Hello readers of my blog! Today we will talk about step-by-step installation of interior doors with your own hands. It would seem that this is not a tricky matter, but when you are faced with this problem, you have to think about how to do it correctly, what preparation to do, what materials to choose. Thus, I decided that this article would be useful to someone, and I am devoting my efforts to this topic. In it I will answer a number of questions that will arise immediately before the step-by-step installation of interior doors with your own hands, and some even after that. This topic is quite broad, because before work, thorough preparation is necessary, but how to do this? And this is a separate topic. You can learn about all this in great detail in the article below.
Do-it-yourself interior door installation
Installing a new door yourself is not at all difficult - if only you had the right tools at hand.
And it’s better to start the experiment with the most inconspicuous doors - for example, to the pantry. We bring to your attention detailed instructions for installing an interior door.
Preparatory work. Before you go to a construction hypermarket or market, determine the budget for the door replacement event. Please note that if you decide to change the doors in the entire apartment, you need to buy them at the same time.
Later, the desired model may be discontinued or there may be no doors of the required shade in stock.
Keep in mind also that an interior door is not just a door leaf!
You will also need a box, accessories, a threshold, platbands, and sometimes handles. The total cost of all this stuff is close to the cost of the canvas itself. If the width of the doorways in your apartment exceeds 110 cm, you will have to either buy a double door (which is more expensive than a single door) or reduce the opening.
In general, carefully calculate the upcoming expenses in order to decide which doors you will buy: solid, veneered or plastic.
Installing the door yourself: step-by-step instructions. Let us immediately note that if you bought expensive solid wood doors, then it is better to install them with the help of specialists.
After all, the cost of possible installation errors is too high. Although if you act carefully, slowly and in strict accordance with our instructions, the risk is small. Remove the old door.
First, use a chisel and hammer to remove the trim. Then use a nail puller or crowbar to lift the door and remove it from its hinges. After that, all that remains is to remove the door fastenings (screws or nails) and remove the frame from the doorway.
Prepare the doorway for installing the new frame.
If there are wooden blocks left in the wall on which the old box was held, then the new one will be attached to them with screws. Otherwise, it is secured with dowels.
Install the new frame into the doorway. Before fixing it in place, check the verticals using plumb lines.
If necessary, drive several wedges between the frame and the wall. Do not forget that the vertical line is set in two planes using a plumb line or level: the door should not go either “forward” or “sideways”.
Secure the box. Drill holes for screws opposite the bars or pre-hammered dowels.
In this case, the through holes should be of the same diameter (the diameter of the screws), and additional holes should be made to a depth of 1 cm with a thicker drill to hide the screw heads and hide these places with plugs. It is enough to secure the side parts with three screws each, and the top with one more.
Hang the door leaf on the hinges. If the box is installed correctly, the door will close tightly and will not open by itself.
Pay attention to the gaps between the box and the canvas: on the left, right and top they should be 2 mm, on the bottom - 4 mm.
Fill the holes between the door frame and the wall with foam. After it dries, install the trim. Do not drive the nails all the way in so that you can bite off the heads.
Install all the necessary fittings: handles, locks, latches, door opening limiters. That's all! Now you know for sure that installing an interior door on your own is not difficult.
Installation of interior doors
Replacing interior doors is not as labor-intensive and complicated a process as it seems. You can fill a double or single opening yourself without the help of a specialist.
Of course, you won’t save time, but you will save money and acquire new skills when renovating an apartment or house.
How to install an interior door: in this article we will tell you how to choose a good door leaf, what the block for filling the opening is made of and how to install it.
Opening measurement
Making a mistake at the stage of measuring the doorway is unacceptable: if you purchase a system of large dimensions, you will not be able to insert it, and if you purchase a smaller one, you will not be able to fix it well.
It is better to measure the doorway after dismantling the old door, when access to the bare wall has appeared.
This way you can assess the situation and make the right measurements. Removing them is simple: take a tape measure and determine the height and width of the entrance along the wall in the narrowest place (relevant for buildings where the vertical structure of the structures is poorly maintained). With this data, go to the store for a new door.
There is no need to make the product according to individual dimensions: in houses with apartments, builders initially lay standard openings, and the fillings for them are always available for open sale.
Interior doors in a private wooden house may differ from the standard ones, then you will have to order new ones and wait for them to be manufactured.
Door selection
The first thing you should pay attention to when choosing canvas and boxes is the material they are made of.
Fiberboard is used to produce budget doors and frames. The material does not protect the room from extraneous sounds, absorbs moisture, and filling will lead to damage during the first off-season.
It is strictly not recommended to choose a frame made of fiberboard; it quickly deforms even under the weight of the door.
MDF is a more reliable material with increased density, average in price-quality ratio.
It is strong enough to withstand mechanical loads, does not absorb moisture, muffles sounds and lasts a long time.
Solid wood is ideal for making and installing a box. It will not be affected by humidity, it will withstand the weight of any door. Laminated wood is additionally lined; untreated timber is not inferior to laminated timber in performance, but it will have to be painted or decorated.
The ideal option is to purchase a box and canvas made of the same material. You should not give preference to wood fiber board; doors made from it are short-lived; they are installed on construction sites so that new owners can replace them with permanent ones made of more durable materials.
Ideally, it is worth acquiring a solid solid material as a door filling; to reduce the cost, the canvas can be replaced with MDF, which is also a durable raw material for the manufacture of cheaper door frames.
