Doors, despite their apparent simplicity, are very demanding to install. The slightest mistake can lead to disastrous consequences. Incorrectly taken dimensions or cuts made will be impossible to correct, and you will have to do everything all over again using other materials. Cracks formed due to an erroneous sawing cannot be eliminated using sealant.
Even if this disguises external defects, the structure will not be strong due to a loose fit to the surface. As a result, the load on the bars increases significantly, and the service life of the door is reduced. In order to prevent such a situation, it is necessary to assemble the door frame with your own hands, strictly following the step-by-step instructions. It is important not only to perform all installation work correctly, but also to carry out all installation work very carefully and accurately.
Door frame components
First of all, you should familiarize yourself with the structure of the interior door frame:
- hinge beam - this is the part on which the hinges are cut and the door is hung
- the false beam is the part that meets the door. The counter part of the lock crashes into it.
- lintel - upper “ceiling” beam
- threshold - lower part
Thus, in order to assemble the door frame, you need to correctly connect all its parts. But before you start, you need to decide on the dimensions and choose the appropriate material. Doors should look aesthetically pleasing and be easy to clean.
Requirements for an interior door frame
The frame is the basis of the door block, which must correspond to the established height, width and thickness. It should provide support and full coverage of the structure.
The door leaf must correspond to the purpose of the room, incl. ventilation requirements. For example, a steam room in a bathhouse requires maximum thermal insulation. Therefore, all connections of individual elements of the door block must be sealed.
In the bathroom, on the other hand, it is necessary to ensure good ventilation to prevent mold from forming in the room. Gaps are specially left between the box and the canvas. Good ventilation is also provided for rooms in which gas equipment is located.
Therefore, in any case, it is important to know how to correctly make the calculations, prepare the necessary materials and assemble the box for the door to the room with your own hands.
Choosing material
I don’t have a definite answer here, since the choice depends on your preferences and budget. I will give examples of the most common materials used for door frames.
MDF doors
MDF is a wood fiber board. The doors are cheap, but they look good. The advantages include lightness and environmental friendliness. The disadvantages are reduced impact resistance, poor noise insulation and short service life.
Laminated solid wood
Glued board or "euro-timber".
These doors are not made of solid wood, but of parts glued together under high pressure. The joints on them are practically invisible. The doors are quite durable and cost a little more than MDF. Price and quality are acceptable.
Solid wooden doors
Doors are much more expensive than glued ones. Strong and durable. The disadvantage is incorrect processing by the manufacturer, as a result of which the wood is excessively saturated with moisture.
Doors made of chipboard and fibreboard
Wood-fiber or wood-pressed boards. These doors are very cheap as they are made from leftover material. The advantage of these doors is good mechanical strength and fairly good sound and sound insulation. The disadvantage is low moisture resistance, as well as the presence of a volatile substance in the glue, which has a detrimental effect on health. Another aspect is the complexity of installation, since the screws in such doors do not hold well.
In addition to those described, there are also plastic, glass, aluminum, and veneered ones. Doors with honeycomb filling, laminated, etc.
The choice of material is up to you, but it should be appropriate and practical.
Installing handle and lock
The next stage of work is fixing the handle and lock to the door, which is done after installing the hinges.
- The canvas is turned over horizontally and at a distance of 85 to 118 cm on the side opposite the hinges, a recess of the required diameter is drilled to install a lock with a latching mechanism.
- The lock is inserted into the recess and the edging is made with a pencil. Using a cutter, another recess is made to attach the face plate with a latch.
- A latch is inserted into the leaf, and its body should be located at the level of the end of the door.
- Next, marks are made on the doors with a pencil for the recesses for the handles, which are drilled with a drill.
- The lock latch is mounted in the recess at the end part and fixed with self-tapping screws.
Finally, the handles are installed on the screws and decorative overlays using a simple hex key.
Proper sizing is the key to success!
The standard sizes of door leaves are
- height 2000 mm
- width 600 mm, 700 mm, 800 mm and 900 mm
All other sizes that go beyond the scope are usually custom-made items. (I mean single canvases, not swing ones)
You need to add 70 mm to the size of the door leaf - this is the standard width of the door frame. If the dimensions of the door frame are different, then the size will naturally change up or down. And we also add 6 mm - this is the technological gap between the leaf and the door frame.
