb;
- Level;
- Pencil;
- Roulette.
It is not possible to install an interior door yourself without a good tool.
Important! Safety regulations strictly prohibit cutting wood with a grinder. If you value your health, don't even think about it.
Auxiliary materials for installing doors will be needed:
- Polyurethane foam;
- Masking tape;
- Self-tapping screws different sizes and sections;
- Anchor bolts with dowels.
Preparing the opening
Ideally, before installing an interior door, the edges of the walls should be, if not plastered, then at least leveled with cement-sand mortar.
But in real conditions, preparing a doorway for installing an interior door ends with adjusting the dimensions to fit the frame, because then the unflattering cracks will foam and be covered with platbands, so there is no point in creating special beauty.
It is advisable to level the doorway before installing the frame.
There's one here important point: often the installation of a double interior door requires widening the opening, so when it comes to partitions, they can be “redrawn” as you see fit. But if the wall is load-bearing, then a slight expansion of no more than 5–7 cm is allowed, otherwise there may be problems both with the wall and with the law.
Box assembly
You can assemble a door frame with your own hands in two ways - by cutting the corners of the top strip at 45º and joining the strips at right angles. Both methods are good, but it is believed that an angular connection at 45º will look more elegant.
Really high-quality corner trimming can only be done with the help of a trimmer; if they assure you that an ordinary plastic miter box and a hacksaw for wood will do for this, don’t believe it, it can ruin the boxes that were made.
The vertical posts are cut first at 45º, after which you can proceed to trimming the upper horizontal strip. In order to set aside 3 mm, it is convenient to use a piece of fiberboard as a template.
We measure the gap relative to the top bar with a template.
- You place the top strip cut on one side and move it along the cut of the template;
- Then go to the opposite side of the door and, using the same template, mark the cutting line.
Trimming the top strip at an angle using a trim saw.
Now we lay out the finished, trimmed frame strips on the floor and once again control the dimensions.
This is what a door frame looks like cut at an angle.
- The box is fastened in stages. First you need to tightly connect the planks together the way they should be;
- When screwing in the screws, the frame slats may crack. To prevent this from happening, before assembling, we need to drill channels for the screws. This is done with a 2.5 mm drill (our self-tapping screw is 3.5 mm);
Preparing to fasten the box.
- Now you can screw the screws into the ends of the box on both sides, and there should be 2 screws on each side of the corner.
There is a small nuance here; the vertical strip of the box to which the hinges will be attached does not need to be fully tightened on both sides; we will still have to remove it.
Fixation of the box with cutting at an angle.
If you don’t have a miter saw in your arsenal, then it is better to attach the frame slats at a right angle. It may not be as aesthetically pleasing, but step-by-step instruction it will be a little easier.
We start by trying on the top cross member; we will embed it between the two side posts. Some craftsmen mount the crossbar above the side posts, there is not much difference, here it’s more convenient for everyone.
Along the perimeter of the frame we have a side, into which the door leaf rests when closing. To embed the top cross member on the side posts we need to remove this side. To do this, we attach the upper cross member to the rack, mark it, cut the side with a hacksaw, and clean the place for installation.
Now all we have to do is insert the top bar between the two side posts, drill holes for a pair of screws and secure the inserted bar with self-tapping screws.
If you decide to place the strip on top of the racks, then you will need to trim the inner edge to top bar, then drill and drive the screws from above, as shown in the diagram below.
Do-it-yourself installation of a plank placed on top.
Installing hinges and handles
For a door, installing hinges is one of the most important stages. In principle, you can embed a lock and attach hinges after installing the frame in the opening, but if you are installing the doors yourself (without help), then it is better to do this right away.
Loops can be overhead or hidden. It’s easier to work with overhead butterfly hinges, since you don’t need to cut anything in the door leaf and frame, so we’ll start with them.
A little advice: if the door should open on right side, then you insert the hinges on the right, respectively, for left-sided opening, the hinges need to be attached to the left post.
Installation of hinges begins with markings on the canvas itself. According to the rules, the distance from the top or bottom point of the canvas to the loop should be 200 - 250 mm. You can measure with a tape measure, as in the photo below, but if you don’t have a tape measure at hand, then use the loops themselves, the standard size there is 100 mm.
We make markings for installing hinges.
Don’t get confused: the small (inner) part of the butterfly hinge is attached to the door leaf, and the large part is attached to the frame post. Before screwing in the screws, you need to drill holes under them, only after that the screws are driven in.
All hinges have recesses for the screw heads, so make sure that these recesses “look” up. If the hinges are installed the other way around, the heads of the screws will remain above the hinges, and therefore the doors will not close completely.
Drill holes for butterfly hinges.
We have the box almost assembled, now we put it on the floor and put the door leaf inside. As you remember, we should have 3 mm around the perimeter of the canvas, so we immediately insert as much as possible homemade templates from fiberboard (thickness 3 mm) between the box and the canvas.
