The Basement Project: Special Challenges
Installing Doors
The new basement layout features three new doorways-- one for the office, one for the furnace room and one to provide easy access to the hot water tank. Since budget was a concern, I chose to install hollow core slab doors, which are the most economical, and to make my life easier, I opted for the complete kits, which include the door frames, with everything pre-machined, ready to hang. Yes, this was the simplest option, but hanging the doors proved to be a very frustrating experience.
My Unique Situation
My basement floor has a very dramatic slope towards the floor drain. Leveling the slab, by applying a skim coat of concrete, was not an option, because of head room issues. And removing the slab, and digging down a couple more inches and pouring a new one was simply cost-prohibitive (no, I did not get any estimates-- hiring out any portion of the basement renovation would have cost prohibitive). So I was stuck with a sloping floor, and I had to take it into consideration for many aspects of the basement project. The new doors not only had to be trimmed because of the lower ceilings, but the bottoms of two of the doors had to be trimmed on an angle, so that, when closed, the bottoms would be parallel with the floor.
Cutting doors to size.
It is very easy to confuse measurements when trimming doors, and that confusion is compounded when a sloping floor is involved. It took some trial and error, but we finally figured out the easiest method. Unfortunately, by the time we hit upon this magic formula, all the doors were hung.
The simplest solution (which should have been obvious):
Measure the rough opening In the case of having to accomodate a slope, you will have two measurements for the sides. Remember which is "left" and which is "right" and account for the direction of the door swing.
Subtract your measurement from the manufacturer's required rough opening. This is the amount to trim from the frame and the bottom oof the door. Where a slope is involved, mark the "left" and "right" measurements on the door (DON'T mix 'em up) and connect the dots, so to speak.
The manufacturer recommends trimming no more than 1/8 inch from the top or bottom of the door. I had to trim considerably more. In each case, the cut was as wide or a little wider than the bottom rail, so I was able to reuse the rail. After cutting, I removed the scrap material from the rail, applied wood glue to all contact edges, and tapped it back into place with a rubber mallet. I then clamped it and allowed the glue to cure.
The Installation
The instructions make it sound so simple. Fit the frame in the rough opening and install shims to keep everything nice and square, plumb and level. Yep, sounds simple enough. If only it were so! The frame may look good to the naked eye, but the slightest bow or rack can prevent the door from swinging or closing properly. After a lot of trial and error, (there's that phrase again) along with equal parts of head scratching and hair pulling, with an occasional expletive yelled at no one in particular thrown in for good measure, we unceremoniously ripped up the instruction sheet and threw it in the recycle bin.
How We Did It: With the door frame pre-assembled as per the instructions, we placed it in the rough opening. We first leveled the top of the frame and fastened it in place. We then hung the door on the hinges. Starting at the top of the hinge side, we installed a pair of shims. Before installing screws, we checked the swing of the door. Then we moved down and installed the next pair of shims. Each time we installed shims and screws (about every foot or so) we checked the swing of the door and made sure it closed properly. We repeated the process for the latch side. Having the door in position made it easy to fine-tune the position of the frame with the shims.