Now you need to check how the door frame fits into the doorway. If it needs to be expanded, then we are not in a hurry to break everything at once. We soberly assess the situation - we may have to strengthen the opening with lintels. If you need to reduce the opening, then we fill it with bricks, or “sew on” bars - it all depends on the situation.
IT IS IMPORTANT TO KNOW:
To help you understand what size doorway is needed, look at the formula:
Door leaf size + door frame size + 6 mm tech. gap + 60 mm (30 mm on each side for mounting foam and wedges that will be needed when installing the box)
Usually the dimensions of doorways are controlled at the construction stage, but in older private houses (like mine) there are “hard” discrepancies.
The next important dimension is the gap from the floor to the door leaf. Before calculating it, you need to check the level of the floors for the width of the door “swing”.
You can do this in two ways:
- Using a hydraulic level
On the side walls of the opening we place marks at the same level. We measure the distance from each mark to the floor plane. The difference that you get when measuring should be added to the minimum height of the posts so that when opening the door does not rest on the floor. If you still “miss” this moment, then you can eliminate it only by trimming the door leaf, and this is still a “handjob” :(
2. Using a laser level
If you are the happy owner of a laser level, then everything becomes much simpler. We set the level and, using a construction square, determine the curvature of the floors. The obtained values are taken into account when setting sizes.
The minimum gap is 10 - 15 mm, depending on what kind of floor covering is planned. But it is better to immediately lay linoleum, or carpet, or laminate, and then carry out the installation.
See the table of correspondence between door blocks and openings.
And here is another table of typical door frame sizes
How much can you save by installing a door yourself?
Not every manufacturer offers to install doors or windows for free, and the price sometimes reaches unprecedented levels. On average, the cost of specialist services varies depending on the price of the product and the complexity of the work. Sometimes it reaches 50% of the block cost. The cheap door itself in the entire set will cost no less than 7,000 rubles, and installation will cost approximately 3,500 rubles. This is the average value for the service of masters, and the price may be higher. For this reason, savings during the installation of a door frame are significant, especially if several doors are required to be installed at once.
Assembling a door frame without a threshold
Let's look at assembling a door frame with your own hands using an MDF frame as an example. We will connect the upper parts at 45°, as this is the most aesthetic way.
1.First of all, you need to trim the parts of the box. This is done in order to eliminate irregularities or manufacturing defects.
IT IS IMPORTANT TO KNOW:
If you have to use hand tools, it is better to use a fine-toothed saw or a hacksaw. Start making cuts from the veneer side so that chips, if any, remain on the invisible side.
2. We “saw” the loop beam and the vestibule at 45°. It is best to do this with a miter saw, but if you don’t have one, you will have to work with a miter box. To avoid unevenness when cutting, the miter box must be secured. We use a hacksaw with a fine tooth.
3. Next we move on to the most difficult part - “sawing” the top of the box - the lintel. You need to clearly set the size and not miss the corners. You can use a tape measure, but there is an easier way. To do this, we apply the lintel to the top of the door and mark the marks “in place” with a sharp pencil. To maintain the technological gap, you can use packaging cardboard - its width is just 3 mm.
4. Mark the height of the loop and false beams. I told you how to find out the required height a little higher. This is the height of the door leaf + the top gap of 3 mm + the bottom gap. If the floors are level, then 10 mm is enough. When opening, the door leaf should not catch or rest against the floor. You should not create a very high gap - 10 - 15 mm is enough for normal air circulation. If the room is damp, then larger values are allowed.
IT IS IMPORTANT TO KNOW:
If there is a difference where the doors are installed and there is no way to correct it, then the height of the racks may be different. The highest point of the difference is taken as zero.
Next, we cut off the racks according to the marks.
IT IS IMPORTANT TO KNOW:
We constantly and meticulously check all the applied dimensions before washing down. If the box turns out to be smaller than the canvas, you will have to buy a new beam.
5. After all the components have been sawed down, we assemble the MDF door frame together, having previously drilled holes with a drill of a smaller diameter to prevent the frame from splitting. For connection we use 50 cm wood screws. It is more convenient to carry out work on the floor, placing cardboard or other material under the box.