Additional strips and trims can be made of fiberboard, wood or MDF. They do not carry a load, they only decorate the gaps and disguise the connections.
Double doors are often chosen for large rooms and halls; single-leaf blocks are installed in bedrooms and kitchens. In any case, the size of the box and the number of panels are determined by the size of the opening.
Step-by-step instructions for installing from scratch
Installing interior doors with your own hands will not take much time, just stock up on the necessary tools, purchase the necessary materials and you can get to work. Follow the detailed step-by-step instructions and you are guaranteed success.
This plan is valid for installing swing doors; sliding doors are mounted slightly differently, but in a similar way.
How to install interior doors with your own hands
It is impossible to imagine any home without interior doors. They perform several functions at once.
Installing interior doors is quite simple and will not cause any particular difficulties even if you do the work yourself. Of course, if you wish, you can use the services of specialists.
Assembling the box
The box is assembled from 3-4 beams of the required length in two versions - with or without a threshold. When finished, it resembles either the letter “p” or a rectangle.
At the stage of assembling the box there are the following tasks:
- We measure the canvas and the opening;
- We calculate racks, lintels, take into account technological gaps (10 mm along all edges);
- We saw off to size and connect the beams.
To assemble the box, we use a flat horizontal surface. We widen the narrow opening. Or we stuff the mounting block to narrow it.
The door frame is assembled in two ways:
- We saw down the beams, maintaining an acute angle. A complex option that requires certain experience, precision, and special tools;
- We cut at right angles. Much easier; a fine-toothed hacksaw will work as a tool.
We maintain the exact dimensions of the internal contour of the frame to ensure the required gaps, take into account the presence or absence of a threshold when installing an interior door (up to 5 mm).
We fasten the entire structure at the ends with self-tapping screws (2 on each side). We pre-drill holes to avoid cracks on the surface of the timber. We use a wood drill with a diameter of up to 3 mm.
Choosing an interior door
In principle, this does not affect the technology of installation work in any way. But their cost depends on the type of door, and the service life of different types of doors differs significantly.
paneled interior doors. If they are made of hardwood, then they can be considered almost a luxury item.
In addition to their main function, they decorate the room. The only disadvantages include high cost and heavy weight. For interior doors, paneled doors are more often used, but made of soft wood;
As for the installation technology, to make the work easier, it is recommended to purchase the door complete with a door frame.
A price that is too low is suspicious. Most likely, in this case, the door is sold without a frame; in the end, this will greatly complicate the installation of the interior door.
How to cover the surface?
Veneering of interior panel doors.
Many people do not know how to make a door themselves, so they often resort to the help of specialists. They will help you find any information on construction work. It is important to decide what type of door you want to make. However, this is not the only issue that needs to be resolved. Do you know what to cover doors with? There are, as a rule, 4 types of door coverings, which are divided into lamination, veneering, tinting and painting. The simplest are the last two types.
The dyeing process has its own characteristics. As a rule, several layers of paint are applied to the canvas to ensure that the color is rich and durable. The durability and reliability of the structure depends on what materials you are going to make the door from. Painting and the necessary equipment are the main components of the structure. If you are going to tint the door, then use a varnish that will give it a transparent (in some cases translucent) tint. This way you will be able to highlight the natural color of the wood. Experts make doors based on tinting using hardwood, as soft wood may show dents or other imperfections.
Related article: Installation of a partition on a loggia and balcony
What is lamination? This painting process involves pressing a special film onto the surface. No glue is used, but the film must be either plastic or paper. Now about the veneering method. It consists of gluing a thin wood film onto the finished door leaf. Its optimal thickness is 1 mm. The veneer is laid on a substrate and then covered with regular varnish. This coating is considered ideal for solid wood and doors with a typical panel structure.
How to properly install an interior door - step by step
Before installing the door itself, the door frame is installed. If it was purchased together with the door, then most likely its ends are already sawn at an angle of 45°. In this case, all that remains is to assemble the box into a U-shaped structure.
Depending on the configuration, the set may also include an additional strip. It will be used to securely fix the door frame until final installation.
The door frame elements can be connected using either self-tapping screws or plastic dovetail keys. They usually come with a box.
When assembling the box, special attention must be paid to ensure that no element moves relative to the other. Otherwise, all the work will go to waste.
Before installing the door frame, it is advisable to select all the necessary grooves in the wood for awnings, installation of door handles, and a lock. It is much more convenient to do this while the box is not yet installed.
Also, before installing the frame, you need to shorten the side posts along the length of the door. It is important to ensure a gap of 10-15 mm between the door and the floor of the room.
To ensure that the door frame does not deform at the bottom when performing work, an additional strip is placed on the screws.
It needs to be attached to that part of the box that will be hidden after final finishing. The screws are screwed in obliquely so as not to split the wood.
There must be a gap between the frame and the doorway; wooden wedges will be driven into it for temporary fixation, then the free space will simply be filled with foam. But this will happen after the final fitting of the door.
First, the door frame is attached to the wall with a self-tapping screw or dowel only in the upper part. Moreover, the mounting location should be in the groove for the canopy. Then the canopy will play the role of a decorative overlay.
After fixing the top of the box, its bottom is carefully controlled, then, using the same principle, fixation is performed from below. Additionally, the box is secured using wedges, which are driven in at the top at the level of the crossbar and at the bottom at the level of the temporary spacer.
