Need opinions on interior door installation issue

[TT_Vert]

I don't know the first thing about installing doors except to ensure they are level and plumb. I paid someone to install these. I notice the top of the door that is furthest from the hinge on has a gap that is a good 3/8" larger than the bottom and tapers to tight like it should as you go down. These were prehung composite doors from home depot and I don't think they were like this prior to install. Is this something the installer did? Is this something that can be corrected and if so how? He had mentioned just moving the center jamb portion that contacts the face of the door to make it appear closer. Is that the correct solution? I took my level to the jamb and it is level and plumb as it should be but if that was the case why would the face of the door not be flat against that center door jamb piece? Did the doors warp somehow? It seems most of them have done this.

Thanks much,

Dave

 

[Git]

It can be shimmed - watch this

 

[TT_Vert]

He has already nailed them in however

 

[Dirtydan69]

As long as the trim has not been applied it’s an easy fix.

 

[no704]

If the jamb is plumb on both sides you can make slight adjustments by shimming the hinges. So say you have a larger gap at the top at the latch side. Take off the top hinge on the jamb side and put something to shim out the edge of the hinge nearest the pi jot. Do the same on the bottom hinge but put your shim away from the piviot. Thickness of shims will depends on how out of plumb the door is to the jamb.

 

[wssix99]

This typically happens when there is a warp in the wall and the plumb is off from one side of the door to the other, slightly. There's no perfect solution... (other than tearing down the wall and re-doing it with perfectly straight steel studs)

I took my level to the jamb and it is level and plumb as it should be

Your level is probably not precise enough to pick this up. Are you using a 2' or 4' level? If you use a high-precision 6' level, you should be able to see how the plumb on either side of the door is off.


Your carpenter had some choices:

1) make the door perfectly plumb and have the jamb uneven with the wall on one side
<OR>
2) cheat the jamb flush with the wall and have it warp a bit so the stop is a little off (the "stop" is what the center molding is called in the middle of the jamb that "stops" the door at the latch)

So, if you choose #1, you'd have to pry off one side of the door and re-attach it to the wall. (You'd probably want to do this with the latch side of the door and match it to the hinge side, assuming the hinge side is plumb enough.) At that point, your jamb will stick out a bit on one side, so you'll have to shave it down or let the casing stick out and caulk it like crazy.

If you choose to stick with #2 (what you have now), you can just pry the stop molding off the inside of the jam, and re-secure it so that its flush with the door in its final shut position. (Then the stop will look perfect!) <- This is probably the easier route. (I did this with a number of the doors in our new house.)

 

[The Cobbler]

I think when you say center door jamb you mean the door stop.
so is the door not fitting evenly against the stop?
Yes? then the legs of the jamb are not set parallel (plumb) to each other , either the walls aren't plumb to each other or the installer cocked the legs .
or
the doors are warped but I suspect previous point is the problem here .

 

[TT_Vert]

Yes it is the stop. The bottom of the doors have the door against the stop whereas the top is off a good 3/8" and it looks bad. The odd thing is the hinge side is tight top/bottom so it is almost like the top of the frame is twisted. I was using a small level so I don't know how accurate my findings are. I do have an 6' level I could use. The casing is on on one side of the door already but not the other. I'm trying to visualize what each of you are suggesting . In my head, if I were to remove the nails on the top striker side of door and push it in towards the door to close the gap and renail it the door would then be tight to the stop and look good but I'm unsure of the repercussions in doing this.

I also suspect when closing the door (I don't have hardware in yet) I will have to use force as the bottom of the door will contact the stop before the latch can engage fully in the striker.

If the legs were not parallel then wouldn't both the top/bottom on the striker side have a gap?

Dave

 

[The Cobbler]

what I would do without seeing pictures & trying to visualize this.
remove the door stop top (head) & leg (side jamb) ont he latch side. install the door knob & strike plate .
latch the door shut, reinstall the stops so they are just a tad loose , say 1/16" against the door.
that's assuming the jambs are reasonably flush with the walls.

 

[TT_Vert]

what I would do without seeing pictures & trying to visualize this.
remove the door stop top (head) & leg (side jamb) ont he latch side. install the door knob & strike plate .
latch the door shut, reinstall the stops so they are just a tad loose , say 1/16" against the door.
that's assuming the jambs are reasonably flush with the walls.

That certainly sounds like the easiest way to do this. I'll probably have to do this on a good 3 or 4 doors. Is there any negative to doing this aside from the exposed part on jamb there the stop sits will be a bit wider on top than the bottom to make up for that gap.

 

[The Cobbler]

usually it's not noticeable, especially to the average person .
if the gap is 3/8 out at one end, by latching the door where it's meant to be it leaves roughly a 3//16" over/under ,so not very noticeable

 

[TT_Vert]

usually it's not noticeable, especially to the average person .
if the gap is 3/8 out at one end, by latching the door where it's meant to be it leaves roughly a 3//16" ,so not very noticeable

Are you referring to pre or post stop movement to fix? If I don't move the stop my concern is that door will require force to shut as i'm going to be twisting the door to shut and then when I open it it will be in a sprung position so to speak if that makes sense and it'll sort of pop open..

dave

 

[The Cobbler]

by moving the stop with the door latched , it basically divides your 3/8 gap so one end (top or bottom) will be 3/16 inset on the jamb and the other end (top or bottom) will be 3/16 proud of the jamb and the door will close without having to force it to twist it to fit latch

 

[TT_Vert]

Ahh understood. I think this is the best way to do this. My guy had mentioned this but I've started to question his abilities. He seems to be rushing to do this. I really wish i had taken the time to just do this myself, it certainly doesn't seem very difficult after all the research i've done. But it also appears that there wasn't much he could do in this situation. I do find it odd 3 or 4 doors do this though, I'm surprised if that many walls are out of plumb.

Dave



Dave

 

[The Cobbler]

anything is possible, I once trimmed a new house where a door rough opening was out of plumb by 1-1/2 top to bottom. the homeowner (General contractor) wouldn't pay me to fix it, or permit a size smaller door to be installed. I took out my power planer & went to town . there were all kinds of plumb issues too. we did the best we could but in the end we cheated a lot due to poor framing

 

[TT_Vert]

Fair enough, thanks for the input guys.
Dave

 

[wssix99]

Ahh understood. I think this is the best way to do this. My guy had mentioned this but I've started to question his abilities. He seems to be rushing to do this. I really wish i had taken the time to just do this myself, it certainly doesn't seem very difficult after all the research i've done. But it also appears that there wasn't much he could do in this situation. I do find it odd 3 or 4 doors do this though, I'm surprised if that many walls are out of plumb.

If you have wood studs, then none are perfect. No perfect studs = no perfectly plumb walls around door openings. (If your ceilings are over 8' high, this will accentuate the issue.)

If you get a good 6' (mason's) level and put it to the walls around the casing, I'll be you'll be surprised at what you'll find.

 

[TT_Vert]

How do people get square houses if all the wood is warped? I didn't realize this was so common.

Dave

 

[wssix99]

How do people get square houses if all the wood is warped? I didn't realize this was so common.

They don't. No house is perfectly square, plumb, or level. I'll bet most of the people who have looked at this post have the same issue the OP mentions somewhere in their own house but have never noticed it.

 

[firebirdparts]

How do people get square houses if all the wood is warped? I didn't realize this was so common.

Dave

They don't, and of course sheetrock is just dirt and paper, only crimped on two sides, so the whole house is getting covered with dimensionally dishonest trash anyway.

What really reveals the problem is something honestly square, like the doors, and cabinetry. Moldings also require quite a lot of cheating.