One part of the loop is screwed to the canvas; to screw the second part of the loop to the box, we make a mark on the box. Next, unscrew the self-tapping screws securing the supporting vertical bar and screw the mating part of the hinges to it. Then we return the box strip to its place and fix it completely.
We screw the hinges to the vertical post of the box.
Installing hidden hinges yourself is not much more complicated than the method described above. The difference is that you need to cut grooves for the hinges in the door leaf and frame. This is done using a mallet, chisel and knife.
Cutting grooves for mounting hidden hinges
As for the installation door handle, then you can read about this in detail and also watch the video in this article. And don’t forget that the hinges must be lubricated; you can learn about lubrication rules.
There are different methods for installing interior doors in a wall opening, it all depends on the specific conditions. Next we will look at the simplest and most popular options.
Method number 1. Classic
At the moment, the frame posts should be cut to the height of the opening, the hinges and lock should be cut in, the door should be closed, and 3 mm thick templates should be inserted between the door leaf and the frame.
When the door block is inserted into the opening, first of all, wooden or plastic wedges are driven around the perimeter; they will hold the block until it is finally secured.
Classic scheme for installing interior doors using wedges.
Fixing is a rather important moment; here we position the block vertically and horizontally. Keep in mind: the wall is not always strictly vertical, so check the box with a plumb line.
It is better to check the vertical by plumb.
To prevent the door block from falling out from a strong push, it must be firmly secured with anchor bolts or at least long self-tapping screws. We recommend using anchor bolts with a thickness of 6 - 8 mm.
The principle is simple:
- Drill a through hole in the box and lightly drill into the wall;
- Remove the door block and drill holes for dowels at the drilling points;
- Place the box in place and secure it with anchors. The box should be clearly level, since we have already verified everything before.
If you fix the box with long self-tapping screws, then they are installed around the entire perimeter at intervals of half a meter, but the heads of the screws need to be hidden somehow. You can close them decorative strip or plastic covers.
Anchor bolts are powerful things and 3 points are enough to fix the box - two points under the hinges and one under the lock plate. In combination with polyurethane foam, this is enough.
Now we fill the perimeter of the box with polyurethane foam. We move from the bottom up, the foam needs to be blown out without fanaticism, because when it expands it can squeeze out the door frame.
Plus, at the time of blowing in the foam, the door block must be assembled and three-millimeter templates must be inserted around the perimeter, this will protect the frame from deformation.
Remember: the door block cannot be mounted only on “bare” foam (without screws or anchors).
Method number 2. Metal hangers
If fastening the box with self-tapping screws or anchors is not suitable for you, the same can be done using metal hangers. These hangers are used for mounting frames under drywall.
Using hangers to fix the door frame.
The technology is similar:
- Assemble the box;
- Insert the box into the opening and level it;
- Fix the box with wedges in the opening;
- Bend the wings of the hangers along the wall;
- Mark the entry points of the dowel-nails and drill holes for them;
- Attach the wings of the hangers to the walls with dowel nails;
- Fill it with foam and wait for it to harden.
The size of the frame for double-leaf interior doors is twice as large, which means there is a higher probability of the posts and crossbars being squeezed out by foam, so installation on hangers is optimal here.
Fixing the box for double doors on suspensions.
Conclusion
Both of the above methods have been tested in practice and work perfectly. For the same craftsmen who want to install interior sliding doors We have prepared step-by-step instructions.
Installing interior doors with your own hands is not as difficult as it seems.
Is installing interior doors with your own hands as scary as they make it out to be? In fact, this is not the most difficult repair operation. She definitely demands high degree concentration on the process, but even a beginner can master it by following the recommended sequence of actions.
A successful final result will be achieved if you are careful at every step of the work. The entire process of installing a door between rooms can be divided into successive stages:
- door frame assembly;
- its installation;
- installation of door leaf;
- fixing the additional element;
- framing with platbands.
If only one interior door inside your house will be updated, and you have no installation experience, it makes sense to turn to specialists - it will be faster. If you have to install them larger number, it is better to do it yourself - in this case, significant savings in money and time are possible, as well as gaining useful experience.
Required tools and materials
To install an interior door yourself, you should stock up on the following tools in advance:
- hammer;
- tape measure 3-5 m;
- set of chisels;
- screwdrivers or screwdriver;
- miter box (special tray for cutting boards at an angle);
- construction (bubble) level;
- a circular saw;
- hammer drill with adapter for drill;
- electric milling machine;
- wood hacksaw;
- Miter saw.
The fasteners you will need are:
- black screws;
- several cylinders polyurethane foam;
- nails with a small head;
- dowels;
- finishing nails.