This is followed by fitting of the door; the frame is not yet fully secured.
The door is hung and the smoothness of movement and the verticality of the door itself are checked. Sometimes, even with careful adherence to technology, the door itself opens or closes, which indicates a slight vertical deviation. In this case, additional adjustment of the position of the door frame will be required.
If everything is in order, then you can fill the voids between the door frame and the wall with foam.
Before doing this, it is better to insulate with masking tape all wooden surfaces that may come into contact with the foam. It will be very difficult to remove it later without damaging the tree.
To ensure maximum adhesion, concrete must be cleaned of dust and dirt.
After foaming the voids, you must take a break for 12 hours. Then the excess foam is cut off with a knife and installation of the trim and trim begins.
The additional strip should cover the distance from the edge of the wall to the door frame. It can be attached to the box with self-tapping screws, and the planks are connected to each other (if you need to use several panels in width) using a tongue-and-groove pattern. Existing voids also need to be filled with polyurethane foam.
After this, all that remains is to attach the platbands. At the joints they are sawed at an angle of 45°.
Platbands can be attached either with glue or with ordinary nails without a head. Platbands with a special protrusion are also produced, which are simply inserted into the corresponding groove on the door frame. In this case, you can do without nails and use only glue.
At this point, the installation of interior doors with your own hands can be considered complete. If the described technology is followed, the quality of the installation will be comparable to the work of professionals.
Installation of interior doors
The instructions for installing interior doors allow you to install such structures yourself without much difficulty. You just need to strictly follow its points.
How to install interior doors, step-by-step recommendations
An example door with a frame made of fiberboard is considered. If you need to install wooden boxes, you need to follow the same steps. Installation will be simpler, since wood is stronger than fiberboard.
Step 1. Selecting tools and necessary additional consumables. For installation you will need:
- saw;
- electric drill (which is better, a drill or a hammer drill?);
- drills 3 mm and 4 mm for wood;
- drills 4 mm and 6 mm for concrete;
- screwdriver;
- roulette;
- pen;
- construction level;
- wood screws;
- quick installation dowels;
- polyurethane foam.
Step 2. Determine the scheme for attaching the frame to the doorway of the interior door.
Photo - Diagram of fastening a door frame in an opening.
The figure shows a diagram of fastening a door frame in an opening. As you can see, the interior door (2) is installed in a frame (1), which is secured in the opening with screws (3). We blow foam between the wall and the box (4). The process is as follows: we install the box in the opening, fasten it to the wall, and foam it.
Photo - Disassembled door frame and door before installation
If, after installing the door, its threshold cannot be hidden in the floor, for convenience, choose a U-shaped frame without a threshold. It does not have a bottom crossbar, so there is simply nothing to interfere with your walking.
Step 3. Assembling the door frame.
Photo - For ease of installation, the door frame must be assembled.
Hinges must be attached to the purchased frame. The door should have a cutout for the handle, as well as for the door lock of the interior door. We begin assembling the door frame. It is necessary to connect all the parts of the box together and adjust it to the dimensions of the opening. The factory length usually comes with a margin of 5 cm.
How to install platbands on interior doors
The surest option not to make a mistake is to assemble the parts on the floor the way they should stand in the doorway. Particular attention must be paid to the metal bases of the hinges; they should stick up so that the door can be hung on them from above.
Choose the opening side depending on the rooms between which the doors are installed. From small rooms, such as a bathroom, pantry, it is better to open doors outward, from large rooms in the corridor - inward.
Photo - Correct position of the end strips
We attach the top bar with self-tapping screws. The end strips (1) should lie along the line. If there is no line, then the bar is lying incorrectly and needs to be turned around.
Photo - Screws should be tightened after pre-drilling
Taking into account the structure of the fiberboard and its strength characteristics, in the box, before screwing in self-tapping screws with a base diameter of 3.5 mm, it is necessary to drill holes with a wood drill with a diameter of 3 mm. We carry out this action so that our box does not crack during the assembly process. For the same reason, the screw attachment points should be located closer to the center, away from the edges and corners.
Photo - Assembled box
To fasten the strip, four self-tapping screws will be enough, two on each side. If the door is lying horizontally on the floor, place a soft cloth under it to reduce the likelihood of damage to the laminated layer.
Photo - Factory stock box
We will cut off the factory stock of the box (the protruding edge). To fit the box, we accurately measure the dimensions of the doorway of the interior door. And we transfer it to the door frame, taking into account a gap of minus 1-2 cm on all sides to allow foaming. We recommend double-checking the dimensions of the structure several times.
Photo - Measuring the height of the opening
Photo - Cutting line for the excess part of the box
It is better to cut off the protruding excess with a handsaw. It is advisable not to use an automatic saw to avoid damaging the coating.
Photo - Trimming excess with a handsaw
As a result of all the manipulations, we get a U-shaped door frame, ready for installation in the doorway of the interior door.
Photo - Wooden box assembled
Step 4. Installing the box in the opening.
We place the box in the doorway. Level it up. We check the correctness and evenness of the assembly of the box by hanging the door on its hinges and closing it.
Photo - Checking the position of the box with a level
Photo - Drill diameter 4 mm for wood
The box installed in the opening must be secured with self-tapping screws. Remove the end decorative strip and drill 7-8 through holes on each side. The distance between the holes is 25-30 cm.
