How hard is it to hang internal doors?

[SoundWithoutAName]

I was quoted £1400 today to replace all the internal doors in the house and it's a bit more than I can afford at the moment. I was thinking about attempting it myself (well mostly DH) or do I really need a joiner? Has anyone managed to hang new doors without a joiner and it looked ok?

[pineapplepalmtree]

are your doors 100% perfectly standard sized or will they need trimmed? that's the hard bit.

[SoundWithoutAName]

Ah I never thought of that, they most likely need trimmed.

[TheQueef]

Joiner.
Or it will be solicitor

[billysboy]

Internal doors are easier than external
A decent chippy will hang 4-6 internal doors in a dayon site if the frames are ok ie level and plumb and the doors shoot straight in without any sides needing planing down to fit

[PigletJohn]

A competent carpenter will do it quicker and better than a DIYer or handywoman.

What does the £1400 include?

Fitting only?

Supply and fit?

hinges and locks and knobs?

Are they cheap hollow doors made of air?

Joiners make doors.

Carpenters fit them.

[SoundWithoutAName]

The £1400 includes doors supplied, fitted with new hinges and handles. They are fire doors so I hope they're not hollow. I always thought joiners hung doors.

[swashbucklecheer]

They are heavy to hold and position if you haven't got the knack that a joiner would have. I (and my arms) know from experience

[ConcernedAboutWarrington]

If you want your doors to close flush forever you should pay someone with the skills to do it rather than bodge it yourself.

[Krook]

It's a lot trickier than it looks particularly if an older house where doors/walls/frames not perfectly level. How many doors is it?

[clevername]

My partner is a carpenter and he often comes across people who totally underestimate the time /cost of hanging doors, so you're not alone!

All doors need 'fitting' to the lining (working, planing, packing and adjusting to fit) , even if you're working with easy standard sizes. It is faffy, heavy and often very precise work - contrary to a lot of people's belief that you just screw the hinges on and swing them.

[Seeingadistance]

How many doors?

[Makegoodchoices]

DH bodged three in our house, I wanted to pay. Took him fucking ages as he had to keep hanging and trimming more, then hanging again.

Third is ok but the first two are crap - never again!

[ChristmasCarcass]

It always takes us hours to just rehang our existing doors after painting - they never close quite right. I’d consider that £1400 money well spent tbh (assuming it’s 6-8 doors).

[PigletJohn]

@SoundWithoutAName

The £1400 includes doors supplied, fitted with new hinges and handles. They are fire doors so I hope they're not hollow. I always thought joiners hung doors.

Very reasonable price, then. Fire doors have to be correctly hung and now have intumescent pads behind the hinges and around the locks. I have them and think they are excellent - very heavy, solid, block out sound and I think that with a good lock, they will impede a burglar. There are advantages in fitting new door linings ("frames") at the same time since they are more likely to be true and square, and you can seal round them with pink fire foam.

When a new door is fitted to an old lining, it may be warped or sagged, and the door-fitter will blame the old lining for any poor fit.

[PigletJohn]

@ChristmasCarcass

It always takes us hours to just rehang our existing doors after painting - they never close quite right. I’d consider that £1400 money well spent tbh (assuming it’s 6-8 doors).

I strongly recommend lift-off hinges. The ones I use have a phosphor-bronze bush which has a permanent lube effect, they swing with a fingertip. I like satin stainless ones, but you can somerimes get them with a non-tarnishing PVD brass plating, or zinc-plated steel which is a bit cheaper and needs painting.

The grade used for fire doors are thicker and heavier, and for some reason the PVD version seems unobtainable. Fire door hardware must be stamped with the approval marks.

Fire doors are so heavy that it is very difficult for an amateur to rehang them on ordinary hinges, but lift-offs save time and effort on ordinary doors too.

[lazyakita]

£1,400 is very reasonable, so it might be worth saving for. We have a fairly large house and just had all our internal doors replaced with high quality ones by a joiner and it was just over £3,000. It was money well spent as many of the doors required trimming.

[FurierTransform]

It's tiring work doing it yourself - It's not rocket science & you can do a good job yourself but it takes a long time - lots of fitting, removing, planing, measuring, refitting etc.

[SoundWithoutAName]

It's 9 doors and if the frames are like the rest of the house they will all need trimmed. DH had a hell of a time putting the wet wall up in the bathroom. Will definitely pay a professional to do it, thanks for the replies.

[Viviennemary]

Its quite tricky. DH said it was a piece of cake in our first house and totally did a botched job. Had to get a joiner in.

[Shouldbeworkingnotreadingtalk]

9 doors for £1,400 is £155 per door.
@£55 to fit (assuming x5 per day which is about right for a decent chippie). That leaves £100 for the door, hinges and handles.
A good price if not an excellent one.
Appreciate it seems a lot to spend to simply replace what you have, but the pride itself is very fair. (Sorry)

[SoundWithoutAName]

I agree the price is fair but I will need to wait until until the new year to have them replaced by a professional. Didn't realise how old and tired looking they were until we had finished decorating the rest of the house.

[CurlyStrawsRock]

DO NOT DO IT YOURSELF!! Previous owner of our last house did. Nightmare. My dad is a builder and hangs doors as part of his services and fixed them. He did our new doors in our new house too.

Fire doors are heavy so the quote not be on par. Have a look at Howdens and Selco fire door prices so you can compare.

[CurlyStrawsRock]

*quote might be on par

[Whatisthisfuckery]

Hanging doors is an absolute bastard, trust me.