Correct installation of interior doors: preparation of the opening, installation of the box and fittings insertion

Recommendation points

• Requirements for the opening and its preparation
• Assembling the door block
• Fittings insert
• Door block installation
• Sealing of abutments: slopes and platbands

Door installation services are sometimes prohibitively expensive. To save money, use the instructions of the portal, thanks to which any home craftsman will be able to securely fasten the door block, cut in locks with hinges, aesthetically arrange the junctions and ensure the long-term operation of the doors..

Requirements for the opening and its preparation

Correct installation of doors is impossible if the opening does not meet the technical requirements. There are two aspects: dimensions and geometry, as well as the strength properties of the open end of the wall..

The dimensions of the opening are determined by the dimensions of the door block, which will be installed in them, and by the technological gaps that are the same for all types of interior doors. They are as follows: 3 mm each between the door and the frame, 10 mm between the door leaf and the floor, 20-30 mm between the door block and the edges of the opening. The minimum wall thickness is also limited, it is 80 mm – the standard value for a simple frame partition made of gypsum plasterboard.

The final dimensions of the opening also depend on the dimensions of the profile of the door frame, called the mullion. As a rule, its thickness in the place of the vestibule is 30 mm, but there are also non-standard products, especially often in sets of imported doors. Thus, the horizontal dimension of the opening is the width of the door leaf, which can be from 60 to 100 cm, plus two upright 30 mm each, plus 6 mm of the gap and at least 40 mm of the foam seam. The opening height is the length of the door leaf (200 cm standard and 190 cm for bathrooms), plus an upper gap of 3 mm, plus a lower gap, which can be 10-25 mm, depending on the presence of carpet on the floor or a sealing brush on the door.

The main fastening of the door is performed by assembly foam. However, mechanical fasteners will be required to temporarily secure the unit. For this, the ends of the opening must be strong, without crumbling and chipping fragments. To improve the contact properties of the foam, the opening should be abundantly moistened with water immediately before installing the door.

If the dimensions of the opening are such that the thickness of the glue line exceeds 40 mm, it is necessary to reduce the gap with overlays. For these purposes, an ordinary wooden beam or a frame structure with plasterboard sheathing can be used. It is important that the strength and sound insulation qualities of such a superstructure are not worse than those of the wall..

Assembling the door block

Doors are installed in series towards the common exit. During the curing period of the foam, which is about two hours, the door should be closed so that the stanchions do not bend due to expansion..

Before installation, the door block is assembled partially or completely. Partially means assembling the door frame, hanging the canvas on the hinges and installing corner scarves. When the block is fully assembled, locks and all other fittings are also cut in.

It is possible to assemble a three- and four-sided box. The first option is the most common, because usually floor coverings are laid in a single contour. Boxes with a sill are usually placed at the entrance to a bathroom or rooms for which high-quality sound insulation is important.

Standing bars are assembled in a box with a straight cut, horizontal bars are applied to the side ends. The upper crossbar can protrude a couple of centimeters beyond the box. With an indent from the edge by about the thickness of the mullion, you need to trim the false side with a hacksaw with a fine tooth, without damaging the coating on the other planes. Then chisel off the cut fragment with a chisel and align the chip flush with the adjacent shelves. A distance equal to the width of the blade plus 6 mm is laid from the undercut line with a tape measure and the second cut is made. The reverse side of the crossbar is processed as described above..

It is necessary to attach the side post to the cutout as tightly as possible and drill one hole for the self-tapping screw exactly in the center of the false side. It is better to drill with a slight slope so that the self-tapping screw tightens the joint securely without creating a gap. When the U-shaped structure is assembled, the post ones are aligned parallel to each other and two more self-tapping screws are added to each corner, having previously drilled holes.

Fittings insert

When the box is assembled, it must be laid on a flat floor with the porch up and put inside the canvas. Having set the upper gap, put a folded hinge between the door and the frame and mark its position with a pencil. The hinges are set at 220-250 mm from the top and bottom of the canvas.

After that, the door is taken out back and the hinge plates are screwed onto a couple of screws according to the marks made. This is done in order to carefully cut around them along the contour with a sharp sectional blade, cutting off the lamination. After that, the loops are twisted, and a sample is made along the contour lines slightly less than the thickness of the metal plate. Professional installers use a hand-held milling cutter with a jig for this, while a home craftsman has to work with a chisel and a hammer..

First you need to beat off the contour with a chisel, setting the tool with a cut of the blade inward, so as not to flare the edges. When beating, the chisel needs to be buried a little more than the thickness of the hinge plate. It is also recommended to make several notches, dividing the area to be cut into 6–8 fragments. To carefully remove the material, the chisel must be held at the angle of the blade sharpening, cutting off thin chips. It is not necessary to ideally clean up the sample, you just need to try on the plate quite often, achieving its uniform deepening. When the samples are made, the hinges are screwed with the screws from the kit along the pre-drilled holes.