Necessary fittings and components:
- small bars for wedges with a cross section of up to 40×40 mm;
- door hinges (preferably detachable);
- lock with latch.
Features of choosing a door
Arriving at furniture store, potential buyer You will be amazed at the variety of models. Externally, the doors look perfect, but inside there may be serious flaws. We are talking about geometric parameters. Even a slight difference in the lengths of the sides of the leaf of 1-2 mm can seriously complicate the installation of the door. If your time and investment are valuable to you, do not be lazy to measure the canvas right in the store. It is also important to ensure that the measured door is loaded.
The next stage is purchasing a door frame. Some of them form a single set with doors, but some are sold separately. It is much easier to install interior doors if you purchase a door leaf with a frame from one manufacturer, rather than making the latter yourself.
If it is impossible to buy a box for financial or other reasons, you can create it yourself by purchasing a special timber (boxed). Homemade box will consist of two vertical posts and one horizontal on top (lintel). The purchased timber should not have knots, unevenness, or roughness. The thickness of the purchased timber is equal to the thickness of the door leaf, otherwise installation will be impossible.
Purchasing a single block greatly simplifies installation, since the structure can be fixed without assistants. However, there is one nuance - after filling the block with foam, you must not perform any manipulations with the door for at least 6 hours. If possible, it is recommended to opt for a set of canvas with a frame.
Preparing the room for installation of an interior door
Installation door block preceded by pre-finishing of the room. It involves leveling the walls, which are puttied and plastered. Works performed in humid environments, are completed in advance, and the room is ventilated and dried, otherwise the frame will “lead” due to dampness.
Rough and finishing floors should already be laid inside the rooms and between them. Thanks to this, the door frame will be correctly mounted at the height of the threshold. There is no need to re-floor if the block is just replaced with a new one.
Assembly and installation of the door frame
Initially the frame is assembled. To do this, the racks are trimmed so that the gap between the floor or wall and the door leaf is about 10 mm, and they are connected with self-tapping screws. Then the width, height, and verticality of the opening are checked with a bubble level. The box is ready.
From the bottom and top of the frame, 20 cm are measured for future hinges. A similar operation is then performed on the door leaf. Using a chisel, places for fastenings for installing interior doors (hinges) are selected, and the block is assembled. Now it is fixed inside the opening using wedges. Once again the level controls the geometry.
To maintain a small gap between the canvas and the frame, take thick cardboard, fold it in half, and insert it into the gap. Such “extenders” should be inserted every 10-15 cm around the perimeter of the frame.
The block is placed inside the opening. The installation gap between the block and the wall is filled with foam without leaving any free space. Afterwards all wedges are removed.
Most types of foam dry out after 5-6 hours, but after this time it is still able to expand slightly. Therefore, it is better to leave the door closed for 10-12 hours. After this time, all spacers, wedges, and inserts are removed. The final stage remains - installation of handles, insertion of a lock, plastering of slopes, installation of platbands. It's obvious that total time Installing a door does not exceed 2-3 hours for beginners, not counting the period for complete drying of the foam.
Features of installing a door inside a log house
Some buildings ( country house, bathhouse) are created from logs or thick beams. The installation sequence is almost no different from the points listed above, but there is important nuance - wooden buildings from the log house they shrink. It is important to pause when installing doors, since even after six months the house will only partially settle. In another year, the shrinkage will be maximum, and over the next 3-4 years the structure will shrink a little more.
In 1 year, a house can decrease in height by 5 cm, so installing a door in a log house involves deviations from generally accepted technology. In order to avoid the occurrence of distortion or other negative influence At home, it is recommended to make a casing on the door block or simply install bars.
A casing is an element that has a longitudinal tenon inserted into the sides of the block. Further shrinkage will only affect it, without affecting the frame. To do this, a tenon 50 mm high and approximately 35 mm wide is cut out on the sides of the opening. Next, a groove with a width of 50 mm and a height slightly larger than a tenon (about 40 mm) is cut out in a block with a cross-section of 100×100 mm. The length of the beam on the sides should be 5 cm greater than the height of the door block when installed in a fresh log house and 2-3 cm when installed in an established one. The top of the casing will be a 50x200 mm board, installed sideways and secured with self-tapping screws.
Another method (installation of bars) differs only in material savings. Products with a cross section of 50x50 mm are placed inside the groove at the ends. Then the frame is attached to them in order: side part - horizontal upper strut - second side panel - threshold from below. The disadvantage of this solution is that weakening of the structure may occur, coupled with distortions or deformation of the block due to a lack of wood inside the groove, so the first method (casing) is more preferable.
Features of installing a door in an aerated concrete wall
Although the material in question is for building structures is an excellent sound insulator and conserves heat, it is also very fragile. When wide doors are installed (from 85 cm), serious shock loads are inevitable at the places where the door block is fixed. To prevent premature destruction, you need to make additional wooden frames or embedded bars from dry boards, plywood, or laminated wood. The material is pre-treated with antiseptics or thermally. When using ordinary wood, it is better to give preference to larch - a rot-resistant and economically viable species.
