When a door rubs against the floor every time you open it, it's time to trim it. You don’t have to order an expensive custom door if your rough opening is a non-standard size. The method you use to trim the door depends on the type of door you have. It provides additional protection in the event of bad weather. I've found a door that would need 3cm cutting off it, but on the site is says only 12mm can be cut off (a door from Wickes). Buy a stock door instead and make it fit.. Exterior doors are usually solid core and are much heavier than the interior hollow core doors. An in-swing door opens into your house (or into a room), and an out-swing door opens outward. Now it’s time to measure the width, height and depth of the door jamb which is the wooden frame that surrounds the door. Cutting doors down to fit My door frame seems a non-standard size. Most people tend to go with option number three, cut the door to size. Occasionally, especially on re-cuts, you have to cut a door above where there is solid material, and you can’t just leave the bottom of the door open. Measure the door frame at each corner, and through the middle from the bottom edge of the jamb header to the floor--or to the top of the threshold for exterior doors. You can cut the top of the door to make it shorter, but then you will have to reposition the hinges to move the door up on the jamb. There is only about 1 inch to play with, so you must be careful when cutting the length of the door. Determining the size of your door is as simple as taking a few measurements and doing some basic math. Step 3 - Cut it to Size. Don’t plane the whole amount of wood off in one go, keep trying the door in the door frame to check its fit, it is very easy to remove the wood, but you cannot stick it back on if you have planed too much off. Trimming the door may require reducing the door’s width, a job you can do yourself and therefore save the money it would take to hire a professional. The smallest of these three measurements is the reference you need for cutting your door to size. Installing a door may seem like a straightforward process, but if the door does not fit precisely into the door frame, then a little extra work may be involved. If the door is on your left, it is left-handed. Replacing a door in your home, such as a cheap hollow-core door, is a fairly simple process with the right tools and a little know-how. When we moved in, the front door wouldn't open all the way; it drug the floor at about 70 degrees from full open. When the door is cut and planed to size you are ready to continue to the next stage. A clean, efficient way to measure, mark, cut, and fill a hollow-core door. They save you the trouble of cutting hinge and strike-plate mortises as well as assembling the jamb. Storm doors usually have windows so that you can still see outside after opening the main door. You just need to find the height and width of the door using a measuring tool. Brand X Pictures/Brand X Pictures/Getty Images Unlike slab doors, which are made of a single piece of material, composite doors are usually made of glass-reinforced plastic with a foam core. How to Cut and Resize a Steel Clad Entry Door: We purchased a house in 2011. Determine both of these characteristics and record them on the diagram you made. How to Measure the Size of a Door. How to Trim Accordion Doors This is especially helpful in small areas to help maintain maximum usable space. To cut off a door without splintering the finish, use a guide and sharp blade in a circular saw, and deeply score the cut line with a utility knife. Your door will also either be in-swing or out-swing. Sometimes an interior door must be cut down to open properly. In this video, carpenter and former senior editor Andy Engel shows us how to disassemble a prehung exterior door; how to measure and cut the door slab to fit an existing opening; and how to shorten the jamb to match.