Recut a door frame three times before I got it right

Last month I was swapping out an old interior door in my 1920s house. The rough opening was way out of square, like a half inch off. I kept trying to shim the jamb and patch with filler, but it looked terrible after every attempt. Finally on the third try I just cut the drywall back and reframed the whole opening with new studs. Took me two extra hours but the door swings perfect now and the gap is even all around. Anybody else deal with old house framing being completely out of whack?

2 comments

2 Comments

vera_green697d ago

That half inch out of square sounds like a nightmare. My 1928 house had a similar issue with the bathroom door, the whole floor had settled and the frame was twisted like a pretzel. I ended up doing the same thing as you, just ripped drywall back and sistered in new studs with a level. I also checked the subfloor with a straight edge first, turns out that was off by a quarter inch too. Did you have to deal with any wonky flooring underneath when you reframed?

finleym379d ago

Wait did you have to deal with the old lath and plaster too? I've done a few doors in my 1900s house and honestly sometimes it's faster to just rip everything back to the studs than try to fudge it with shims. That half inch out of square is brutal man, I feel your pain. Pro tip for next time though, grab a laser level and check the floor slope before you start cutting, saved me from having to redo a door twice last year.