The easiest way to strengthen the structure is to destroy the embedded block inside the end surface. It is treated with a layer of special aerated concrete or tile adhesive, and is attached to anchors or self-tapping screws with a length of 8 cm. Short fasteners (4, 5, 7 cm) withstand a low shear load, so they will wear out over time. The frame itself is also fixed with self-tapping screws.
The second method of strengthening the frame - installing panels - involves either complete covering of the opening around the perimeter, or partial (sections are installed 50-60 cm from each other). In the latter case, free areas are filled with polyurethane foam with a slight degree of expansion.
Both methods are equally good. Due to the holding forces of fasteners and the expanding force of polyurethane foam, reliable installation of doors in aerated concrete is achieved, allowing them to last for decades.
Final work - installation of platbands
After the foam has dried after 12 hours, all that remains is to install the trim. They are cut evenly with a circular saw, joined together at an angle of 45 degrees, and secured with finishing nails. Before driving them in, holes are made at the fixation points with a size approximately equal to half the diameter of the fastening element.
To increase the strength of the connection of the platbands, it is recommended:
- lubricate silicone sealant the plane of their fastening;
- first apply the platband and fix it with pins or small nails;
- cover the holes with colored mastic after driving in the fasteners.
Precautions, care rules
The key to successful installation of an interior door is control of all geometric parameters before purchase, external condition, and configuration. After payment for the goods, no claims will be accepted.
It is advisable to avoid strong temperature changes inside the rooms. Also ensure regular ventilation of the premises - due to lack of fresh air There is an increase in humidity, leading to damage to wooden products.
If the door is installed in a place where the temperature or humidity periodically increases, you need to thoroughly ventilate this place until the regime normalizes (bathhouse, sauna, bathroom).
The door should not swing open suddenly, forcefully, or in any other way that would compromise the integrity of the unit. Although most models have special coatings that prevent wear, you should avoid rough mechanical impact on the canvas, trim, and frame.
Clean regularly wooden surfaces damp cloth, napkin, cloth. Such a simple method of care will preserve their aesthetic beauty.
Contact of wood with acids, alkalis, solvents, etc. is undesirable. chemicals. They destroy the integrity of the material.
Obviously, the above step-by-step instructions for installing an interior door make the entire installation process very doable. Following the advice will allow you to competently cope with the task, and timely care new interior items will preserve their aesthetics and functionality for a long time.
Content:
Interior doors are one of the most noticeable elements of an apartment. They must be functional and aesthetically pleasing.
Photo 1 - Interior door photo
Interior door: tools and materials for installation
For the installation process to be successful, you must have:
The preparatory stage of installing an interior door yourself
Preparation consists of carefully measuring the dimensions of the opening. This is necessary to select a door of suitable dimensions.
Photo 3 - Measurements before installing the interior door
At the same time, the verticality of the walls of the doorway is checked using level. If this indicator is far from ideal, then you will have to level the surface. Otherwise, the door may become significantly distorted and its functionality may be impaired.
Features of installing an interior door yourself
That interior door installed correctly, we can only speak in that case. When the canvas still in any position.
To install the hinges you need special screws, having a cut right up to the head. The hole for them should be 0.75% of the diameter of the base and have a slight offset to the cut groove.
Photo 4 - Features of installing hinges on a forto door
When choosing accessories, you should remember that for manual insertion, products that have the shape of rectangle. If the contour has curves, it is quite difficult to make insertions with high accuracy. However, you can turn to specialists who will perform such work mechanically, using a special cutter.
When installing interior doors, at least minimal skills in working with carpentry tools are required.
How to properly dismantle an old door frame
First, the door leaf and trim are removed, then the screws and nails are removed. All that remains is to remove the door frame and it is better to do it together.
Photo 5 - Dismantling the door frame photo
However, if the doors are very old and their material is no longer suitable for further use, then you can do it differently. On the sides of the box, cuts are made at an angle of 45 degrees, which are located in the middle. All that remains is to pick it up and take it out in parts.
How to properly install handles and hinges on a door
When installing it, you must follow the recommended parameters:
- The distance from the top of the door leaf to the first hinge should be 20 cm. The other hinge is located similarly.
- The distance to the door handle should be 900 - 1000 mm.
Important!
On the hinges you need to mark the top and bottom using a marker applied to the reverse side. This way it can be accurately installed, even if there is slight asymmetry.
Photo 6 — Installing hinges on an interior door
Having measured the required distance, the loop is applied and outlined with a pencil, and then this place is deepened using a chisel or cutter. The depth depends on the thickness of the hinge metal. Next, drill a hole for the screws.
