Hard time rehanging doors?

[Ufatz]

Had all new solid wood doors installed interior. Am taking them down and finishing each and then rehanging. But why do we have such a BATTLE getting them back up? Are there tricks to getting them back into their three hinges? Wife and I have a heck of a time.

Any tricks fellas?

[Stratosman]

If your talking how to get the hinges joined and the pins back in place...meaning you left the hinges on the door and on the jamb, you just have to line them up so they don't bind and then shut the door and latch it...then drop the pins back in. Depending on your clearance at between the door and the floor you can use your foot to kinda "shim" the door to where you need it. I dunno, I remove and re-hang hundreds of doors a year and never really had a problem...

Now if you removed the hinges that can be a tad trickier to re-align them to the door, I would start with the center one and then do the remaining, or re-install each half of the hing on the door and jamb respectivley, then re-install like the above steps...

Should be a snap!

[jentz]

Get the top hinge in and the pin partly in,go to the mig hinge if it doesnt line tap it with a hammer Go to the bottom same tap it up or down then all 3 pins should be finisher whit a few taps.Tap the hinges that are attached to the jamb.

[CAMAN]

I usually start by aligning the top hinge and putting the pin in, then working my way down the door. Don't worry about pounding all the pins down until all hinges are in place, just let them go far enough in to hold the two hinges together, it sometimes gives you a little extra play to get the others together. Never had an issue doing this by myself. Sometimes if the door is warped or jamb is out of whack you will need to swing the door to its extremes to get each hinge to line up, but if it came off it should go back on.

[BoxMN]

Maybe you are doing this, but when putting back in screws, make sure to NOT tighten any until you have ALL screws at least started. That works/helps on anything. Good luck.

[picksbigwagon]

after reading your post, I am assuming your doors weigh a lot, if that is the case, get a scrap piece of 2by2 and a flat pry bar. get the pry bar under the door in the middle and the on top of the 2x2. you can then use your foot to lift the door up and hold it there with your foot as you try to get the hinges lined up and pin dropped in. Those solid doors are a pain in the neck at times. I did this last spring when I was installing doors in our house and my wife was out of town, not that she was a lot of help when she was there in the first place.

[Steve Foss]

I do it the way stratosman does it. Been doing it that way for many years. Only time it's been a problem for me is when someone originally hung the door with poorly aligned hinges or the door frame racked over time. In those cases, I get a pin far enough into the top hinge to hold it, then work my way down the mid and bottom hinges, aligning by tapping the hinges with a hammer and getting pins partway in. When all three hinges have the pins part of the way through, a hammer is often needed to get those pins to seat all the way.

I lay a large flat screwdriver with the blade flat against the top of the pin and tap down on it that way, keeping the hammer just outside of the pin. Doing it this way and taking many smaller gentler taps instead of a few big ones is my way of ensuring I don't skip that hammer around and mar the finish on the molding and door.

[pureinsanity]

+1 to steve and strat

[soldoncass]

Lots of good advice.....I'll just add

my 2 cents. There is usually 1 to 1 1/4 inches clearance under the door,(less with carpet) so a 1 inch board is about right if you need a little boost.....use too much and you're out of luck. Just like the guys said, start with TOP hinge....bottom doesn't work well. I like to do it myself, but if you have a helper, let them put in the pins, and maybe bump the door a little......NOT help hold it up. Too many hands on the door creates problems. I lift the door, in the OPEN position, and from the BACK SIDE, pop the top pin in and a tap or 2 on each hinge if necessary. Solid doors are heavy though, so eat your wheatees for breakfast.

[Ufatz]

A BIG thank you gang. Lots of solid information, some of which was sorta rattling around in the back of my head. Spacer on floor. Top pin first. Rubber hammer for some tap,tap,tap. Work from inside door.Use small pry bar with foot (great idea) so I am ready to roll now.

And trust me when I say these are HEAVY solid wood doors!!

Thanks again fellas.

[traveler]

One more thought. Though it's tempting, don't try to double team them, it's a one man job. Even with the heavy ones. The very small, precise movements needed to line the hinges up just don't lend themselves to 2 sets of hands. I hang some pretty heavy doors with just my foot for leverage, but I've been doing it WAY too long... So a shim of some sort might be a big help.