Instructions on how and with what tool you can cut the height of an interior door


We shorten the doors

How to trim a door without removing it from its hinges is a fairly common question. But you can call a specialist at 8 903 199 20 21, who can shorten the interior door exactly. Most often, interior doors need to be trimmed after installing hinges when the dimensions of the frame relative to the door were initially determined incorrectly, or the error is related to the hinges. If you made a mistake with the loops, then you need to correct the mistake. Before installing the doors on the hinges, you should make sure that the door leaf is approximately one centimeter shorter in size than the frame, and that the mowing line of the rebates and the door leaf are absolutely parallel. At the same time, you will be able to see that the stand (vertical) on the hinge side is perfectly level, which is important.

However, the question of how to shorten an interior door may also arise after repairing the floor or laying laminate flooring. In this case, you can rely on your own strength and after watching a video on how to trim an interior door, get to work.

In most cases, it is possible to cut an interior door using a circular saw. There are a huge number of descriptions about how this tool famously copes with the problem of shortening doors. But not every door will lend itself to this method. Of course, if you need to saw off an MDF door, you can use a circular saw. However, the question is: “How to saw off a veneered door?” requires a different solution. After all, veneer is a valuable type of wood, which means it will most likely be damaged. The whole point is that the saw teeth (even the smallest ones) will tear out particles of wood in the process of cutting interior doors. Thus, creases and chips are inevitable and the doors will be completely damaged.

Do not despair, because we live in a developed country, where it has long been known how to carefully shorten the bottom of a door. This can be done using an electric milling machine (manual, with high power) and a guide ruler. You can saw off the door along the guide yourself, but in doing so you will ingest a fair amount of dust, and the figured overlay decor does not indicate that the ruler will be securely fastened. This operation is much easier to do using an electric planer. This is exactly the tool that professionals use during installation. A qualified craftsman uses an electric planer to form an angle on the vertical part of the blade, which faces the hinges. The corner is open towards the vestibule. Thus, the hinges, while closed, are slightly open, due to which the tension between the canvas and the box disappears.

Before you shorten an interior door, you need to remember a few rules. Before trimming the interior door from the bottom, you need to remove the panel from the hinges, and then stick masking tape on both sides of the bottom of the door. The same should be done if you decide to shorten the interior door in height with a jigsaw, because masking tape will protect the surface of the door from scratches and small chips, which can completely ruin the appearance of the door leaf.

If you decide to shorten an interior door with an electric planer, then you need to apply fishing line to the masking tape in advance, which will serve as a guide in the process of trimming the door. The best solution is to entrust the work of cutting interior doors to the specialists of our company by calling us by phone. Over a long period of work, we have been able to establish ourselves on the positive side, which is why we have earned the trust of our clients. An individual approach combined with professional skills guarantees excellent results.

The company's professional craftsmen know how to properly trim an interior door leaf in the shortest possible time.

Removing part of the door leaf: plane, router, saw

The classic tool for cutting a veneered interior door is a plane. You can use both conventional and electric tools. It provides gradual removal and is easy to handle. Disadvantages include possible surface unevenness and inconvenience when used over large areas. There are no special requirements for planes.

A circular saw requires experience working with it for an acceptable result. To trim an interior door, you will need a saw blade with carbide teeth. For a clean cut, it is recommended to choose a blade with as many teeth as possible. The advantage of this tool is that even a large area can be processed in a short time. Disadvantage: work on cutting veneered interior doors must be done extremely carefully and slowly, otherwise the veneer may chip.


Working with a milling cutter

A hand router is the most preferable option, as it allows you to accurately remove layers of the blade and is easier to control compared to a saw or even a plane. Of course, it is not necessary to buy such a specific tool - you can rent it or borrow it from friends. When cutting, the router gradually approaches the guide, which allows you to efficiently and carefully get rid of the unnecessary part of the door leaf. This tool leaves fewer chips or snags than others. If you take a responsible approach to the matter, after completing the process of shortening the door, sanding may not be necessary.

Instructions for doing the work yourself

Before carrying out work, remove the canvas from its hinges and prepare it by removing handles and other accessories from it. The door is cut on a workbench, but if one is not available, a large, stable table will do.

