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Monday, Hang it all anyway!!! Grrrrrr!

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Monday, Hang it all anyway!!! Grrrrrr!

#1

Monday, Hang it all anyway!!! Grrrrrr!

Exterior Dutch Doors seemed to me to be an time extended challenge (especially for a person of my self proclaimed skill level) because the door was half as heavy and once one installed the other could be shimmed and made to fit. With the door off I checked the jamb for plumb, I set the hinges, and checked them several time over,I fitted and futzed, and the bottom line is Friday evening, all day Saturday and part of Sunday later I was banging my head because if I wanted it to look right closed it didn�t operate properly and if it operated correctly it was misaligned when closed. Rains came and went and still no door. Finally I gave it up and within three hours a relative of a friend and a door hanging pro came over and did the job. What did he do that I didn�t, and he said was (almost) impossible for me to hang the door without knowing about it?

Re: Monday, Hang it all anyway!!! Grrrrrr!

#2

Re: Monday, Hang it all anyway!!! Grrrrrr!

Great question. I don't have a clue, but am looking forward to the answer. Does it have anything to do with the rain?

Re: Monday, Hang it all anyway!!! Grrrrrr!

#3

Even if not Catholic...

by Sunday, Mass helped. Rain didn't help.

Re: Monday, Hang it all anyway!!! Grrrrrr!

#4

Re: Monday, Hang it all anyway!!! Grrrrrr!

I'm gonna guess that both halves should have been installed together, not as separates.

Tommy

Re: Monday, Hang it all anyway!!! Grrrrrr!

#5

What HE Said!

Yeah, I agree! I don't think you can hang the two portions separately and get 'em right. It's hard enough when they are fastened together.

BobH

Re: Monday, Hang it all anyway!!! Grrrrrr!

#6

Monday Answer

First of all Tom and Bob are correct mostly. Had I started right it would have been the easier way. Keep Dutch doors together�together you hear me! Find a helper. Do the top door two hinges first (7� down and 36� down) then the bottom bottom hinge (10� up) and lastly the top bottom door hinge (35� up), shim to fit and pat myself on the back. Never happened. As it was, because the doors were separated and I did set the hinges on the doors there had to be another way. The pro�s way was to set the top door first and let it serve as the head jamb for the bottom door. But wait there�s more. Before that, even though I checked the jamb for plumb before starting I didn�t know that it was undersized for two massive opposing swinging weights (likely with someone leaning on it when it was open. In this case the stops were chiseled away, hinge mortise dutchmen were installed and scraped down flush, and a piece of 1 1/2� x 3/16� steel was screwed into place the full length of the door height. The hinge side jamb was then trued plumb using wide shim inserts and pieces of Formica and more than a couple of long drywall screws going deep through the trimmer and into the king stud. Placement of the steel was done with care as it had to fit under a new wood door stop but not get in the way of the hinges and locks. As it was we did drill five through holes for screw passage through the steel. Anyway with the steel in place and the jamb muscled by big screws into plumbness the top door was set; a cardboard spacer allowed the bottom door to be placed. One hinge hole for each hinge was drilled, plugged and redrilled with a new mega screw inserted. The pro fit the door with only three scribes (two door halfs) with almost perfect precision. Lockset was placed, dead bolt placed, shelf installed on the inside of the lower door and new stop nailed on. Threshold was checked. Cost $120, a case of diet coke, and I gave him the CD he liked that was playing while we were working. Thank heavens for Sunday open stores. And relatives of friends. I would have never known about the undersized and moving jamb. I could have worked on it forever and never got it fit right.

Incidentally, the rain didn�t figure into it except that I had no door and it poured--really poured--and the cat proudly brought in and dropped off a live chipmunk�which luckily took the open door exit not the interior of the house in its escape.

Re: Monday, Hang it all anyway!!! Grrrrrr!

#7

Dang! I'm TIRED Just Reading that Description!

Sorry you had such a challenge, Gary, but sounds like you mastered it pretty well!

BobH

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