Have you decided to change your interior door? You don’t have enough money for a set with a box or do you think that the old box is still in good condition? Do not install under any circumstances new door V old box. Why? We will cover cases of installing new doors in an old frame in this article.
Replacing the door and frame kit. Photo: tgorlovka.com
In progress cosmetic repairs You can also find situations where owners try to install a new door leaf in the frame from under the old door. In what cases is this option allowed:
- If the wall may be damaged when dismantling the old box.
- Replacing one canvas with another various reasons, but the same batch.
Old and new set of door frames with leaves. Photo: tgorlovka.com
And in these cases there can be problems, since in production identical doors can differ in size by 1-2 mm, and this can be detrimental to the gap between the frame and the leaf.
The new door may have smaller size than the old one and it will form a gap. The appearance of such a door is not very aesthetic.
New door in old frame. Photo: tgorlovka.com
With gaps in the box, thermal insulation and sound insulation may be compromised. It is also possible for the door to open spontaneously, in in this case The lock on the door does not fit tightly into the frame due to the gap.
The new door is bigger than the old one door frame, then such a door cannot be installed at all. Many people try to adjust the door to the size of the frame by cutting along the inner edge. Don't you dare do that! In this way, the door coating can be damaged and it can be thrown away.
All interior doors from the same company and from the same batch look aesthetically pleasing. Photo: tgorlovka.com
Not the most important, but the argument why you shouldn’t install a new door in an old opening is the discrepancy between the color of the door and the frame. The ridiculous look will scare you and sooner or later you will still decide to install the complete set. Do not forget that you may encounter size discrepancies if you buy one box separately. Don't waste your money, buy and install the kit right away.
The fittings on all doors are located differently. Photo: tgorlovka.com
The location of the hinges depends on which direction the door will open; in a new door, the fittings may simply not match. The hinges and locks in old doors are significantly different from new models, so a 100% new door will not fit a frame installed in the 90s.
Summarize
All professionals will agree that replacing the door leaf without replacing the frame would be an unjustified step. Instead of quality door in terms of function and appearance, you will get an absurdly designed doorway that will not fit into any interior at all.
Hello. I have one question. Is it possible to leave the old frames when installing new doors?
Expert answer
Hello. It is certainly possible to install a new door in an old frame. However, this is very difficult and requires compliance with special rules and recommendations:
- The door must have perfect exact dimensions, fully consistent with the size of the box and the previous design;
- Before purchasing a new door, take accurate measurements of the old one;
- New door structure if there are non-standard sizes, you will have to make it to order, which will cost more;
- An old box may have various deformations and damage over time that need to be repaired;
- A new door, if it weighs more than the previous one, will put a significant load on the old frame, which will deform over time.
- If the new door is even slightly different in size, it is necessary to install wooden blocks in the places where the gaps form.
When renovating a room, it is not always possible and willing to install new door blocks with the complete removal of old ones - this may entail repairing walls and floors for various reasons:
- new door frames do not cover old holes in the floor
- there will be damage to tiles or wallpaper along the perimeter of the casing
- unreliable walls and partitions (during dismantling and installation, the geometry of the doorway may be destroyed).
Therefore, we suggest installing new elements door block without dismantling the old frame, in other words, put new doors in old frames.
From many years of experience in updating and restoring doors, we can highlight doors made from laminated pine. They extremely rarely deform and change the geometric parameters of the canvas.
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Conclusion: it is possible to install a new door in an old frame. But as a rule, such a process is more complex and lengthy. If you decide to go with this option, try to replace old door to a similar or the same size.
Today we will discuss such a topic as the restoration of an old door frame (lutka), as well as the installation of a new door in this already restored frame. Many people immediately have a reasonable question: “Why do this at all?” After all, now in the era of developed modern, construction technologies this is resolved very quickly and well. It's simple - I bought a new door block, removed the old one and that's it. But, as practice shows, this is not always the case. Moreover, this is far from uncommon for various reasons. And the reasons are very different. Some people have no desire to organize a pogrom in their apartment. Others would like to keep facing tiles on the wall around the doors. Still others just want to save money, etc.
But in any case, this often happens in our lives, and that’s why I want to talk about it. Moreover, the topic of restoration of carpentry (doors and windows) is very familiar to me. I was closely involved in this for about eight years. They restored something that should have long ago been thrown into the dustbin of history. Some products still serve their owners faithfully.
