Odd door width

[Dr Harris]

Today I got a request to replace a smooth, mdf-faced hollow bathroom door that is 685-690mm in width. I'm wondering if a similar hollow or honeycomb 720W door will have enough stile width to be have 30mm total planed or ripped off the sides? Is it best to order a custom width door? I've sent an enquiry to Hume Doors, but they haven't responded yet. The client is not looking to spend a lot of money on this project, so I won't be making the door myself. Any advice is appreciated.

[Dr Harris]

I sent an enquiry to Hume Doors asking what the proper approach is to my slightly undersized door problem. I thought this might be helpful to others who face a similar issue:

"Thank you for your enquiry,
Our flush internal doors can be manufactured in special sizes, cutting the door down from a standard size will void warranty and the door will ultimately fail again. Please take exact door height and width to our reseller for pricing, our custom size flush doors have a lead time of approx. 10 working days.
It is best to contact your local Bunnings,Mitre10 or local hardware store for a quote as we are unable to offer or match discounts provided by our resellers."

Has anyone else worked with steel door jambs with welded-on steel hinges? My client said that to replace a door means calling a welder to grind off the hinge knuckle then weld on a new one! This is an older apartment building, possibly from the 60s or 70s in Canberra. Is there that much cost savings in not drilling holes for a hinge leaf? What a lame burden to put on whoever has to maintain the unit.

I have plenty of experience in the carpentry field in California, but working in Canberra, in brick houses (not much brick in California for seismic reasons), and now this apartment building, I'm often seeing details that are new to me.

[rwbuild]

The hinge pin (pivot/axle) is either fixed (larger dome each end) or loose pin (dome one end only on top side of pin). If its fixed pin, file one dome off then punch out with a large nail/pin punch/small screw driver) if loose pine just punch out

[Handyjack]

As rwbuild said, remove the hinge pin and fit the hinge leaf to the new door. Use the old door to accurately align the hinges on the new door. What you might need to do is fit the top hinge and then hang the door and mark where the other hinges go.
If for some reason the existing hinges are worn out or damaged, then you might require the services of a welder to attach new hinges.

[Dr Harris]

Thanks for the advice. The pins are "removable" but the heads are small and seem to deform easily. No matter how hard I hit them using a nail from below they didn't budge. After a real struggle to remove the screws from the door leaf (old slotted screws completely covered and clotted with paint) I discovered that the hinge is so rusted inside the barrel that it barely moved. The thought of hanging a new door on these hinges doesn't make sense. Hence, the client mentions his history of hiring a welder on a previous door. I just hate being stumped by what should be an easy enough job for me. I guess this is what we call work.

[Handyjack]

Rather than using a nail, try a pin punch. The bottom hinge will be harder as there is little to no room to swing a hammer. I actually bought a tool to remove hinge pins. (Images attached) The short 5mm pin works on most (but not all) hinges. Once the pin is up a couple of cm the other end can go under the head (again, does not fit all pins) to remove it the rest of the way. I find wearing gloves a must. If the removal tool does not fit around the pin, I use a pair of pliers.

It sounds like your pins need a good soaking of WD40 or similar and if you can get them out a good clean and grease.

[rwbuild]

Buy a set of pin punches, use the appropriate size and remove pin, a squirt of WD40 will help, a small rat tail file (round ) will clean out the inside of the knuckles.
Buy a pair of new hinges and simply use the new pin in lieu of the old if it doesn't clean up with a bit of 120 grit sand paper

[markharrison]

Today I got a request to replace a smooth, mdf-faced hollow bathroom door that is 685-690mm in width. I'm wondering if a similar hollow or honeycomb 720W door will have enough stile width to be have 30mm total planed or ripped off the sides? Is it best to order a custom width door? I've sent an enquiry to Hume Doors, but they haven't responded yet. The client is not looking to spend a lot of money on this project, so I won't be making the door myself. Any advice is appreciated.

I've had this issue before. Because it was just the one door, I bought a solid core door and ripped it to width. Saved a lot of hassle with custom orders.

[Dr Harris]

Thanks for the suggestions. I think I've found the best option readily available. Today I called a local builder's supply and they suggested I buy a standard 720 width door with a under the MDF wide stile (90mm) on one side under the mdf skin. They always keep a few in stock so that odd sizes can be accommodated without requiring a custom order. So I can get my 690 width by ripping 30mm off one edge. No solid core needed, and thankfully, no special order with added cost and wait time. I bought the door and problem solved. Might be an option to keep in the back of one's head for the odd occasion when the standard sizes are a tad too big.

[Dr Harris]

Oh yeah, one more thing. The kicker is that the wide stile door option is made by Hume Doors, the company I originally contacted with my question regarding an odd size door. They could have told me they make doors with wide stiles specifically for this purpose, but instead they told me my only option was to special order the specific size I needed.

Every company seems to have a customer service department, but it seems many companies are better at customer deflection than customer service!

[russ57]

As a friend of mine once said, service is what bulls do to cows...