Having installed the loops in the slots intended for them, put on the second half of the product, attach the box stand, and repeat the above steps again.
To embed the lock, the door leaf is turned over and the location of their installation is marked. All other operations are similar to installing hinges. The locking plate is installed after the door is installed in place.
Important!
The location of the locking plate is determined simply - the lock tongue is painted with an easily removable material. Using his imprint, a rectangular recess is made on the box.
Assembling the frame and installing the door leaf
You need to lay out the door frame on the floor and cut off its beams so that there is a gap of 3-4 mm on the sides and top. This is very important For proper operation doors. Depending on the thickness of the floor covering, a gap of up to 10 mm is left at the bottom of the door.
Photo 7 - Door frame assembly
Having sawed down the top beam on both sides, and the vertical beams only from above, at an angle of 45 degrees, using a miter box, you need to connect them with self-tapping screws.
Photo 8 - Installing a frame for an interior door
Now you need to install the finished box and secure it in the opening using wedges. Using a level, find the correct position in two planes, adjusting the position of the wedges and spacers. Then, in the places where the hinges and the lock are installed, you need to screw in self-tapping screws, strengthening the door.
Important!
The length of these self-tapping screws is selected so that they enter the wall to a depth of no less than 30 mm.
Foaming seams
Photo 9 - Foaming seams when installing an interior door
The process is quite responsible, because the door frame may be squeezed out by the expanding foam. To prevent this, the foam is applied in a thin layer. To do this, pieces of plywood, wood, and drywall are inserted into the voids.
To improve adhesion to the wall, you need to wet its surface before foaming. water.
Important!
The elements that make up polyurethane foam can damage the door if they get on it, so you need to cover all surfaces that will come into contact with it with masking tape.
The final stage. Do-it-yourself installation of platbands
Photo 10 — Marking trim on interior doors
Platbands- a decorative element that masks the gap between the door frame and the door frame. When applying the vertical parts of the trim to the door frame, you need to mark the required length and make a cut at an angle of 45 degrees. We install them very carefully so that you can insert top part platband, which needs to be cut at the same angle. Install them on liquid Nails, or use finishing nails- 3 pieces on each side.
Photo 11 — Installing trim on an interior door
Installing an interior door video tutorial
Another way to install an interior door
Despite the many operations that need to be performed, self installation doors is feasible. It may take longer than with specialists, but in the end you will get exactly what you wanted.
Doors are one of the few types of joinery that does not forgive mistakes. If you took the dimensions incorrectly or cut the parts at the wrong angle, that’s it, you won’t be able to correct the dimensions, you’ll have to redo everything all over again and use new materials. If the sawing angle does not match, then sealing the resulting gap with sealant is useless. It may become invisible (although this is unlikely), but the strength of the structure will be significantly reduced. The individual elements of the box will not touch over the entire surface, but only at a few points. Accordingly, the load on the bars increases significantly, such a door will not last long. Moreover, you have to use the door very often and with varying efforts.
What we mean is that all work on assembling the door frame must be done very carefully and carefully. The technological gaps between the blade and the frame, the threshold and the floor are 2–3 millimeters; with the same accuracy it is necessary not only to measure, but also to cut off all individual workpieces and make precise allowances for the width of the cut.
You must know your instrument and its " specifications" The tool must be sharp and in good working order, and the hand must be “firm and confident.” We strongly recommend that all cuts be made with an electric saw with a rotating table.
Why not in a miter box? The answer is simple. If you use a miter box, then we can say with great confidence that you rarely make cuts, otherwise you would have bought an electric saw long ago. And since you rarely trim materials at an angle, you don’t have enough practice.
How to take measurements
First measure the doorway. Standard sizes door leaves have a height of 2000 mm and a width of 900 mm, 800 mm and 700 mm. The internal dimensions of the door frame increase by 3 mm around the entire perimeter (technological gap), the external dimensions of the frame more sizes door leaves 70 mm. This is the standard thickness of the box slats. If your slats are of a different size, then the external dimensions of the door frame will also change. And the gaps between the doorway and the frame must be at least three centimeters.
Now you can check if your doors fit the doorway. If not, you will have to either expand or reduce the doorway. This is the most worst option, dimensions doorways need to be carefully monitored at the stage of assembling the log bathhouse.
Another important point in terms of size is the gap between the door frame and the floor. Depending on the specific installation location of the door, this gap is regulated by the provisions of SNiP 41–01–2003.
Set of rules. Heating, ventilation and air conditioning
The gap varies within 10÷15 millimeters and should provide the minimum required air exchange rate for each room. Any natural ventilation premises operates on the principle of supply and exhaust. If there is no influx of fresh air, then, of course, there will be no exhaust.
