Door trimming

[whiskywill]

A friend has asked me to shave a bit off the bottom of a couple of 1970's "sapele" doors which are difficult to open after having new carpet fitted. I haven't seen them yet so don't know if they have already been planed, or not. How much can be safely taken off before getting to the hollow bit?

 

[Wuffles]

If you're only taking off enough to compensate for a carpet and are worried about the hollow bit, then the door should already be unstable. How much are you taking off, about 10mm?

 

[whiskywill]

If you're only taking off enough to compensate for a carpet and are worried about the hollow bit, then the door should already be unstable. How much are you taking off, about 10mm?

I don't know yet. I haven't seen the doors and I don't yet know if they have previously been trimmed. I assume the ends of the bottom component of the edge frame is hidden by the vertical edges.

 

[Wuffles]

I mean, if there's only about 10mm of wood there now, it'll already be dodgy, so cutting another 10mm off will be the least of your problems.

Unless it's a Hobbit house. It's not is it?

 

[Cinimod]

Have done a few of these in my time. It is possible to refit the old stay back into the bottom of the door but it does take a bit of extra cleaning up and fiiting.......dom

 

[Wuffles]

Have done a few of these in my time. It is possible to refit the old stay back into the bottom of the door but it does take a bit of extra cleaning up and fiiting.......dom

I've done that, but it's normally when I'm going well beyond the stay, so you can poke it out of the offcut and glue it back in again you mean? Normally when chopping up a door for a cupboard or something like that.

Personally I reckon you'll be fine Monsieur Whiskywill.

 

[whiskywill]

Thanks for the reassurance. I intend to try planing a bit off rather than sawing, so there wont be anything to put back on, unless I use an awful lot of glue to stick the shavings together.

 

[Wuffles]

Thanks for the reassurance. I intend to try planing a bit off rather than sawing, so there wont be anything to put back on, unless I use an awful lot of glue to stick the shavings together.

Sorry, I'm fixed in track saw mode when it comes to trimming doors.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Even an ordinary circular is miles easier than planing. Measure to see if it's a full 6'6" to start with.

 

[skipdiver]

If you are hand planing, saw through the two stiles first, being careful not to rag the backside of the saw cut. It is then easier to plane with the grain of the bottom rail without having to go across the endgrain of the stiles. If they have not been cut before you should be ok with 10mm or so. If you find you have hit the hollow part, then it's a case of gluing in a new bottom piece.