Four Easy Steps to Hanging a New Door

Whether you are renovating or redecorating your home, replacing your doors can have a significant impact on the overall design and feel of your interior space.

Follow these tips to help you fit new, hinged wood doors:

1. Measure carefully.

It is unlikely that your door frame is completely regular in shape so measure all sides of the frame and make sure you mark your new door carefully and measure between the marks so you can plane it down to the correct shape and size. Keep checking and measuring as you plane, and use a right angle tool and spirit level to guide you. If your old door was a good fit, measure it to help determine where and how much you need to plane your new door.

2. Check your frame.

Make sure your door frame is still in good condition and is firmly attached to the surrounding wall. If it is loose or damaged, now is the time to fix or replace it.

3. Fit your hinges.

Two good quality hinges should be enough for a paneled door. A solid wood door may require three hinges.

• Start by fitting the hinges to the frame, either into the existing space or in a space you create. Then make a corresponding space on the new door to attach to the other half of the hinge. Again, measure carefully and more than once.

• To fit a hinge, use a pencil to draw around the hinge and mark the positions of the screw holes. Make sure you also mark the depth of the hinge on the door. Score out the shape to the appropriate depth using a sharp knife, then gradually chip away the wood.

• Drill holes in the places you have marked to allow you to attach the hinge to the door.

4. Fit the door.

It is useful to have someone else help you with this stage. Position the new door into the frame, using wedges to hold the door at the required height above the ground. Ask your helper to hold the door in place. Screw the hinges into the spaces you have made in the new door. It is best to screw just one screw into each hinge at first until you are satisfied that the door is fitting as you want. If necessary, adjust the depth or angle of the hinges until the door fits neatly, then you can fix all of the hinge screws tightly to your new door.

Whether you want to install restored wood doors to match the period design of your home, glass-paneled doors to improve the flow of light, or modern doors to match an updated décor scheme, new doors can really complete your renovating or redecorating project.