IT IS IMPORTANT TO KNOW:
When you tighten the door frame, press its parts as tightly as possible, since the screws will stretch them.
Well, this is approximately the result you should get.
Trimming
It is ideal to have a miter saw to cut the elements of the future door. But this is for the pros. If such a tool is not available, then we use a miter box and a regular hacksaw.
It is not recommended to work without a miter box. If you slightly bevel the cut, the element will be damaged. At least it will look inconspicuous.
Having cut all three parts to size, we cut grooves on the top crossbar for final assembly. We determine the size locally by attaching one element to another and marking it with a pencil.
Carefully make cuts on both sides to the desired location. We carefully separate the unnecessary parts using a chisel.
The final view should look like this.
Do you see in the photo above the corner from the edge of the crossbar is carefully selected? This is done for the case when the width of the box is less than the thickness of the wall at the installation site. Then you will need to additionally install an additional element. If you do not select a corner in advance, it will interfere with the installation of the extension. If additional recruitment is not planned, then this action will not be needed.
Assembling a door frame with a threshold
The easiest way to assemble. The fact is that the threshold is usually mounted at 90°.
The threshold is mounted on the entrance or “entrance” doors, separating the cold room from the living room. In addition, the threshold gives the door frame additional strength.
Preparing the doorway and checking the floor level are absolutely identical to assembling without a threshold, but further steps have their differences.
So, here are the step-by-step assembly instructions:
1. File the lintel to its original dimensions. The length of the lintel will be equal to the length of the door leaf + 6 mm for the gap. You need to make two such blanks - this will be the threshold. Do not forget to trim the workpieces, since the factory cut may not be even.
2. On loop and bevel beams, it is necessary to remove the thrust quarter.
To do this, we connect the end of the vertical post and the horizontal one and put a mark with a sharp pencil.
IT IS IMPORTANT TO KNOW:
The size must be transferred with maximum clarity so that there are no gaps. Repairing them in the future is not problematic, but it will ruin the aesthetic component of the doors.
We make a cut to a depth of a quarter with a hacksaw or jigsaw. Be extremely careful not to touch the work surface. It is not possible to fix the “jamb” on MDF doors.
Then, using a chisel or a utility knife, carefully remove it. We repeat the operations for all angles.
IT IS IMPORTANT TO KNOW:
If you use a chisel, then under no circumstances turn it over with its top sharpened side down. When carrying out work, the working part will crash into the material and all the work will go down the drain. The same rule applies when inserting loops.
3. Connect the box. We also drill holes and tighten them with self-tapping screws. The only difference is that galvanized screws are used for the threshold if it is the threshold of an entrance door. They are less affected.
Required Tools
You will need tools such as a spatula, hammer, chisel, drill, saw, level, tape measure. A spatula is necessary for applying and leveling plaster when finishing a doorway. A hammer will be needed to adjust the elements of the side of the frame and fix the trim. A chisel is used to remove material when cutting into door hinges. A drill is needed to drill holes: in the wall for subsequent installation of opening details and in the canvas for fittings. A saw will be needed to cut parts of the box, platbands, and extensions. In the case of metal elements, it is replaced with an angle grinder. The correct position of elements horizontally or vertically is determined using a level. A tape measure is used as the main measuring device. In the process you will also need a plane, a square, a screwdriver, a pencil, and a construction knife.
Additional accessories:
- wire cutters;
- construction mixer;
- plaster trowel;
- jigsaw
Door frame tenon connection
One of the ways to assemble door frames is a tenon joint. It's not as common as 45° and 90° assemblies, but it does exist.
The joining of parts occurs through tenon joints (see picture)
Usually the achieved rigidity is quite sufficient, but galvanized nails can be added to enhance the strength characteristics.
Finishing touches
There is very little left before the work is completed.
- We use polyurethane foam to seal the gaps between the wall and the frame of the interior doors, both from the inside and from the outside.
- If necessary, we install additional strips by selecting grooves for them in the hardened foam.
- We install the platbands, having previously cut off the frozen foam where it interferes. The platbands are placed on silicone glue, which is applied to the frame, and secured with nails with reduced heads.
- Do not forget about the decorative design of all the details that are in plain sight.
If you follow the advice of experts and try to work carefully, you will be able to install doors with a frame with your own hands even with the simplest tools.