Photo - Drilled box
The wood drill is not designed for drilling walls; we only use it to drill fiberboard boxes. Then we again check the position of the box using a level, since it could have shifted during the drilling process. If there are no changes, we begin to drill the wall. Using a thin concrete drill with a diameter of 4 mm, through the holes in the box, we apply markings to the wall.
You cannot completely drill through the wall through the frame, as this can damage it.
The hole diameter is 4 mm; if you make it larger, the screw heads will fall out. Next, remove the box from the opening and begin making holes using a 6 mm diameter drill. If the wall is made of brick, the holes for installation should be in solid brick, and not in the masonry joint, in which the dowels hold very poorly.
Photo - Drilled brick wall Photo - Dowels in solid brick
Photo - Self-tapping screws for quick installation - on the left, wood screws - on the right.
Dowels are installed in the finished holes. We fix the box in the wall using self-tapping screws. For convenience, you can use a screwdriver or drill with an attachment for the screw head. Do not screw in the screws completely; the box may bend.
To avoid deflection, wedges can be lined.
To check the evenness and absence of distortions, during the process of screwing in the screws, additionally check the box for level.
Do-it-yourself sliding door installation
Photo - Wedge lining
Upon completion of installation, the box is checked from the side of the room using a level.
Photo - Checking the box by level
Step 5. Installing the door on the hinges.
How to install an interior door? It is enough to put the door on the hinges. Read about the main types of door hinges.
If it is a door made of fiberboard, given its weight, this can be done alone. After installing it, we will try to open and close it. In the closed position, the gaps between the frame and the door should be about 3 mm.
Photo - Check for gaps between the frame and the door
Photo - Closing and opening the door - easy, without distortions
The lock is inserted into the interior door. As well as installing the handle.
Step 6. Filling the seams with foam.
An important step is to fill the gap between the wall and the box with foam. It must be carried out with the door installed. As the foam dries, it increases in volume. If you overdo it, it can tear out the screws, bend the frame and make it impossible to close the door. You'll have to cut everything out and start the installation again.
The gaps between the frame and the door must be filled with something during foaming.
Photo - Cardboard in the gap between the door and the frame during foaming
Foaming seams is the easiest job. The vertical seam is filled from below. You need to be careful about the filling volume. Foam is able to increase its volume when drying.
Therefore, it is necessary to fill a third of the space between the door frame and the doorway of the interior door.
If you overspend, damage to both the frame and the structure as a whole is possible, since foam can get on the front of the frame and door and ruin their appearance. Complete hardening of the polyurethane foam occurs within 24 hours, the required temperature is 20 degrees.
Photo - Foam is applied to a third of the volume Photo - Interior door after installation
Do-it-yourself door installation - let's evaluate the scope of upcoming work
Door structures between rooms in an apartment or private house cannot be called very complex technical systems. However, their assembly and installation require knowledge of a number of nuances.
- Firstly, a door installed by yourself should not open spontaneously.
- Secondly, it must close without excessive effort.
- Thirdly, door structures must have a certain strength and not fall apart in cases where they are installed in the homes of “lovers” of slamming doors.
A regular door block consists of two elements – the leaf and the frame.
The latter is made of loop and false beams, as well as a lintel. If you install doors with a threshold, the frame is supplemented with a special bottom bar. In most cases, the door leaf is hung on two hinges.
There are systems with three loops, but they are used extremely rarely. The set of door blocks, as a rule, includes platbands. If the manufacturer does not provide these, you will need to purchase them separately.
In situations where the door frame is smaller in width than the door opening, you need to purchase additional panels or trim the walls with strips or more elegant slopes from a design point of view. Here you need to know that professionals do not recommend plastering slopes if you are installing structures made from wood materials (for example, MDF) with your own hands. Such doors simply become deformed after applying the plaster composition to them.
An excessively wide opening is often reduced with the help of wooden beams. Its dimensions must correspond to the “extra” width.
Such a beam is installed on the side of the door post, where its hinges are located. The beam is attached to the rack with small cross-section universal screws, and it is connected to the wall with anchors. It is recommended to do the installation of interior structures with your own hands after the pre-finishing of the room (it is assumed that you have leveled the walls, carefully and carefully puttyed them, and then plastered them).
Reducing a doorway using a wooden beam
In other words, the assembly and installation of doors is carried out after completion of all “wet” finishing work without exception.
Otherwise, there is a high probability that the system may “float” due to high humidity.
You definitely need to arrange the subfloor, as well as decide on the thickness and type of finishing floor that you will make. Without this, you will not be able to accurately mount the door frame to the height of the threshold. If you simply decide to change the interior doors in a room where no repair work is being carried out, the latest recommendations do not matter.
Installation of racks and hinges - step-by-step instructions
It is very important to install the racks correctly.
The door frame is attached to them. If you install it on crooked racks, the operational functionality of such a door will be minimal. The racks are prepared as follows:
The upper parts of the racks must be cut using a hacksaw (it is better to take a saw with small teeth) and a miter box. This operation is easier to do if you have a miter saw. Measure the required length along the inside of the post (it consists of the bottom gap, the height of the door leaf and the top gap).
The bottom gap is usually taken to be about 1 cm, the top - no more than 0.4 cm. Prepare the second rack in the same way.
Now you start processing the lintel. Measure the desired length along the inside.
