Installing Interior Doors

Quickly updating the look of your interior space can be as easy as installing new interior doors. Installing your new door takes a steady hand and a bit of patience but can definitely save some cash as compared to having a professional do the work for you.

Interior Door Installation Tips

One of the most important things to remember when installing interior doors is to take accurate measurements of the existing door frame before purchasing a door. There are lots of manufacturers that can build a custom interior door to fit your space if your door is larger or smaller than most of the standard size interior doors that are ready-made for purchase. Although custom doors can be more expensive, having a custom door built for a less-than-standard doorframe is your best option to make sure that the door performs as you had expected.

What follows are some other tips for installing interior doors that will help speed up the process and ensure correct hanging. Please note: these tips deal with installing slab doors. Slab doors are a bit trickier to hang than "pre-hung" doors. Unless you are installing interior doors in a new construction, you will most likely be using the existing door frame and a slab door.

• If possible, have your new interior door milled to your needed specifications. Milling is simply the process of having holes drilled for the mortises and locksets. This is by far the easiest way to get the precise measurements and some folks even choose to take the existing door to the lumberyard to ensure that they are getting it right. If you do so, be sure to mark which part of the door is the top.
• If you want to bore your own holes, you can purchase a hole saw for your drill that will do the job for you - but you must make careful measurements to ensure that the holes you bore are exactly where you need them to make for flush hinge installation. You can also use your old door as a guide to cut your own holes and
• When measuring for the hinges, measure from the top down, not from hinge to hinge.

Tools for Installing Interior Doors

Having the appropriate tools on hand when installing interior doors will make the task at hand go along more expediently. You may need all of the following: drill, lockset hole saw kit, pilot bit, 3/8 & 7/8 inch drill & spade bits, screw driver, tape measure, chisel, pencil.