If a solid wood panel needs to be adjusted to the opening due to sagging or rising floors, then it is best to trim the door from below . Take 2 height measurements: at the hinge part and in the vestibule. Transfer the measurements to the canvas, setting aside the new dimensions from the top edge. Draw a straight line through 2 points. To do this, it is advisable to use a long ruler and a square to control the right angles between the edges.

Attach the guide rail according to the marked markings. When using a power tool, it is better to use a metal strip or ruler. If you cut a door with a hand hacksaw, guides made from straight slats will do. Press the template to the canvas with clamps above the markings.

To preserve the layer of varnish and veneer on a polished door, treat it with a grinder. The tool's blade will leave a cut with smooth edges that cannot be made with a saw. You need to guide the angle grinder along the guide bar. Before processing the markings along the mowing line, stick adhesive tape and transfer the straight line to its surface.

If there is no grinder, the varnish coating on the part to be removed is removed with emery cloth, and the veneer is cut with a sharp knife on both planes of the canvas and on its edge parts. After this, the door can be sawed off along the guide.

The door scratches the floor. how to fix

Remove the clamps and sand the cut edges with sandpaper. You need to glue an edge strip onto a veneered door, matching its shade to the veneer. If the massive canvas is painted, cover the cut with paint or varnish. Hang the door leaf on the frame, eliminate distortions and attach the removed fittings.

Work is performed in the same sequence when replacing the canvas: the standard dimensions of the new product can be changed in height and width. When performing work, you need to consider what the product is made of.

A panel made of solid wood or MDF can be cut from the bottom if it does not have panels or their imitation. If there is a symmetrical decor, it is better to trim on both sides, dividing the size of the cut part by 2. These measurements are set aside from each edge, without disturbing the symmetry of the top and bottom panels. Do the same if you need to reduce the standard width of the door leaf.

Hollow frame doors should not be shortened too much. The product consists of wooden blocks of limited thickness. When performing work, you need to leave at least 1-1.5 cm of the frame bar inside the canvas. You can shorten the door as indicated for the design with panels - at the top and bottom .

When trying to install a standard door in a small opening, the molded frame materials are shortened to measure and secured in the opening. The dimensions of the sash will have to be adjusted using the technology described above.

Solid wood canvas sometimes swells due to excess moisture and does not fit well into the frame. This problem can be eliminated with a plane or a grinder (hand router). Remove the blade, place it on a workbench and process its edge with a cutting tool, removing a few millimeters of chips from the desired side. Hang the door and test its movement. If the problem is not resolved, repeat the treatment.

To get an even cut of an array when using a circular saw, you will need a disk with a large number of small teeth. But even under this condition, it will not be possible to cut the veneered product efficiently. For MDF panels, it is better to use a jigsaw, and carry out the work in compliance with the rules protecting the veneer layer (sticking tape, cutting through the veneer).

If it is possible to use a manual router, then you should only choose it for the job. The tool will make an even and clear cut, and the cutting line will not have to be processed additionally either on a massive product, or on MDF or a frame model.

To properly apply the edge tape, use PVA glue and an iron. The adhesive layer must be applied to the cut of the canvas and allowed to dry. Place the tape on the edge of the door and iron it through the paper with a hot iron. After cooling, cut off the excess tape with a sharp knife and lightly rub the edges with sandpaper.

When carrying out renovations in individual buildings of an old building, where there are very low ceilings and not quite standard doorways, the question often arises of changing the size of the purchased standard door. The same questions may arise when installing and repairing floors, as well as after laying a new carpet floor.

READ When installing doors when renovating the front door

But it is not always possible to find people who will undertake changes to a standard door. And sometimes it is necessary to fit a door that has already been purchased and delivered to your home. And it is impractical to transport it for shortening. Therefore, the issue of changing the size of doors at home remains relevant.

And believe me, it is possible to solve this issue on your own, practically without any costs other than your ingenuity and your own labor.

How to shorten a door. Properly trim the interior door from the bottom. Dacha 82. 16

We shorten the door

The lower section of the door leaf consists of a solid wooden block, taking into account the possibility of shortening. But usually, its width is not enough for trimming. Therefore, we will need the 30x30 mm block we prepared to close the cavity that opened after shortening. Using a hacksaw, we prepare the length of the block we need, adjust the thickness with a plane, and mount it with glue.