The required length will include the width of the door leaf, a small (about 0.4 cm) gap on the side where you will put the lock on the door, and another gap on the hinge side. You get the length (internal) of the lintel. Note - absolutely accurate.
Installation of interior door posts
Now you can saw off the ends of the lintel with your own hands (again, with a miter saw or miter box). This procedure is done at an angle of 45°. Next we work on the door hinges.
Their installation should be done as carefully as possible. It is important to determine the exact depth of their depth and the distance between the lower and upper edges of the door leaf.
You have completed a difficult task on your own. Now you can work on the box and trim.
Step-by-step instruction
A description of how to properly install doors is outlined in the step-by-step instructions below.
Preparing the door leaf
Using a chisel, you need to make recesses for the hinges on the door leaf at a distance of twenty centimeters from the top and bottom edges. Then saw off the door slopes at a five-degree angle (you can use a square to set the exact angle). Having attached them to the door leaf, mark the location of the hinges and make recesses for the hinges. After this, drill holes in the places where the hinges are attached and screw them to the door.
Fastening door handles
Place the door leaf parallel to the floor and on the side free from hinges, about a meter away from the edge, use a drill to make a large hole for attaching handles. Then, using self-tapping screws, screw the handles to the door and attach decorative trims.
The choice of door handles must be taken very carefully, because they perform not only a functional role, but also serve as an integral element of decor.
Recommendations for mounting the box
In some cases, you can purchase interior doors with a ready-made frame. Sometimes this circumstance facilitates further installation, since installing the assembled unit is much easier and faster.
But there are cases when the build quality leaves much to be desired, and the materials used in its manufacture do not meet your requirements. This point may entail additional costs.
Most often, you have to assemble the box yourself. To do this, all the necessary parts are laid out in the correct order, taking into account the orientation of the door opening. Next, the top strip of the door frame is fastened to the ends of the two racks with nails or self-tapping screws. Then the canopies are fixed in the previously designated places.
Sometimes doors are equipped with platbands and slopes. In this case, they have the necessary cuts and fastenings, in the form of plastic pegs. This point will greatly facilitate the assembly process.
At the next stage, the box is mounted in the doorway. The fully completed box is inserted into the opening and, using wedges, leveled to the desired position; you need to navigate by level. The bottom edge of the box should be aligned with the plane of the floor.
It is important to remember that the installation of interior doors should begin only after all work on the flooring has been completed.
Hanging the door leaf
The next step is to install the door leaf into the frame. The door leaf is attached to self-tapping screws, so that the fastenings to the wall are closed with hinges.
To fix the door frame, it is necessary to insert pre-prepared wedges into its upper part. After this, the other part of the box is secured. It is necessary that after closing the doors, the size of the gap between the door leaf and the frame is the same around the entire perimeter. It must be remembered that a properly hung door does not open or close on its own, but is always in the position in which it is stopped.
When installing doors in a wooden house, it is worth paying attention to the fact that wood shrinks over time during use, which negatively affects the opening and closing of doors. To avoid these troubles, you can use a special casing beam, which is installed on the side of the handle and if such problems arise, it can be removed, after which the door frame will automatically increase in size.
Foaming cracks
To avoid polyurethane foam from getting on the front strips of the door block, you must carefully cover them with masking tape; if necessary, you can use plastic film.
Before applying the foam, it is better to moisten all the cracks with water using a regular sprayer, then, using a special gun, carefully fill all the cracks with industrial foam. It is most convenient to use industrial foam, since it does not increase in volume as much after falling asleep and has a higher density than regular foam.
To prevent the door block from warping when the foam hardens, you can place spacers between the doorway and the frame.
After the foam has completely dried, use a knife to remove its excess parts, then remove the tape and film.
We fasten the door frames
To begin with, the platbands are cut at an angle of 45 degrees using a hacksaw or saw; this will help to join them faster and more accurately.
Before attaching the cash, you need to treat with silicone sealant the places on the door frames where it will be placed.
The cut trim is applied to the door jamb and secured with pins or special nails with small heads.
If you want to disguise the fastening points, it is best to paint them with colored mastic that matches the tone of the doors.
Sometimes, liquid nails are used to secure platbands; this allows you to completely eliminate the need to disguise the attachment points.
Do-it-yourself door frame assembly and installation
Installing the box yourself will be quite simple if you adhere to the following order of work.
Attach (strictly perpendicular) the rack to the ceiling using universal self-tapping screws.
If you are installing an interior product made of MDF, in order to avoid cracking, you first need to make holes with a drill and only then install the screws.
Important! The holes are made with a smaller cross-section than the diameter of the hardware used.
Place the box in the opening, and then securely fix it using spacers and wedges.
Take a building level and level it along the horizontal and vertical planes of the structure. After that, feel free to use self-tapping screws. Hang the door on its hinges.
It can be inconvenient to perform this procedure on your own, so call an assistant. After hanging, check the quality of installation, eliminate any installation defects, if any.
Close the interior door, install spacers of suitable sizes between the posts and the door leaf. They will protect the box from being squeezed out when blowing out the foam.
The last step is foaming the gap between the wall and the door frame.
Once the foam has hardened, the spacers will need to be removed. All you have to do is install the trim yourself. Everything is simple here - you cut a 45° angle and mount the elements in their place.
It is recommended to fasten the installed platbands: with self-tapping screws; special nails (they are called finishing nails); on glue.
