Question about prehung doors... (now general door/jamb/frame questions)

[Micrornd]

Doesn't really matter, the door doesn't swing over the stairs.

It does if you are making the door bigger to allow a wider opening.
If the handrail to wall distance is narrower than the opening you make, well, you've essentially accomplished nothing but replacing a perfectly good door.
Unless of course you intend to carry everything into the basement above waist high, and it fits under the ceiling of the stairs that way.
Does that explain it better?

 

[Greenman]

It does if you are making the door bigger to allow a wider opening.
If the handrail to wall distance is narrower than the opening you make, well, you've essentially accomplished nothing but replacing a perfectly good door.
Unless of course you intend to carry everything into the basement above waist high, and it fits under the ceiling of the stairs that way.
Does that explain it better?

Got it. I thought you were talking about the door hitting on the hand rail.

 

[purbeast0]

The railing takes like 5 minutes to take off. I took it off yesterday when I got my arcade game down the steps. I didn't HAVE to but it gave for a couple extra inches which helped.

And I did special order a prehung door yesterday at HD. It was like $30 more than just buying the ones they carry in store with the same model, so not bad at all. Only bad thing is it won't be there until March 21st lol. So I'm not gonna have a basement door for a month. We're going on vacation one of those weeks though.

 

[purbeast0]

Figured I'd update this since it's pretty much done now.

The door arrived yesterday and I grabbed it this morning and installed it just now. I still have to do trim and put the knob on but I think overall for my first door installation it went pretty well.

 

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

Looks good. You have enough room for the casing on the left side or you going to rip it?

 

[purbeast0]

Looks good. You have enough room for the casing on the left side or you going to rip it?

What you mean rip it? Just make it thinner? Is casing another word for door trim/mold?

I THINK there is enough room there, I haven't measured yet. The one side I'm concerned about is the inside right side. I don't know if there is enough space for the 1.75" molding that came with the door. It was the smallest one it came with.

 

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

What you mean rip it? Just make it thinner? Is casing another word for door trim/mold?

I THINK there is enough room there, I haven't measured yet. The one side I'm concerned about is the inside right side. I don't know if there is enough space for the 1.75" molding that came with the door. It was the smallest one it came with.

Yes, and yes.

Remember to leave a quarter inch of the door jamb exposed (called the "reveal"), so when you are measuring, it's the trim plus a quarter inch.

Nobody will look at the inside of basement door to notice you had to rip it (cut lengthwise) to fit

 

[purbeast0]

Yes, and yes.

Remember to leave a quarter inch of the door jamb exposed (called the "reveal"), so when you are measuring, it's the trim plus a quarter inch.

Nobody will look at the inside of basement door to notice you had to rip it (cut lengthwise) to fit

Oh damn okay thanks I had no clue about keeping an extra .25". I was wondering WTF to do where the hinges are though so that explains that lol.

And yeah I am not too concerned about the look of it on that side. It's dark back there and there is no light in the stairwell too.

 

[Greenman]

Bottom right corner the jamb is to tight to the door, it will bind. Put a nail in it and drive it back a touch.

 

[skyking]

remote carpentry LOL. I just found the thread. You did the good thing gutting it out as far as you could. Totally worth it when you have a ginormous box habit

 

[JEDIYoda]

Sorry, I saw that word - prehung - in your thread title and my mind got the best of me...carry on!!

 

[purbeast0]

Got the trim on one side installed this morning. Had to run to HD yet again (hopefully last time) to get a miter saw. I got one of the miter saw guide boxes that came with a hand saw for $15. That thing is money. I also ripped up all the trim/baseboard stuff and then cut that to fit after I had the door trim on. I think it came out pretty good. I haven't put any caulking in there yet either but I have that.

@Greenman I definitely noticed what you said and I got it as tight as it can et to the call down there. I probably got like some extra mm's by pressing it as hard in as I could against the wall and firing some nails into it. I could tell it's not as tight as it initially was though, but still very tight.

On the rear side I am not sure what to do. I would have to rip both sides of the trim and I am not sure how to rip them at home with just a circular saw. I was doing cuts with a piece of wood clamped as a guide but it wasn't for anything this narrow. I am not sure how the hell I can do it with something that is like 86" long and 1.75" wide.

I am thinking of maybe just buying some 1" trim at HD that is just like flat wood and using that as the door trim on the inside of the door.

Or does anyone have any pointers on how I can rip these narrow pieces with a circular saw? Here is a pic of the inside.

 

[skyking]

cultivate a friendship with a guy with a table saw

 

[purbeast0]

Ended up going to HD and got some molding that was like 1 3/8" wide. It turned out pretty decent. I still need to do caulking a bit and then after that, I'll paint it all white and be done.

 

[Greenman]

Pro job, you should be proud of yourself.