So, if you need any advice on this topic, please contact the page “.
For restoration work we will need the following tools:
- High power industrial electric hair dryer 1.5-2 kW.
It is needed to facilitate removal old paint from the door frame, because When heated above 500°C, the paint itself peels off from the wood. If you don't have a hairdryer, you can use old method– this is an iron and thick paper. Or more modern way- This is a special wash. But I wouldn’t recommend the remover, because it chemical composition very aggressive and caustic. God forbid if she gets caught open areas bodies. I'm not speaking behind my eyes anymore.
In addition, I will say that the remover is not very effective if the paint layer is large (3-5 mm and above).
So, if you still use this liquid to remove old paint, then do not forget about It is in your interests.
You can also use gas burner. But again, it’s dangerous, like an open fire. If you do it on the street, then it’s a different matter.
And one more production point. This method is only suitable for subsequent painting, because the burner produces burnt black marks on the surface of the wood. And we will restore it under varnish.
- Cycle (scraper) for removing paint raised from heating.
As a rule, the cycle comes with a hairdryer. But if not, then you can make it yourself, for example, from a piece of an old hoe. I personally made it for myself and therefore I have a factory cycle and a homemade one.
note that the cycle should be sharp. This will make it much easier to scrape off the paint. You can sharpen it using a grinder with a cutting wheel for metal.
So, our work is as follows:
- Take measurements of the door leaf that we will change.
As it turned out, this door’s width corresponds to the standard, i.e. 700 mm, but the height is not standard size– 1965 mm. This means that we need to shorten the new door by 35 mm. I have already described in detail how to do this earlier in the article “Remaking interior doors.” The only thing I would like to remind you is that for this you will need a router to reduce the size of the door.
You can also shorten it with a grinder and a disk cutter for wood (watch the video). And one more thing I would like you to noticed.
If the inside of the door leaf is hollow after cutting, then it is necessary to insert a strip of glue onto the glue.
In general, the procedure for dealing with doors is as follows:
1.1. We shorten the door leaf by 35 mm. 
1.2. We insert the rail because the door turned out to be hollow. 
The rail should be no thinner than 15 mm.
1.3. We measure the location of the canopies at the end and use a router to cut them in.
note, which will be better if the new location of the loops coincides with the old one. To do this, you just need to transfer the dimensions of the used door to the new door and then there will be no need to make new grooves on the frame for the awnings.
The entire door leaf is ready for installation. There will be no lock on this door, just a handle.
And so, let's continue.
The trailer also restored the window using the same method. Although, as a rule, many people simply get rid of such windows as unnecessary. 
In this case, we were lucky in terms of the normal condition of the old box (lutka) and we did not bother for long. Usually Sovdepov's carpentry was, to put it mildly, of poor quality. And so we had to mill out entire fragments, insert inserts with glue and putty, which took a lot of time.
In general, I believe that it is practically impossible to restore old doors and windows with varnish with a high quality mark. Painting is another matter. Labor-intensive, but real.
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It will be given.
Step by step description the process of converting an old door frame to install sliding doors on top rollers.
My respect to all readers and visitors of the “Secrets of the Master” site!
This article will continue the topic of doors on rollers. I started this topic back in March, the article “Conversion of conventional doors to sliding doors”, but since there are many options for doors on rollers, it turned out to be a rather extensive topic, and therefore I had to divide the posts into several parts, so this article will be the second part.
Why am I even remodeling?
The answer is simple. I believe that in any renovation, every person thinks about how to save on finishing works and wants there to be no destruction (if possible), so it wouldn’t be a bad idea to help them in this matter.
Let me give you one example.
Let's say you need to install a sliding door between the corridor and the bedroom. To do this, in theory, it is necessary to remove the old door block from swing door and install a new one with a door on rollers, and this, first of all, is a mess and costs money!
But this can be avoided if you go the other way - by remaking the old box. We will not dismantle it, but simply improve it, and then install it sliding door on the top rollers. Thus, we will save on the door frame and one set of platband, and no damage, which in itself is good.
I will now tell you in detail how to do this in pictures.
For work we will buy:
The procedure for converting a door block for rollers.
Preparing the door leaf.
✒ Using a router and cutter, we make a groove at the bottom of the door measuring 10 mm wide and 8 mm deep.
This groove is needed for installing a plastic insert for better sliding of the door. 