Some owners, in order to save heat in the premises, want to install doors without a ventilation gap; this option is possible for bathhouses; no one is going to spend the night in them. But here inexperienced builders can create problems for themselves. A minimum gap between the door leaf and the floor within 1÷2 mm can cause them to jam or make it difficult to open/close. The fact is that flooring in bathhouses it rarely has such horizontal accuracy. To avoid problems with the door leaf and not to trim it after installation, you need to measure the floor level at the corners of the frame.
This is quite difficult to do; we will tell you in detail about two methods.
- Using a hydraulic level. Very carefully place two marks on doorway at both sides. The distance from the marks to the floor level is approximately 20÷30 centimeters. Using an accurate ruler, measure the distance from the floor to the marks you made. In most cases, the discrepancy will be at least 2÷3 millimeters. This must be taken into account when making the vertical sides of the box, and minimum clearance between the door leaf and the floor, the discrepancy between the horizontality of the floor will increase by the amount. In one position it will be, for example, two millimeters, and in the opposite place it will increase to 4 ÷ 5 mm. If you do not take into account the floor level, then the door frame may not open completely at all or will open with a lot of “creaking”. You will have to remove and cut the canvas, and this is extremely undesirable.
- Using a laser level. Align the laser beam exactly horizontally at a distance of approximately 10 cm from the floor level. Using a ruler (preferably on a square), take measurements at the corners of the doorway; take into account the violation of the floor height when making the box. This method is much simpler, measurements are made faster, but under one condition - you have a rather expensive device.
Door frames can be with or without a threshold. With a threshold, doors are often installed as entrance doors and rarely as interior doors; without a threshold, doors are installed only as interior doors.
Door frame prices
door frame
Assembling a door frame without a threshold
Let's start with more easy option. Initial data: the material for making the boxes is profiled timber made from natural wood. For doors made of MDF technology almost no different.
Step 1. Bring door elements into the room.
Very important. Never place them near heating devices, you don’t need to dry them, you need the wood to gain equilibrium moisture content and stabilize its linear dimensions!
What is equilibrium humidity? We need to dwell on this topic a little; it concerns not only door frames, and all wood products. Wood has two humidity indicators: absolute and relative, they depend on various conditions and processing technologies. But all types of wood have a sorption effect - the ability to absorb moisture from the air. Initially, the humidity can be at least zero; when it enters the room, the humidity rises to the equilibrium state under the given specific conditions. If the products were stored in a warehouse in humid conditions, the doors will dry out a little; if they were stored in very dry conditions, the doors will pick up moisture until they reach equilibrium. We hope that this is clear and now you will not believe advertising claiming that the humidity of their products is 8-10%. Such humidity may be present at the exit from chamber or vacuum drying, but over time the tree will inevitably take on water and increase its performance.
Step 2. Check the height and width of the openings, making sure that the box will fit into them with a gap of approximately 3 centimeters. Hydraulic level or laser level find out the horizontality of the flooring at the corners of the doorway.
Step 3. End it on circular saw with a rotating platform for preparing boxes - they could be damaged during transportation or storage. You can cut with a regular hacksaw, but there is a high probability of veneer peeling. If you still have to work hand tools, then you need to cut the workpieces from the veneer side, let the chips be on the invisible side of the beams. It is better to use a special hacksaw with fine teeth or a hacksaw for metal.
Step 4. Mark the top of the box. To do this, place a block on top of the door leaf and make marks with a gap of 2–3 millimeters. For a template along the gaps, you can use packaging cardboard; it is just the right thickness. Marks can also be made with a pencil, but it must have a very sharp end. It is better to cut the workpiece later; first you should install the hinges on the door frame.
Step 5. Place the door leaf on its side in a vertical position. You can rest it against the walls or make a simple device to hold it in the desired position. Nail two spacers onto a piece of board at an angle at a distance slightly greater than the thickness of the door leaf. To prevent the possibility of damage to the corners of the blade, place a piece of soft cloth on the device. The device is very simple; cutting in hinges with it is much more convenient.
Step 6. Measure the location of the loops.
It is recommended to place them at a distance of 20 centimeters from the bottom and top of the canvas. But make a specific decision yourself, it all depends on the characteristics of the door leaf. The main thing is that where the hinges are installed, the sidewalls of the canvas are as strong as possible. Measure twenty centimeters at the top and bottom of the canvas, attach the loops to the marks and make marks along their length.
Step 7 Now you need to mark the position of the hinges on the door frame.
To ensure that they match exactly, place one of the frame boards on the side of the door and measure the gap between the floor and the leaf at the bottom. It is recommended to do it within 10 millimeters.
Important. If you want to have a minimal gap between the door and the floor, then you need to take into account the difference in floor height at the corners of the opening. Using a sharp pencil or a construction knife, make notches for the location of the hinges on the board of the box. On the vertical bars, be sure to make a difference in the height of the floor, otherwise one of them will either sag or not fit into its proper place. Keep track of which corner of the doorway the floor is higher from; on this side of the door frame, the side board should be shorter by the same amount.