When cutting the door leaf of a panel door or panel door with glass inserts, you must remember the proportions of all its components (the ratio of the sizes of all parts and the whole to each other). By greatly changing the size of the bottom of the door, we can disrupt its harmony. Both the door itself and the entire interior will be completely different.

Therefore, we need to consider the possibility of cutting the canvas on both sides, both top and bottom.

In the same way as described above, it is possible to change the width of the door.

But I would not recommend doing this, because cutting it to a length of 2 meters using the tool we have available will be very problematic and all the resulting flaws will be very noticeable. It is better to do such work on special machines and entrust it to professionals.

And we can, if necessary, try to change the size of the doorway.

In general, we see that it is quite possible to change the size of the door, if necessary, at home.

Get to work, you will definitely succeed.

From below

If the need to change the size of the canvas is caused by an increase in the level of the floor covering, then the best option is to trim the door from the bottom. It is carried out in the following order:

  1. The cut is marked using a metal ruler and a square. The sizes are attached to the loops. A straight cutting line is drawn.
  2. Guides are installed slightly above the drawn line. They are secured with clamps or masking tape. Power tools require metal runners, while hand tools also require wooden slats.
  3. Using the required cutting tool, a strip of the door leaf is cut along the marked line.
  4. If the edge of the cut has unevenness, then planing is done using a plane.
  5. The guides are removed, and the cut area is treated with sandpaper.

After trimming is completed, the coating of the canvas is restored. When covering with veneer, a strip of veneer of the appropriate structure and color is glued to the bottom. PVC glue and iron are used. The excess is cut off with a knife. Using a brush, the varnish or paint coating is restored.

How to cut an interior door. How to trim an interior door to height

During repairs, sometimes the floor level changes (laying tiles, pouring screed or self-leveling coating, etc.). After this, you have to cut the interior door in height to ensure its free movement when opening and closing. The same operation has to be carried out when replacing if the new door is very large and does not fit the frame. When installing a new frame, it may turn out that the size of the opening does not correspond to the product standard.

It is easy to shorten the blade at home using an electric jigsaw or a circular saw. But to get a neat and straight cut, you will need auxiliary tools:

  • clamps that will help fix the blade and guide bars;
  • ruler and square for marking;
  • sharp knife for working with veneered doors;
  • edge tape for MDF fabric;
  • sandpaper.

To protect the decorative coating of the door from cracking along the cut edge, you can use masking tape. If necessary, you can do without it.

How to trim a door

To change door standards, first of all, you need to know the design features of your existing door.

Trimming an interior door with a saw

Based on the manufacturing method, the designs of interior doors are divided into panel and frame (paneled, framed).

Panel doors consist of: a frame - a frame made of wooden bars (slats), cladding made from sheet material on both sides, and filling in the form of paper honeycombs, polyurethane or spiral shavings. Panel doors can be solid and partially glazed.

Frame doors consist of: frame (main bars), mullions (bars dividing the door leaf into parts) and filler (panels). Glass, fiberboard and particle boards are used as panels.

If shortening the doors yourself, at home, is not difficult, then changing the width of the door is much more difficult, but also quite possible.

But let’s still focus on the shortening. Before starting work, you must remember the old Russian proverb: “Measure seven times and cut once.” It is necessary to carefully calculate everything, prepare the necessary tools and necessary materials.

  • hacksaw with fine teeth,
  • a hand-held electric saw or an angle grinder (in common parlance – a “grinder”),
  • plane,
  • wood glue and wooden blocks of suitable size. We use bars - 30x30 mm.

If we use a grinder, then a cutting wheel for metal is best suited for the work. During operation, it will produce a lot of smoke and fumes, but it will allow you to get a cut without delamination and cracks on materials such as fiberboard and MDF.

If we make the shortening with a hand-held circular saw, then for work we take a disk with small teeth and as many of them as possible - 80-112 pieces.

We will take the measurements we need and begin the shortening process itself.

Marking the canvas

And if we make a cut with a circular saw, then we attach a board to the door on the back side in order to get an even, burr-free cut.

If we carry out the work using a grinder, then it is necessary to make a wooden structure on both sides of the door. By attaching and securing the boards on both sides. This design will serve to support the circle into it.