It is advisable to cover the tops of the screws with decorative plastic plugs. And the heads of the nails are usually rubbed down. Congratulations, you have installed interior doors yourself, saving a lot of money on the services of specialists!
DIY installation of interior doors
Installing interior doors with your own hands is easy on the one hand, but not very easy on the other, it all depends on how you approach this issue.
If you are thoughtful and deliberate, then everything will go easily; if you try to take it forcefully, then most likely you will not succeed.
Let's face it - it is more important to know the theoretical basis here than practice, although it also has a significant influence.
Door frame installation
When installing MDF doors, the places where the screws will be installed must first be drilled using a thin drill. If you start screwing in the self-tapping screw immediately, without pre-drilling, the MDF surface will burst. This rule must always be observed, including when installing sliding interior doors, installing kitchen units, etc.
We will assemble the box on the floor. Lay down a sheet of chipboard first to avoid damaging the floor when drilling holes. We connect the racks to the lintel with self-tapping screws.
To do this, use special self-tapping screws with a press cap. Drilling is carried out perpendicular to the plane.
Installation of an interior door - video:
The frame is attached to the doorway at 3 points:
- 2 self-tapping screws are placed under the hinges;
- 1 screw remains locked.
Thus, fasteners will not be visible on the surface.
- Place the box in the opening. Temporarily secure it with wedges;
- Take a laser level and level it vertically;
- Secure with self-tapping screws using the hidden method.
Make sure that the box is installed level, now proceed to hanging the canvas.
Once the hinges are securely fastened, check how easily it opens/closes. Adjust the gaps by tightening and loosening the screws. This is a very important stage, since right now there is still a chance to correct and correct everything.
Further:
- Close the door;
- Additionally, secure the gaps with spacers to prevent accidental displacement (use improvised means, bars);
- We begin to foam the cavities remaining between the frame and the wall. It is better to perform the operation using a special gun - only in this case can you apply the foam in an even thin layer.
Wait until the foam has completely hardened before removing the spacers.
Do-it-yourself installation of interior doors: preparatory work
Before you begin directly studying the technology for installing interior doors, you first need to understand the preparatory work. If you ignore this stage, then the elementary and simple installation of doors will turn into a nightmare for you. There are two points to consider here.
Doorway. It is better to immediately check it for full compliance with the door block.
It will be good if, when installing the block in the opening, a two to three centimeter gap remains on all sides. It will allow you to position the block as it should without any difficulty - that is, level and in plane with the wall. Everything is simple here - if the opening is small, then it needs to be expanded using a hammer drill.
If it is large, then it can be framed with a wooden beam. For example, if we are talking about five-centimeter gaps around the perimeter of the block, then this is normal - if more, then you need to narrow it.
The door block itself. There is one trick here, thanks to which the independent installation of interior doors goes, as they say, without a hitch - you will need to make a simple device.
Namely, sew two even slats across the door frame (top and bottom), which will allow you to install the block clearly in the plane with the wall. In order not to damage the frame itself, to fix these jumpers, you can screw wooden plates into the end of the door frame, to which you attach the jumpers.
By the way, their length must be calculated so that after installing the block in the opening they will rest on the wall.
There are a couple more nuances here that you can’t do without: firstly, these jumpers need to be sewn on the opening side of the doors and, secondly, they need to be sewn on only when the gaps between the door leaf and the frame have been set.
The gaps can be fixed with thick cardboard folded in half. Without these two points, it is not worth proceeding with the direct installation of doors, since the probability of the block being misaligned during the installation process is close to 100%.
Only after all these manipulations have been completed can you safely proceed to installing interior doors yourself.
Installation of platbands
The beauty of the product depends on the correct installation of the trim. It is important to correctly determine their length. The following table will help you do this:
| Width of canvas, mm | External size (if installation is carried out on a box) | Inner size |
| 600 | 622 | 618 |
| 800 | 822 | 818 |
| 1200 | 1227 | 1220 |
The step-by-step installation of interior doors is completed by hanging the trim. This is done as follows:
- Saw down the side trims (it is assumed that you have already measured them in accordance with the parameters in the table). Use a miter box or miter saw for convenience. The angle should be 45 degrees;
- Hanging will be carried out first from the side into which the door opens, i.e., when the door opens towards you;
- Secure the middle and bottom with nails. We don’t touch the top yet;
- We measure and file the top casing. We check that the connections of the top and side trims are smooth, without protrusions;
- After making sure that the cuts are made correctly, remove the side trims, drill them in three places, thus making recesses for the nails;
- Let's start attaching the trims: the side ones are mounted with 5 nails, two are enough for the top one.
Advice! If the adjacent walls are very smooth, you can do without conventional nails and self-tapping screws and fasten them with liquid nails.
Fill the cracks with foam. Close the door, insert wedges into the gaps, spray the surface with water, and spray with foam. A day later, begin installing the platbands on the reverse side.
Conclusion
An interior door is not a complex structure from an engineering point of view. However, in order for it to look attractive in appearance, you need to have a sufficient minimum of knowledge, observe the technological nuances of installation and be able to use tools. The main thing is that during operation the canvas does not open spontaneously and closes easily. Please note that fastenings must be carried out efficiently, otherwise the structure may fall apart at one moment, especially if there are people in the house who like to “slam the door.”