The locks are cut at such a height that their handles are flush with the switches. First, the lock case is applied on both sides of the door and the holes for the handle drive and the keyhole are marked. Their centers should be marked taking into account the fact that the lock will move inside the door by the thickness of the end strip.

Further, the lock is attached to the end of the door with the body outward, the end plate is outlined with a knife and the sampling is performed according to the same principle as when inserting the hinges. Having measured the indents between the edges of the end plate and the body, you need to mark the cut-in pocket on the sample. Most of the material is removed with a nib drill. You need to center the pen so that the holes overlap each other by a third of the diameter, the drill must be kept strictly perpendicular to the end. After that, you need to cut the remaining partitions with a wide chisel..

The cut-in pocket may be slightly larger, it is only important to leave enough body for attaching the decorative handles. Having drilled holes for the lock rod and the cylinder, insert the lock case into the pocket, fix the end plate and install the handles with decorative overlays. At the end of the installation, a striking plate is screwed under the latch, it must be placed in such a position that the closed door has no backlash.

Door block installation

When the box is completely assembled, from the side opposite to opening, gussets are attached to its corners. This should be done after careful alignment of the perpendicularity of the front. If the box is three-sided, the spacer bar should be screwed on at the bottom of the canvas. Although the traces from the fastening will subsequently be covered with platbands, it is better to move them to the outside of the timber.

Immediately before installation, you need to install the canvas in the box and stretch it inside, picking up incompressible linings of the required thickness. For these purposes, MDF or sets of plates for aligning double-glazed windows are well suited. Before installation, on the inside of the box, you must remove the false sides..

After installing the door block assembly in place, it is aligned vertically and the plane of the wall, then temporarily fixed in the opening. Fasteners are placed in a recess under a false rim; under the caps, it is imperative to perform countersinks in a secret. After that, close the door, install spacer pads under the canvas with a step of 30-40 cm, then you can start filling the foam seam.

Mounting adhesive foam does not have such a large expansion ratio as thermal insulation foam, which is used when installing windows and entrance doors. Therefore, the joint must be filled completely. First, a sealed contour is formed on one side, 5-7 minutes are given for the initial curing of the foam, then the remaining space is filled from the back side.

Sealing of abutments: slopes and platbands

The next day after installation, when the foam has finally hardened, its remains are cut off with a mounting knife flush with the door frame. On the side opposite to opening, you also need to clean a small groove on the back of the rack.

If the wall thickness exceeds the dimensions of the box, slopes are formed on the inside of the door. It is most correct to use for this purpose extensions for interior doors in the color of the coating of the canvas. Decorative design of interior doors should be carried out only when the flooring is laid and the walls are finished. There are two ways to install slopes:

1. You can pre-plaster the slopes, observing their required dawn. In this case, after grouting, you should carefully clean the mounting groove with the rack with a trim of the extension. After the plaster dries, it is primed and the MDF panel is glued onto liquid nails..
2. If the cavity under the panel is small, the extensions can be attached to mounting adhesive foam..

In both cases, you need to be able to properly cut the ends and prepare spacers in advance, which are installed every 30–35 cm closer to the outer edge of the slopes. Slope panels are installed in the same position as the post boxes: the top one covers the side ones. First, the upper extrusion is cut longitudinally, driving it into the desired width, taking into account the curvature of the installation of the door block relative to the plane of the wall. The cutting line should be located on the side of the door in order to hide in the groove of the post. Then the edges are cut obliquely so that in the wide part the plank fits tightly into the opening.

Having temporarily fixed the top panel, you need to remove the dimensions of the side ones. First, a longitudinal undercut is made so that the edge of the extension becomes flush with the plane of the wall, then the part must be driven in length. At the bottom, the panel is trimmed at a right angle to fit snugly to the floor covering. In the upper part, an oblique undercut is made, for this, the height is measured in two places: close to the stand and along the outer angle of the slope.

Glue or foam should be applied with a thin flagellum along the outer edge of the extensions and with a sufficiently thick layer, stepping back from the edge about 2/3 of the width. The point is that a thick lump of glue forms a support for the lever: by pressing on the outer edge of the panel, it is tightly pressed against the side of the mounting groove. The installation of the extensions is carried out in this order: first, the top panel is glued, which is supported by two side panels. After that, 4-5 horizontal spacers are inserted into the opening so that the extensions stick tightly along the edges.

Platbands are best attached to mounting nails by applying a thin bead of glue along the edges. To fix the pads, you can press them with your hands for 3-5 minutes, or use clamps, after removing the doors. There are certain subtleties in trimming platbands. They should be installed with an offset of 2-3 mm from the corner edge of the upright or rounding of the extension.

There are two types of platbands: straight and rounded. In the latter case, the edges are cut at 45 ° in the miter box. When installing straight platbands, the side strips are first mounted, which should protrude 2 mm above the crossbar in height. The horizontal platband should be cut at 45 ° along the plane and glued between the vertical overlays. Any glue that has escaped can be removed immediately with a damp cloth or wiped off after drying with the hard side of the sponge..