Step 8 Cut the door frame boards on the machine according to the marks made. If your door boards are veneered with natural veneer, problems may arise during sawing. Natural veneer has a thickness of up to 1 mm, with the same slope the board will rest against the guide during cutting. Using a sharp chisel, carefully remove the strip of rolled veneer from reverse side boards. It is not necessary for the entire length, only in places it has washed down. This is the only way to guarantee a perfect cut and the tightest possible fit of the individual elements of the box.
Step 9. Saw two side and one transverse blanks of the door frame at an angle of 45°. We remind you once again - check the dimensions several times; if the box is too short, you will have to throw it away and buy new materials.
Step 10 Install the hinges, they should hang with the manufacturer's logo facing up. Place the loops exactly along the notches made earlier on the block and trace the outline. You can select the material for the loops using a manual milling machine or an ordinary chisel.
Use a chisel to cut out holes for the hinge
if you have hand cutter- Great. By the way, it will always come in handy during the construction of a bathhouse, and not just a bathhouse. Set the opening width on the machine according to the width of the loop and the depth according to the thickness of the loop. Place the machine on the board of the box and mill the hinge seat according to the marks. Remove the roundness in the corners with a chisel. Perform the work carefully, do not allow the material to crack.
Video - Milling for a loop
Working with a chisel is somewhat more difficult. First, you need to use a chisel to cut out grooves along the drawn contour, approximately equal to the thickness of the loop. Then carefully begin selecting material for the loop. If you have a box made of MDF, then the work is somewhat easier. If the box is from natural wood, then pay attention to the direction of the fibers. Never use a chisel against the grain; you will always end up with deep nicks or cracks. The first layer of wood is removed by tapping it with milk on a chisel; more precise adjustments must be done manually. The chisel must be sharp; while working, watch the angle of inclination of the tool. If the loop sinks a little into the canvas, there is nothing to worry about. The main thing is that it does not protrude, as this may prevent the door from closing. The loop must fit into the socket with little force, otherwise a strip of material will be visible.
Step 11 Before screwing the hinges to the box, drill holes in the fastening areas with a drill with a smaller diameter than the diameter of the screws. This technique will prevent cracking of the box board.
Hinge Attachment
Step 12 To ensure that the heads of the screws with which the door frame will be attached to the wall are not visible on the door frame, you need to make a recess for their heads under the hinges. Take a wood drill of the appropriate diameter and drill holes for the countersunk holes on the hinge sockets made. You have already drilled holes for the screws, this will help you choose a place for a large screw or dowel so that its head does not fall under the screws. The holes for screws or dowels should be located exactly in the middle of the box board.
Step 13 Assemble all the elements of the box together. Self-tapping screws should enter at an angle of 90° to the cut surface. Make sure that they do not overlap the technological grooves of the telescopic box. During assembly, align the parts accurately, do not allow mutual displacement, then it is very difficult to correct this displacement. To make the connection easier, you can first drill holes of a slightly smaller diameter than the diameter of the screw.
Important. When assembling parts, press them with maximum force. The fact is that the self-tapping screw can, before starting to screw into the second part of the box, turn a little in the first - a gap will form between them.
The box is assembled, now it needs to be installed in the doorway. The work is very important and precise, we will tell you how best to do it.
Door leaf prices
door leaf
Installing a frame in a doorway
Step 1. Carefully place the box in the doorway, temporarily securing it with pieces of foam or packing cardboard. Using a level, check the verticality of the box on the side where the hinges are attached. To firmly install the box level and adjust the gaps, wedges will be needed. They can be cut from waste box bars on a machine at various angles.
Step 2. Install wedges under the hinges; dowels or mounting screws will be placed in these places. Additionally, drive one wedge into each top corner. To prevent the box from moving during wedging, you need to drive two wedges on opposite sides with the cut parts overlapping each other. Check the position of the box with a level, do not rush, accurately check the position of each element. The door frame must be flush with external wall rooms; on the other side, extensions will be installed. Make sure that the wedges do not protrude beyond the plane of the wall.
Step 3. Fasten the box through the holes made for the screws in the hinge locations.
Very important. There must be wedges next to these screws. Otherwise, the box will become deformed when the screw is tightened. The pretend side of the box has not yet been exposed, but is only slightly fixed in the wall.
They install the door side after hanging the doors; in this way, maximum dimensional accuracy is ensured. When aligning the side of the box, constantly check the horizontal position of the top jumper. If you have correctly taken into account the problems with the horizontality of the floor in various corners of the doorway, the horizontal part will lie in the correct position.
Step 4. To make the frame elements more stable, you need to partially foam them when hanging the door leaf.
