panel doors

[Mary R.]

How do you talk about interior room doors? There's 2 standard sized (30") on Craigslist I could use, if they're correct. Do doors open "in" or "out"? Standing IN two bedrooms, I reach to the left side to take the knob, and pull the door TO me. The barrels of the hinges are visible on the right.
Standing in the third room, the knob is on the right side of the door and I pull it toward me. Does it make a difference? These panel doors are $35 each. Is that a good buy, or about how much are they new from home depot? Hardware comes with. They look to be in good condition.

[Michael Baldwin]

Originally posted by M Read:

How hard is it to replace an existing door? Removing the door that's there now requires removing the screws from the hinges and taking the door down.
Then what? My handyman has never replaced a door. Can we just take the measurements to home depot? Do they make the cutouts on the new door for hinges and knob?

Hi,

You should be able to knock the hinge pins out to remove the door first, then remove the hinges from the door.

Sounds like you want to replace just the door, not the door and frame. For a replacement door, you just measure your current door, or opening, and the measurement should be 24, 26, 28, 30, 32, or 36 inches wide, and the most common height is 80 inches. If not, you will have to make a door, or have one made. The door blanks do not have hinge notches or holes for the door handle, you will need to install that your self. The mortises for the hinges can be done with a sharp wood chisel and a hammer, and for the door knob, you will need a hole saw for the drill, and a spade drill bit. This can take some time, and it can look bad if the hinge mortises and door knob holes are not put in the right place the first time.

If you can get the trim off around the door, I would just go with a pre-hung door. They range in price from $30 or so for hollow core on up to several hundred. My favorite are the 6 panel oak pre-hung doors, usually around 100 or so. They doo make hollow core panel doors to that are cheaper, if you want the panel look, but don't want to spend the money on solid core doors.

Good luck.