Whether your doors are damaged or you're just renovating the
interior of your home, the process of hanging a door is one which
may seem a daunting task unless you know how. With this
step-by-step guide, you'll learn all you need to know about
installing an interior door safely and efficiently.
Tools and
materials
Before you get to work, you'll need to ensure you have the
following:
- Fine-tooth hand saw
- Screwdriver
- Spirit level
- Hammer
- Wood chisel
- Planer
- Tape measure
- Pencil
- Door wedge
- New interior door
- Hinges and screws
Step 1: Removing your
old door
- Take your screwdriver and unscrew your old door from its
frame.
- Take care to ensure that you don't damage the hinge rebates on
the frame; you'll need to keep these intact so that your new door
can be hung securely.
- Place your old door neatly out of harm's way.
Step 2: Measuring the
doorframe and your new door
- Take your tape measure and measure the doorframe from the
bottom to the head of the frame. Make sure you measure both sides;
it may be that your frame is not perfectly rectangular.
- Now, measure both sides of your new door. If you find that it
is longer than the frame, you'll need to trim it to size.
Step 3: Trimming your
door to fit
If your measurements indicate that trimming is necessary, place
your door on a work surface and:
- Take your fine-tooth saw or planer and begin trimming the door
to size. Make sure you do this from the bottom of the door.
- When using a planer on interior oak doors or those with clearly-defined growth rings, make sure that you
plane in the direction of these.
- Also, try to plane towards the centre of the surface to reduce
the risk of splintering at the edges.
Step 4: Ensuring your
new door fits
- Place your new door into the frame.
- Ensure there is a 2mm gap between the door and doorframe on all
four sides. If not, you'll need to return the door to your work
area and make adjustments with your planer.
- If you do need to plane the sides, always plane the side with
the hinges - these will be out of the way, so any imperfections
will be hidden.
- Only plane from both sides if large adjustments need to be
made.
Step 5: Fitting the
hinges to your door 
Once you're sure that your new door fits nicely into the frame
with a 2mm gap on all sides:
- Take your pencil and mark the points on the side of your new
door where it lines up with the top and bottom of each hinge
rebate.
- Return the door to your work area, and mark the thickness of
your hinges on to the side of the door, between the marks you made
earlier.
- Then, place the hinges into position and draw around them with
your pencil to indicate where they will sit on the edge.
- Take your hammer and chisel and cut an outline into the wood,
with the depth corresponding to the thickness of the hinge marked
earlier.
- Now, use your hammer and chisel to remove the material where
the hinge will sit, creating a hinge rebate.
- Place the hinges neatly into position and screw them into your
door.
Step 6: Fitting your
door to the frame
- Place your new door into the frame, and use wedges to hold it
in position.
- Now, take your screwdriver and screw the hinges into the hinge
rebates of the frame. It's always easier to attach the top hinge
first.
- The screw heads need to sit nice and squarely into the hinge,
since this will allow the door to open and close much more
smoothly.
- Once you have fitted most of the screws, have a try at opening
and closing your door. If it swings smoothly and easily, attach the
remaining screws.
And there we are! You have successfully hung a shiny new
interior door. Now, how to get rid of the old one…