How to trim a door video

Help me fix this bug. This is the first time I’ve done any repairs on my own, and this is the first time I’ve made such a mistake. It turned out that the new doors, which I bought for a lot of money, in general, do not fit the height of the doorway. I'm a little shocked and didn't even think it would happen like this. How can this be fixed? doors for bathrooms and toilets how to cut a door from the bottom is it possible to cut doors from MDF is it possible to saw off the door from the bottom If the doors are not “paper”, plywood or Canadian type, then they can be cut to size so that they fit into the doorway or you can enlarge them yourself doorway. And the best method would be to buy a new door, exactly the size of the doorway. If it is non-standard, order doors of the required size from a carpentry shop or workshop. how to reduce the height of a door; saw off a door; master class;

Not only beginners, but sometimes even professionals in their field encounter it. If the door turns out to be larger than the doorway, then you just need to adjust the door to the desired size. To do this, the door just needs to be carefully trimmed. Just do this very carefully and carefully so as not to damage other elements of the door. Reduce the door little by little so that it does not become much smaller than the doorway. Trim interior doors, how to install a toilet door yourself, how to trim a frame from the bottom. How to trim a laminated door?

I wonder how you are going
to file doors that are covered with PVC film?
Or laminated profile? And it’s even better if it’s a metal entrance door. It's not so easy to deal with metal. You can do it differently. Go to the market where I sell doors and make an exchange deal. True, you will have to spend a little, since the seller needs some kind of benefit from this. What is the best way to trim a door without damaging it?

It also seems to me that it’s better to just replace the doors if everything is so critical. If you bought a door for a lot of money, it will be a shame to ruin it by trying to fit it to the opening, if at all possible. In some cases, it is probably easier to fit the opening to the door, but the easiest thing is to hand over or exchange these doors.

How to trim doors, tell me how to trim doors evenly?

After laying the laminate, the floor rose 2 cm, and one of the doors needed to be sawed down 1-1.5 cm from below.

Interior door, simple laminated, covered with MDF. Corrugated inside.

What could be used to file the door so that: 1) it is smooth 2) there are no chips or a “brush” effect on the cut.

Sawing with what? Drag it to any format. (saw for cutting sheet materials) Available in all large construction shopping centers and carpentry industries. Don't even try using a jigsaw or hacksaw. In theory, you can make a “frog” with a circular saw, but you need very straight hands.

Do you have any similar experience? I just don’t think that the shopping center will be happy if I bring them a door and say that it would be necessary to cut it off by 1-1.5 cm. I didn’t cut it in the shopping center, but I sawed off a lot of doors at a friendly production facility.

READ DIY metal slopes on windows

I sawed with an electric jigsaw, having previously wrapped it in masking tape. It doesn’t turn out very nicely, but if you don’t crawl along the floor with a ruler, it won’t be noticeable. How much did you saw off? What's inside at this height?

This is if you cut along the mowing line, and if you move the jigsaw along the guide, then the file will be thin and will lead vertically. I sawed 16 mm as hard as I tried, the line is straight, but the vertical is moving. But the idea with the router is the best idea of ​​all.

Nope, it won't. There will be a “four” on plywood. On a 40 mm door leaf. no. With a circular saw. most likely it will work. Along the guide bar.

In the Stroy Arsenal. Most likely they will undertake to cut it off, and the price tag will be ridiculous. I brought them 32mm chipboard to cut. They took it at the rate of 35 rubles. for the detail. They can take the same amount out the door.

Usually the canvas is no thicker than 40 mm. That's exactly what the guy who was installing another door said.

Yes, the blade is 40 mm. Just sawing the door is a responsible task :-D And the opening was foamed, covered with platbands and no jambs are visible.

If the block is 5 cm, but you need to saw off 2 cm, then there is no problem. jigsaw and forward (adhesive tape for the beard). But if you are afraid that you need to saw off more than the width of the bar (you will hit the compartment with the corrugation), then it is better to take it to those who have special equipment!

Moreover, if you cut without a guide bar. the canvas will move less vertically. Because it is possible to press the jigsaw slightly left and right and control the blade (do not unfold it, but press horizontally)

With a block, the canvas moves much more precisely, even to the point of breaking if you overdo it.

You've inflated the topic! Normally these doors can be sawed with a hacksaw. and.a jigsaw.

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