But you can not install a plastic insert, but simply make a groove, but smaller (5 mm), because the plastic insert is my invention.
✒We cut metal blocks into the top of the door to install roller blocks. 
Note,
that the number of wheels of roller blocks directly depends on the weight of the door leaf, i.e. the heavier the door leaf, the more quantity rollers.
How to calculate the weight of a door with glass?
Determine the weight of the door leaf (material - oak) with glass for sliding system, if known:
VDV door height - 2000 mm
door width Shdv - 800 mm
door thickness Tdv - 40 mm
density of Rdv oak - 680 kg/m³
glass height Inst - 1000 mm
mirror width Shst - 500 mm
mirror thickness Tst - 4 mm
mirror density Rst - 2500 kg/m³
All calculation values are given as an example without obligation and conditionally.
1. Calculate the weight of the door without a mirror:
- door volume:
Vdoors = Wdv×Wdv×Tdv = 2000×800×40 = 64,000,000 mm³ = 0.064 m³;
- door weight:
Mdoor = Rdv×Vdv = 680×0.064 = 43.52 kg
2. Calculate the weight of the glass:
— glass volume:
Vglass = Hst×Wst×Tst = 1000×500×4 = 2,000,000 mm³ = 0.002 m³;
- glass weight:
Mglass = Rst×Vst = 2500×0.002 = 5 kg
3. Determine the total weight of the door leaf and glass:
Mdoors + Mglass = 43.52+5 = 48.52 kg ≈ 49 kg.
The weight of the MDF door leaf is indicated in the instructions that come with the door.
In my case, the roller system was purchased for a heavy door. Of course, it was possible to change it, but we were able to do this because the purchase was so old.
Somehow I got distracted.
So let's continue.
Preparing the door frame for the sliding door.
✒We dismantle the platband from the corridor side.
✒Remove the old door from the hinges (canopies).
✒Use a grinder to cut off the hinges on the box if you need to quickly dismantle them.
Advice.
Be sure to place a piece of cardboard on the floor so that sparks do not damage the floor covering!
✒ We stuff an MDF strip measuring 10×15-35×198 mm and 10×15-35×805 mm to align the step (rebate) on the box.
Can be used wooden slats.
✒We cut out and stuff additional strips, thereby closing and decorating the old box.
✒Attach the platband.
Preparing the roller system.
✒We cut off the duralumin profile (upper guide) with a hacksaw.
✒Insert mounting angles, in which we will drill a hole for a screw for mounting on the wall. 
✒We attach a rail with a cross section of 15×30 mm of the same length as the profile.
This rail is needed for stuffing the platband.
✒We install the prepared system at the top of the box at a height of 2040 mm from the floor.
During renovation, sometimes it becomes necessary to update interior opening, keeping the established box. It is connected with the fact that removing the frame from the wall risks causing damage to the wallpaper, destruction of the tiles, and the formation of cracks in the floor when the threshold is removed. Therefore, the owners change all other components of the structure, and the frame is cleaned, treated with putty and painted to match the color of the sash. Replacement door leaves does not require such labor-intensive work as dismantling and installing an entire unit, and it is cheaper.
Features of the procedure
In addition, it is worth making sure that:
the opening has an ideal geometry, old frame not skewed, not deformed and ready for further service;
the new product will not overload the load-bearing element - it is better to purchase a product from the same materials and the same mass as the previous version.
To replace the door leaf interior door passed successfully and did not cause additional troubles, you should:
select loops that will fit into ready-made grooves without requiring cutting new ones;
adjust the sash correctly.
A simpler, although quite labor-intensive, method of installing fittings involves sealing old grooves with putty and subsequent painting. The result of such work depends on the skill of the installers.
Where can I order professional service?
Masters who have the necessary knowledge, experience and tools at their disposal solve the following tasks:
installation or replacement glass insert;
insertion of hinges and locks using high-precision equipment;
replacement of platbands and additions if necessary;
hanging the sash and adjusting its position in the opening;
installation of additional mechanisms and accessories if necessary - for example, connecting a closer, inserting an automatic threshold, etc.
Advantages of a qualified approach
A professional replacement of a door leaf in an old frame will please:
coherence of functioning of all elements of the system, comfortable operation;
maintaining good insulating abilities of the block;
presentable appearance opening;
service life of the structure.
What is important is that the customer gets rid of a lot of hassle and receives a guaranteed high-quality result.
