Who installs new interior doors?
 

Our 2007 Amarillo does not have 6-panel interior doors. We want to replace just the doors (not the frames) and can order the doors at Lowe's but who do we call to install the doors?

Won't Lowes do it?

I wasn't sure if we should trust their installers. The rep for the contractor who installed the doors had told us we couldn't change just the doors, they would have to change the whole pre-hung unit and I don't think that is correct so I didn't want to use them. We haven't actually gone to Lowe's; my brother works there and told us we could order them there.

KittyKat, I think you'll find that many doors will come "pre-hung", meaning they're already mounted to a door frame with hinges in place. It's obviously the way to go in a new-build situation. But I'd suspect that some contractors would rather do the same on a retro-fit - just pull out the entire old door set-up (perhaps saving the trim for reuse) and pop in the new.

Not saying at all that what you're wanting to have done isn't viable - you'll just need to find someone willing to go that route.

Bill :)

Replaced doors at house in RI. Bought six panel door slabs. Local handyman installed. Not a big deal.

Agree, it's not a big deal for a handy person. My husband replaced the slab interior doors in our 25-year old condo with six-panel doors and without disturbing the door frames.

u need to call paul kasperek, one great handy man and currently working in the villages,
his # 352-3609739

I highly recommend Bernie of B&B III Home Services. Bernie installed our attic stairs,attic flooring, and a keyless garage entry. He is very professional, did an excellent job for a fair price. He advertises on TOTV, check the advertisers on the left side of the page.

Bernine can be contacted at 352 561 4449.

I've done it both ways and a pre-hung door is much easier. As Bill said, you just remove the old door and install the new one, frame and all. You have to make sure the frame is square then you just hammer or screw it in and reattach your trim.
With a slab door you have to mortise the door for the hinges. This shouldn't be a big deal for a carpenter, good handyman or a real woodworker. I'm none of these.
There are jigs available for this job and the cut is made with a router. I had none of these luxuries and probably wouldn't have known how to use them if I did. I used a wood chisel and cut out a little at a time until I had everything right. The job came out nice but it took awhile.
Slab doors are pretty routine for a pro but it still takes considerably longer than hanging a pre-hung door.

Thanks for all the advice and recommendations, guys!

KittyKat;

I am late to your question but what you are asking for is what I do for a living.

Actually, I am a salesman for a millwork shop in Florida. I do supply door slabs that are ready to hang in the existing openings. What we do is take measurements of the hinge locations and the door lock locations and then machine the door to match.

It is not a hard process if you know what you are measuring for. I am hoping to do this same type of work when I move to The Villages in 2 years.

I would NOT recommend going to Lowes. You need to measure the actual width of your doors first. They could be full sized, i.e. 36" wide, or be undersized, 35 3/4" wide. And the heights can vary also from 80" tall or 79 1/2". I cannot tell you how many people have bought doors from Lowes or Home Depot and then bring them to me to "fix" the problem.

Email me if you want more information.

Yikes!
 

Mark & I have been corresponding by email. For 9 doors he said his shop in Destin would charge around $50/door. He suggested I get an estimate from Ro-Mac Lumber. A guy came last Thurs & I called today to get the quote: $948.51!!! That's about $75/door for labor. :22yikes: Guess I'll be calling the guys that were suggested in this thread.

I disagree with a few of you. Buy the slab doors, remove the screws from the hinge on the door side and mount the new door. Remove and re-install the door knobs. Maybe 30 minutes a door. To do the whole door frame takes longer. I agree it can be done either way, but a decent hady man can do the door slabs faster. And if you buy pre-finished doors, maybe no painting depending on how your doors are currently.

The slab doors that I purchased from Home Depot for our home up north needed the hinge side to be routed to accomodate the hinges. Also, a hole was needed to be drilled to accomodate the lockset. The door was primed but needed to be painted. The door then had to be fitted which meant that it had to be power planed to get it to fit properly. I did a total of 21 doors!...they look great but...this is what retirement is all about???!!!
l2ridehd suggested buying slab doors which makes a lot of sense. You can find them at HD or Loews that have been routed for the hinges and the hole drilled for the lockset. (I couldn't find slabs locally that were compatible with my existing doors.) I'd suggest buying only one at first to see if the routing for the hinges is the same dimension of your existing doors and the lockset is the right dimension....try it yourself...you might like it!

Same here. My slab doors were just that. A slab.The slab had to be mortised for the hinges and the hole drilled for the knob and latch. I did my cuts for the hinge with a mallet and wood chisel. They came out great but it was time consuming. Way more than a half hour. There was a lot more to it than removing the screws on the door side, attaching the door and installing the knobs.
Installing prehung doors was much faster and easier.

First, I would like to say this is what I do for a living with many of my customers.

As far as I know, Lowes and Home Depot door slabs are not hinge prepped or bored for the door locks. Even if they were, chances are the preps would not line up with your existing door slab.

Also to consider, door slabs come in various widths and heights. The standard is for example on a 3' door. IT is 36" x 80". However, doors can be 35 3/4" wide and 79 1/2" tall as a norm too. It depends on the manufacturer.

When our shop machines the doors to match, it takes about 10 min a door slab to hang in a new frame. Not bad for one door but 21 will seem like an eternity.

Lastly, do not by prefinished doors. You still have to touch them up and they look like crap after the touchup.

Using a router with a hinge template to mount the hinges is actually real easy. And if doing that many doors, buy a router. Low cost for the time savings and quality results. I had one already, so the job was easy, but they are not that expensive if doing that many doors. My thoughts are that using pre-hung is a lot more work because you will have to remove the existing trim, the baseboards probably will not align correctly to the new door, and unless you really know how to hang a pre-hung door and install the shims etc, you will have doors that don't work correctly. I have done both and for the average handyman, the slabs are the best and easiest solution. Using a pre-hung door you will mess up the sheetrock, trim and wall paint, and probably baseboards. Using slabs, it's hinges and lock sets only. Once you have done one, the other twenty will get real easy.