Installing interior doors with your own hands: step-by-step instructions
After all the preparatory work has been completed and the tools for installing interior doors have been prepared, you can begin installation. As for the tools, you will need a few of them: a hammer with a wooden handle, a short rack level (up to half a meter), a crowbar and a container of polyurethane foam with low polymerization pressure (for example, Macroflex 65) and wooden wedges. Once you have all this at your fingertips, you can act.
Now let's look at the process point by point.
We install the door block in the opening. To begin with, pay attention only to which side you are installing it on - that is, on the side in which the doors will open.
Center the block in the opening. By moving it to the left or right, we achieve uniform gaps between the frame and the opening on the left and right.
Place a level under the top jumper and see how it is positioned. If necessary, we achieve its clear horizontal position by using a crowbar to lift one of the door frame pillars and place a wedge under it.
In principle, if the preparation of the door block was carried out correctly, then the verticality of the racks does not need to be checked - everything should be in order anyway. But just in case, you need to check.
We attach the block to the wall. Through the protruding parts of the lintels that rest against the wall, we drill holes with a diameter of 6 mm and hammer dowels into them.
During the fastening process, you need to periodically (after installing each dowel) check whether the position of the door block has been disturbed.
We wet the frame and the end of the doorway with water - this step is necessary in order to improve the polymerization of the polyurethane foam and its adhesion to the opening.
Last check. We make sure that the doors are still in place as they should be. This is done with a rack level.
Also check the presence of all cardboard spacers between the canvas and the box - if necessary, replace those that fell out during operation.
Blow out the gap with foam. I think you can figure this out for yourself. If you purchased the right foam, then you don’t have to worry about it squeezing the box.
Now wait a few hours until the polyurethane foam completely hardens (usually 6-10 hours) and remove the now unnecessary auxiliary devices. We take a screwdriver, first unscrew the dowels, then the self-tapping screws that secure the jumpers to the door frame, then remove the slats themselves or the profile (or whatever you used) and open the doors, enjoying their flawless work.
The gaskets will fall out when you first open the doors, so all you have to do is pick them up and throw them in the trash.
As you can see, everything is simple - the correct installation of interior doors eliminates a lot of questions, and most importantly, allows you to complete this process with minimal effort and nerve tension. And in conclusion, a few words about other technologies by which you can install interior doors yourself.
It’s hard to say that they are complex - this is where initial experience most likely comes into play. Initially, a person learned to do this work exactly this way, and in no other way, and all other methods seem more difficult to him. One of the craftsmen can say the same thing about the installation method described above.
Why such difficulties? Why all these devices and unnecessary body movements, if everything works out just fine without them? I won’t argue - do as you wish, but personally, I made my choice in favor of this option through trial and error, having tried other options.
Installing the door frame.
The interior door frame can be installed in two ways: using fastening metal plates or using self-tapping screws with a dowel. The figure below shows these 2 methods at once.
Door frame fastening diagram.
Fastening the door frame with mounting plates.
The use of fastening plates, which are used when installing drywall, is only possible if the walls have not yet been finished. It will be necessary to hollow out small recesses in the wall for the plates, which will then be covered with putty.
Fastening the door frame with mounting plates.
The plates are screwed onto the back side of the box using 3x13 self-tapping screws with a press washer.
As you can see in the picture above, the plates are attached in the places where the hinges are installed, opposite the hinges and one plate on top approximately in the middle of the box.
Fastening the door frame with self-tapping screws and dowels.
The method of fastening a door frame using a self-tapping screw with a dowel involves through-drilling the sides of the frame. But so that the heads of the screws are not visible, they are installed in certain places. Two self-tapping screws are installed under the hinges, and one self-tapping screw is installed in the place where the strike plate will be located under the door latch tongue.
To hide the screws under the hinges, you need to drill holes with a diameter of 3 mm in advance at the place where the hinges are installed, and then drill them out a little to form a small recess for the head of the screw.
Drill holes for the mounting screw.
In the place where the latch tongue will be located, we simply drill a hole with a diameter of 3 mm. There is no need to make a recess under the screw head. At this point, securing the box with a self-tapping screw will be temporary. After fixing the door frame with foam, this screw will need to be unscrewed. Then the latch striker will cut in here. In this place, one polyurethane foam is enough to fix the frame, and on the side of the hinges, where the door frame will be loaded with the weight of the door, the fastening will be reinforced with self-tapping screws.
Door frame installation.
- We install the door frame in the opening.
- Make sure that the inside of the box (towards which the door will open) is flush with the wall.
Align the door frame with the wall.
- We wedge the top strip in the door opening and check its horizontalness with a building level. You can use any scraps of boards or door frame posts as wedges.
The top bar of the box is wedged in the doorway.
- We fasten the vertical post of the door frame with self-tapping screws from the hinge side.
- We wedge the stand from the hinge side and check the level in two planes (we apply the level inside the box and on its side).
- We fasten the second pillar of the door frame with one self-tapping screw. We check it with a building level. We also make sure that the distance between the posts at the top is equal to the distance between the posts at the bottom.
- We wedge the second rack.
- We hang the door on the door frame. The hinges must first be screwed onto the door. It is convenient to hang the door open and place some kind of lining under its edge.
We install a lining under the edge of the door and hang the door on the door frame.
We hang the door on the door frame. First we screw the top hinge of the door, then the bottom one.
- We check that the door is installed correctly. An open door in any position should not budge. This indicates that the door is installed correctly.