Before this, the surfaces should be cleaned of dust and dirt and be sure to moisten with water using an ordinary sprayer. Most employees of construction companies neglect cleaning and wetting surfaces, but in vain. The adhesion coefficient of foam to wet surfaces increases by an order of magnitude. Keep this in mind. Foam the front part of the box only in one or two places; it will still have to be moved.
Step 5. Attach hinges, latches or locks to the door leaf. The installation algorithm depends on the specific type of fittings. While you were doing this work, the foam on the door frame has dried, you can hang the door leaf to it.
Step 6. Place a lining of the required thickness under the door leaf and attach first the upper and then the lower hinges of the door to the frame. Close the door and finally use wedges to expose the front part of the frame. Everything is fine - foam the door frame around the entire perimeter.
Prices for polyurethane foam
polyurethane foam
Video - Assembling a door frame without a threshold
Assembling a door frame with a threshold
Now it’s worth considering the process of assembling a door frame with a threshold. For variety, we will connect the elements of the box not at an angle of 45°, as in the case described above, but at an angle of 90°. We do this on purpose in the hope that extra knowledge will not hurt anyone.
In addition, such a connection of door frame elements is considered more durable. If in the first case the length of the screws was limited by the thickness corner connection, then now these restrictions are lifted, the self-tapping screw can enter the body of the bar by 2–3 centimeters. A stronger connection increases the stability of the door frame threshold, and it can be subject to significant forces.
Checking the condition of the doorway, checking the floor level in the corners, taking dimensions, preparing places for installing hinges and drilling for screws to secure the frame is no different from assembling a door frame without a threshold. And then the differences begin.
Step 1. Saw off the top horizontal bar of the box. Its length should be equal to the width of the door leaf plus 6 millimeters for gaps on both sides of the frame. You need to make two such blanks - one is used under the door threshold.
Step 2. On the vertical bars of the box, you need to remove the protruding thrust quarter. Keep in mind that the clean size of the vertical posts should be equal to the height of the door leaf plus 6 mm for gaps on both sides. In addition, the left and right vertical posts of the door frame must take into account the difference in floor height at the corners of the doorway. We have already described all technological operations in the first example; there is no point in repeating them.
To remove a quarter, attach the horizontal part to the end of the vertical post of the box and mark its width. Take measurements with maximum accuracy, do not allow any gaps to appear in the connection. No matter how you fix them later, a true master will always see the shortcomings. Carefully file the protruding quarter along the marked line; the depth of the cut should be equal to the height of the quarter. Use only a fine-toothed hacksaw; the tool, as always, must be in good condition.
Step 3. Remove a quarter from the end of the vertical bars with a chisel. Do the work very carefully. The plane of the block after removal should be perfectly flat across its entire width. Hold the chisel correctly while working. It has a flat bottom part, and the top is sharpened at an angle. The top plane should always be visible, otherwise the chisel will spontaneously cut into the wood and you won’t get a smooth surface. This rule applies to all cases of working with a chisel. Do the same work on all sides of the door frame.
Step 4. Place the parts on a flat surface and connect the upper part of the door frame first. Before screwing in, you need to first drill holes in the parts that are slightly smaller in diameter than the diameter of the screws. This will eliminate the possibility of cracking or the appearance of a gap between the parts during connection.
Corner assembly diagram
Step 5. Before assembling the threshold, we advise you to check the compliance of its dimensions and the correct location. To do this, carefully place assembled frame boxes of two vertical and one horizontal elements on a flat surface and put the door leaf in place. Mark the exact position of the hinges on the door leaf, check all the gaps around the perimeter of the door frame and door leaf. As long as there is no threshold, the vertical posts can be moved a little. Check the distances again, check that the threshold is made correctly and, if necessary, correct any mistakes; in this situation, you have the opportunity to slightly adjust the dimensions.
Installing a door frame - photo
Video - Assembling a door frame with a threshold
Pay special attention to the reliability of fixing the door frame on the side where the doors are hung. There is no point in increasing the number of dowels or screws; no more than two should be used. Why? Loads on the door frame from the door leaf are transmitted only through the hinges, which means that the frame should be secured in these places. No matter how many screws you put between the hinges, they won't work. Just drill extra and noticeable holes in the box. And the fastening hardware can be hidden under the hinges. The main thing is that these two hardware fit with maximum reliability. If the slightest wobbles are detected, eliminate them immediately, do not hope that the foam will withstand. Only unscrupulous or incompetent builders can do this. The foam holds lateral forces well, but does almost no compression at all, always remember this.
Don't be upset if some of the screws were slightly longer than required and appeared on the back of the box. This does not affect either the strength of the fastener or appearance doors. The main thing is that the frame does not crack.
If you have a door frame made of natural wood, then the screws should be used with large pitches, if made of MDF - with small pitches.
Video - Revolutionary installation system for door frames of any type
Video - How to properly assemble a door frame