how to change interior doors
Make a huge difference in a weekend by replacing dated doors with something stylish
A weekend style refresh
New doors can be a real game changer when updating your home, completely revamping its look and feel – especially if you use glazed or part-glazed doors to let light flow around. 1 choose Your door style
modern doors rarely work well in older properties and vice versa, so match the style of your doors to the age of your home. if you live in a period home, you might find doors that match your interior mouldings at salvage yards, on websites like ebay, Freecycle, or even in skips!
2 do the prep
if you’re reusing old doors, remove old paint with paint stripper and a heat gun, or use a professional dip-and-strip service (prices start from around £25 per door).
3 size it Up
Prop the door against the frame, so you can mark it for trimming to the correct size.
4 trim to fit
small amounts of wood can be shaved off with a plane. if you need to remove more than 5mm, lay the door on a workbench, saw off most of the excess wood, then finish off with the plane.
5 stop it sticking
When you’re happy with the size, plane a slope on the edges of both door stiles (the vertical strips down the sides of the door) towards the doorstop (the strip of wood sticking out from the frame that stops the door swinging open).
6 plan hinge positions
Get someone to hold the door up to the frame for you. mark the hinge recesses on the door.
7 hang it in place
Position the hinges on the door, mark around them and use the chisel to create the recesses. if you need to make the frame recesses bigger, use the chisel to go over them again. use one screw per hinge to fix the hinges to the door and then the door to the frame (the screws mustn’t stick out). When the door opens and closes smoothly, you can drive in the rest of the screws.
8 paint the door
or, if you’re using unfinished wooden doors and want to leave them unpainted, fill gaps with flexible filler in a matching colour before sanding and waxing for a beautiful finish.