- We close the door and install 3mm thick pads between the door leaf and the door frame pillars. We also install linings at the top of the door. At this stage, the door frame pillar, which was fastened with one self-tapping screw, may be out of place. The gap between the door leaf and the pillar may be too small or large. In this case, we move the stand to the desired position by unscrewing and tightening the screw and wedge the stand again.
- We fill the gaps between the door frame and the opening with polyurethane foam.
We use polyurethane foam.
Interior doors can be divided into several types
Manufacturers of door structures on the market offer a fairly wide range of models. Ready-made interior doors can be made of different materials. The most common types of materials are: fiberboard, MDF, natural wood.
1.Fibreboard – door: the frame is made of wood and covered with laminated fibreboard sheets. The advantages of such doors include: low cost compared to other types, light weight, which makes it possible to deliver them from the point of sale to the house on your own, and ease of installation. Considering these points, they are popular among customers, thanks to which their wide range is most often presented in stores.
Among the disadvantages, we can note the low strength of the fiberboard itself, which is why the door breaks and becomes unusable quite easily, poor resistance to humidity, the door can twist. Therefore, we do not recommend installing it in bathrooms with weak exhaust; this material loves dry rooms.
Below, we will consider the step-by-step installation of interior doors with our own hands.
2. MDF - doors that are made from this type of material are the most suitable option when choosing the ratio of quality and price. Clear advantages over doors made of fiberboard are high strength and resistance to moisture, and a higher level of sound insulation. The cost of such a door is several times higher than doors made of fiberboard.
3. Natural wood – interior doors made from this material are the most durable.
Their price directly depends on what type of wood was used for their production. Doors made of valuable wood species are used for installation in rooms with an original design; they will fit perfectly into a classic interior. The width of interior doors is adjusted to the size of your opening.
The list of interior doors by type can be supplemented with all-glass doors, metal-plastic, steel, but these types are not very popular among the general public, so they are not included in the article for a detailed description.
What types of doors are there?
Panel door arrangement diagram.
To make a door with your own hands, you need to familiarize yourself with the types according to the method of opening it. There are quite a lot of them, but only 5 are especially popular: swing doors, folding doors, pendulum doors, swing doors and sliding doors. The most common type is swing doors. They open in one direction and are used mainly in apartments. It is known that it is necessary to make a door of this design either single-leaf or double-leaf. However, there are also semi-folding structures, when the canvases have different parameters. As for installation options, there are only two of them: the door opens to your left and, conversely, to your right.
Like all designs, swing-type interior doors have disadvantages. The main one is the lack of space. If the room is small, then opening the door structure takes up a lot of space. In this case, an alternative is pendulum options that can open in both directions. This is their unique technical property, which serves as an excellent replacement for any other design. However, this is a matter of taste. Experts suggest making doors based on the interior of the room and the design features of the entire building. Despite the convenience of swing doors, they are not widely used, so they are used individually.
You will not find a swinging door in multi-storey buildings, as they are used, for example, in subways. These units are not installed in apartments due to the fact that they are made of glass, plastic or aluminum. They are completely inappropriate in residential premises. As for the other type according to the method of opening doors, compartment doors open by sliding. That is, the canvas moves inside the wall or using a special design of guides. They look especially beautiful when they slide into the internal opening of the partition.
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A practical solution would be sliding doors. They are necessary for rooms with a small area of free space. The folding door looks very unusual. It consists of several folding panels (no more than 15 cm wide) that fold into the wall when opened. This door is silent and easy to use.
Types of door frames for interior doors
The correct interior door should be placed in a reliable door frame, because its quality will determine how long the door will last, as well as the design of the doorway of your room. Door frames can be divided into three main types.
1. Fiberboard box. It looks pretty decent, but when choosing a box made of this material, the strength of the entire structure will be in question.
The middle of the frame bar sag from its own weight, not to mention possible deflections from the weight of the door leaf itself. Since the main components of fiberboard, to put it simply, are glue and paper, it must be taken into account that they are very fragile and not durable. It is not recommended to hang doors made of wood and MDF on them due to their heavy weight.
2. Box made of untreated wood.
The cost is at the same level as boxes made of fiberboard, but unlike the latter, boxes made from dry profiled timber have higher strength. Therefore, when choosing between boxes made of fiberboard and boxes made of untreated wood, we recommend choosing the latter.
It is also necessary to take into account that you will need additional materials to finalize the box.
3. Laminated wood box. Does not require final finishing, as it is already laminated with paper.
And here there is one important point: when choosing such a box, the quality of lamination is very important. If thin paper was used for this, there is a high probability of scuffs, scratches, cracks, and the coating loses its appearance.
Perhaps a better option would be a box made of untreated wood with independent finishing and painting.
Also, the entire interior doorway may require additional processing after the doors are installed. Everything depends on your opening, its size, the location of the door in it, and the interior of the room.
For such processing, you can use additional strips and platbands.
The necessary kits can be purchased at the store. We recommend that you determine whether they are necessary after the final installation of the door in order to understand what kind of final finishing you need. After all, purchasing additional materials is an additional expense that may ultimately turn out to be unnecessary.
Well, now it's time to finish the article. All the material I wanted to share has been reviewed. I hope it will be useful to you, and you will use it if you need a step-by-step installation of interior doors with your own hands. Improve your own practical skills and gain new knowledge, they say: “It’s never too late to learn!” That's all, thank you for your attention, successful and easy repair!
