door jambs

[robatman]

Hi all,
doing a small reno , just moving a wall back a couple of metres to open up the back room...
we are having two sets of double doors (full glass panels). Each hinged opposite to open out like french doors .(maybe i should just call them french doors- dont know the difference). Anyway.

My question is should i make the door jambs myself or can buy a door jamb kit. If i made them they would be out of oregon- is this suitable.

I am marginally past novice level and understand if anything is not square the doors will haunt me for the rest of their life!!
Thanks
Robert

[silentC]

Door jamb material is a common item at your local hardware or building supplies. It's usually made from meranti though. There's two types. One has a rebate for a flywire door for external doors, the other doesn't. They also come in different widths to accomodate timber frame or timber veneer. A standard internal jamb for timber frame gyprock walls is 110mm.

It's not hard to make it yourself though if you want to go down that path.

[journeyman Mick]

Robert,
making the jambs is not too hard in itself - just select good straight and true stock, joint one edge, rip to the correct width and dock to the correct length. Fitting them so the doors will open and close correctly is a little harder. It's not rocket science but they need to be plumb (assuming your walls are too) and in the same plane as well as being square to the head and floor (again, assuming your floor is level). This usually involves some packing, and, if your floor is out of level and or your walls are not plumb, or worse still the two halves of the wall aren't in the same plane, will require a lot of packing, head scratching and swearing.

Mick (who always seems to strike jobs that were originally built by dyslexics without tape measures, stringlines or levels )

[markharrison]

This usually involves some packing, and, if your floor is out of level and or your walls are not plumb, or worse still the two halves of the wall aren't in the same plane, will require a lot of packing, head scratching and swearing.

Tell me about it! Yesterday was spent on this exact problem. How about a floor that that falls 8 mm in 825 mm!!!!:mad:

I spent ages scratching my head trying to understand why the head was so radically out of square with the jambs when I knew the jams were exactly the same length.

Mick (who always seems to strike jobs that were originally built by dyslexics without tape measures, stringlines or levels )

Mark (who seems to one pace behind you!)

[journeyman Mick]

Tell me about it! Yesterday was spent on this exact problem. How about a floor that that falls 8 mm in 825 mm!!!!:mad:.........

8mm? Easy peasy! That particular job I was talking about (in another post) was about 20mm out of level across the opening :eek: (opening was about 1200 wide from memory) but the worst part was the walls. The wall had a twist in it them so the jambs were out of wind with each other (framed in green hardwood by a very rough builder). And to top it off were extremely bowed. I put my 1800 level up against the wall next to the opening, touching top and bottom and I could pass my fist between the level and the wall on one side:eek: :eek: :eek: . Now I don't have big hands but more than a few mm is a PIA. Had to use oversize jambs, basically disregarding the walls and frame them with an architrave on the wall face but surrounding the jamb rather than on the jamb edge. :mad:
I should have walked away from the job but I'm usually up for a challenge. Client was unhappy and initially wanted to dispute payment as the job took longer than anticipated (I refused to quote - did an hourly rate) and it didn't look 100% when finished (silk purse out of a sows ear syndrome ). Finally got them to see reason and pay up, but next time someone asks me to do a job like that I will run, not walk, away very quickly.

Mick

[ozwinner]

Isnt the building trade fun Mick??

Al

[journeyman Mick]

Yeah Al, but sometimes you can have too much fun

Mick

[Christopha]

8mm? Easy peasy! That particular job I was talking about (in another post) was about 20mm out of level across the opening :eek: (opening was about 1200 wide from memory) but the worst part was the walls. The wall had a twist in it them so the jambs were out of wind with each other (framed in green hardwood by a very rough builder). And to top it off were extremely bowed. I put my 1800 level up against the wall next to the opening, touching top and bottom and I could pass my fist between the level and the wall on one side:eek: :eek: :eek: . Now I don't have big hands but more than a few mm is a PIA. Had to use oversize jambs, basically disregarding the walls and frame them with an architrave on the wall face but surrounding the jamb rather than on the jamb edge. :mad:
I should have walked away from the job but I'm usually up for a challenge. Client was unhappy and initially wanted to dispute payment as the job took longer than anticipated (I refused to quote - did an hourly rate) and it didn't look 100% when finished (silk purse out of a sows ear syndrome ). Finally got them to see reason and pay up, but next time someone asks me to do a job like that I will run, not walk, away very quickly.

Mick

Mick, you were obviously following some idiot DIY home renovator...... (waits for DIY dummy spitters!)

[journeyman Mick]

Christopha,
sadly it was all done by a tradesman who now has a builder's license :eek: and is always busy. There's enough people around here who base their decisions on price alone.

Mick

[silentC]

you were obviously following some idiot DIY home renovator

it was all done by a tradesman who now has a builder's license

Says it all really, doesn't it?