Installing a Pre-hung Door door doesn't have to be as difficult as you might think it would be. This can easily be a DIY weekend project for anyone. Here are a few tips on installing your pre-hung door.
1. Keep the door in its frame when you are installing.
This tip is very important and will help tremendously during the installation process. The reason you want to leave the frame on is because once you remove the frame from the door, the frame is very wobbly and it becomes tricky to work with. It makes it very hard to keep the frame upright and even harder to make sure it is straight and level. With the door still inside the frame, it remains perfectly square and easy to put in place. And best of all, doing it this way you know for sure that the door will fit properly because it was never removed from its frame during the installation process. It is important that the door fits, keeping the frame in eliminates any worries of the door not fitting.
2. Move the frame all the way against one side of the opening
When the frame is moved all the way up against one side of the opening, you only have one side of gap to fill in with shims. The side that you will want flush with the opening is the side of the door with the hinges. Once you have that side flush with the opening, nail that side first. Then using shims, place them in the other side that has the gap, to make the the door frame fit perfectly flush and tight.
3. Don't worry about big gaps
As mentioned in tip #2, there will be large gaps around the door frame, but there is no need to worry about those! You will add shims, stacking them to get enough thickness to fill the space and add the shims to about 4 different places in the gap. You can then fill the gap with insulation if you choose to do so and then just add the trim. The trim that you will add around the door will cover up any gaps and the finished product will look flawless! If that gap is larger than your trim pieces, just buy wider trim to accommodate for the wider gap that you have.
Find all the tools and accessories you need to install your pre-hung door at Sutherlands! We have all the trim and shims you will need. Don't forget the insulation as well if you choose to use it. Stop by today, at Sutherlands we have have a great selection of pre-hung doors! We also have special order doors for those hard to fit door openings or a special style you might be looking for.
