How to hang a door
Learn how to hang a door with this step-by-step guide.
Level of difficulty
Level 3: Advanced
What you need
- Dust sheets
- Safety goggles
- Soldering iron
- Chisel
- Screwdriver
- Screws
- Nails
- Hammer
- Circular saw
- Straight edge
- Pencil
- Power drill
- Hinges
- Hinge leaves
- Marking gauge
- Trimming knife
- Door
- Spindle
- Lock plate
- Silicone spray
The steps to follow
Removing the existing door
- Wedge the door and undo the screws that are holding the door to its hinges.
- Scrape off the paint from the screws with a screwdriver. You can also use a soldering iron to help you strip away the paint and loosen any stubborn screws.
- Remove the screws and hinges. You can keep these screws and hinges for future use.
- Lift and remove the old door.
Hanging the new door
- If your new door comes with stiles to protect its corners, saw them off.
- Double check that the size of the new door is the same as the old one.
- If the new door needs to be trimmed to fit in the door opening, mark the amount of wood that you’ll need to trim off on each side of the door.
- Use a circular saw to trim off the excess wood.
- Position the door to the frame and mark the positions of the hinge leaves on the door edge.
- Mark the positions of the hinge mortise onto the doorframe with a pencil.
- Use a straight edge to mark across the door edge and use a marking gauge to mark the width and thickness of the hinge leaf on the door edge.
- With a trimming knife, score the outline of the hinge mortise on the door frame.
- Use a chisel to trim the outline to the correct depth and cut off the wood.
- If you’re planning to reuse the existing hinges, drill pilot holes in the hinge leaf and drive in the fixing screws. If you are using new hinges, drill pilot holes into the door edge and screw the hinges into their mortises.
- Position the new hinge leaves in the frame mortises and drive the screws in.
- Check that the door closes without binding. If the door binds, you may have set the hinge leaves too deep into the door edges. If so, insert cardboard between the hinge and the door.
- Mark the position of the strike plate on the door edges so it fits at the correct height. Drill a hole into the door edge to fit the lock plate.
- Try inserting the lock plate in the hole. If it doesn’t fit, mark its outline on the door edge and dig deeper into the hole with a chisel.
- Measure the distance between the latch faceplate and the spindle hole.
- Mark on the door face and drill a hole through the door to fit the spindle.
- Next fit the latch in place and secure it by driving the screws through its faceplate into the door edge.
- Slide the spindle in and attach the door handles to each side of the door.
- Test the door to see if it is properly hung. If it's not, you might need to trim the sides of the door with a trimming knife (refer back to step 2) or oil the hinges with silicone spray.
