How to TRIM A DOOR for a new carpet 

Andy, just wanted to say thanks for sharing your hard-won knowledge in this one. My mother-in-law needed some doors trimmed back after getting new carpet laid and I was able to do the job by following these instructions, in spite of it not being something I'd ever done in the past. Thanks again!

Andy, you gave the subject really good coverage. Just some additional points: a. Before using a nice Tracksaw blade to trim the bottom of the door - swipe the door with a magnet to identify any steel fastenings/staples - don’t ask😡 b. I cut my doors at a 3 degree angle on the leading edge as it opens into the room - just reduces the friction area on new carpet. c. You never mentioned rise and fall hinges.😉 Nice one Andy😀👍

Nice video. One tool I've been using the last few years dealing with doors going on and off frames is those small airbags. You can pump them up with your foot to just the right height for the mortises to line up, much easier than my old method of a bar and shims. They also work great for leveling bottom cabinets with adjustable legs I've found.

Hats off for advising people of the risks of altering fire doors, could literally be life saving advice and is so often overlooked

Hi Andy, very comprehensive tutorial 👍! I was fitting 12 Howdens pre-finished doors recently in quite a large property. They have a ridiculous 10mm max trim on the bottom and top. With heads out of level, the tops had to be cut angled to fit so no chance of taking much off the tops. That left the issue of removing around 20mm off the bottom of all the doors. This meant each had to have a replacement timber packed into each. Godsend of 5 minute glue but what a faff on - for £110 doors I’d expect better!

Great video Andy. I have used this method but using a 1.00m steel rule checking the carpet height over several points in the door swing area. That way you are able to take account of the floor level rising. I also add 1 mm to ensure the door doesn’t kiss the carpet. Kissing the carpet will leave a visible mark on it.

Hi I've just rehung 5 doors for my son this weekend using your method and it worked absolutely fine thanks so much for the tip.

Great video as usual. I trim alot of doors, especially very old homes here on the left coast. I not longer remove the doors from the jamb, I lay the TS-55 right on the floor, and just trim the bottom of the door leting the saw lay on the flooring or carpet. Sometimes the hinge side of the jamb can be an issue, but most of time no problem, very little sanding if any, I keep my blades very clean, makes for simple and fast trim jobs...

Track saw all the way for me too, exactly the method you used. Even though I trust the festool blade, I always masking tape right round the door at the cut point (before marking, obviously!) just as an extra belt and braces. Also, if the cut is thinner than the blade depth (like your extra 1mm) and you're in someone's house, be aware that the dust extraction will be largely ineffective and will make a mess. Last time, I super glued a bit of scrap along the length of the end of the door (flush with the face that you're cutting on), which nicely contained the dust. Was worth it. Five minutes extra to glue the scrap, five minutes less vacuuming!

It is good to see the extra care and time you put into doing this, rather than some of the quick jobs you see professional builders do. I do wonder though why in the UK, they put threshold strips at the doorways. In New Zealand we run the carpet all the way through the door., so you get a continuous carpet surface.

Great tip about marking the door frame. We're getting new floors soon so very well timed video. Thanks Mr Mac

Great tip marking on the frame....thanks

Imagine if every contractor in the world had a RU-vid channel. I think they should cuz they all comment on em! Did some of you really watch so you could tell him what he missed?! Good work Andy. I didn’t come here to see this, I just wanted a refresher on how to do larger rooms with multiple cuts but I’m actually remembering now anyway and I’ll need to pick up a stretcher as well…

When trimming like this, I was wondering if you had a reason for not just removing the hinge pins instead of unscrewing the hinges?

Great video. I replaced all the internal doors in my house but still learnt so much. I noticed you used an acrylic primer for the doors. It'd be interesting to see a video on different types of paint. Eggshell, satin, vinyl matt etc.

Highly recommend some air wedges, used them for a number of things now where I need to do fine adjustment, very useful. Doors, gates, levelling new fridge/freezer.

If there is just a little spot that the door drags on, then I squeeze a thin mat with sandpaper on top under the problem area (at the point of the door's swing where it scrapes) and gently work the door back and forth. Fine for older properties with tatty flooring, but obviously not an option for over new flooring. Love the videos, can't wait to see the garden and studio! Any chance you could do a video on repairing and painting rusty metal fences or gates?? Ta if that's possible.

Great advice on measuring for cuts. Since I use forced air heating/AC, I need a wider gap at the bottom for proper airflow.

Andy as always good informative vid with some top tips. One thing that think worth mentioning when trimming doors is to allow for impact painting it has , so if need take 4mm off due to door cat hing , perhaps take further 1-2mm off and impact of climate has especially when trimming external doors. I trimmed a garage door in winter then found that during summer it expanded and started sticking , so if you can trim in the summer , but not too much as in winter it may contract😂

I love my track saw for this use. It's ideal and so easy.

Cool tips Andy. Thanks.

Track saw (or plunge saw as I call it 😁) all the way for trimming doors. Not trying to tell you how to suck eggs but a little tip…….an air wedge under the door when you are removing/refitting the door makes life much easier 😁 Great video mate 👏🏼

I just had one of those mini 85mm circ saw, so didn’t have the blade thickness to go through in one pass. But just flipped the door, went again and finished with a handsaw then. Coupled with some masking tape along the cut line(s) I think I got a good result. Only had to do one door - if I had more to do, I’d get a proper big boy saw..! Hard to get a good straight, square cut with a hand saw or hand plane. Hand plane in particular a bit of skill to it, and some doors nowadays are made of engineered stuff which planes will struggle with imo..!

Fitted new doors 2 years ago for a customer. Painted the edges I had to trim, noted there was 'worm sign on the trimmed edges. Very glad I treated the cut edges before painting. Had to go back last week 'cause they were getting dust (frass) from the doors and exit holes. Also glad I did not supply the doors - customer is now talking to the supplier about the costs of treating the whole house! Moral - always treat any raw timber nowadays, especially if the timber is painted and you cut it. You just don't know if the timber is carrying worm.

Great stuff Andy. I have three of those Stanley screwdrivers that you were using on the hinge screws. Best tool I ever bought!

Hi Andy. I agree that the easiest way to trim a door is with a track saw. Having used many other methods during my DIY phases over the many many years, using my cheap MacAllister plunge saw (with a better quality high tooth count blade) and track makes the job so much easier. As you said, its the quality of the blade not the price of the saw that detrrmines the better finish.

Another great video, thanks Andy.

Air wedges and door lifters make sense but as someone who buys too many one off tools I didn't buy any when I needed to do something similar as a once off. I bought "furniture sliders", disc shaped things, useful for this job but also extremely useful for moving heavy furniture and other objects between rooms etc, multi-purpose 👍🏼

I didn't know about different height cuts with circular saw, I'll try that next time.thanks for the tip!

Typically I have just trmmed 6 doors but with a router instead as I'm not confident with the circular saw. Just needed to mark with a guage, clamp a straight edge on and route with 2 flush cut router bits. First used flush cut wth bearing at top then flipped door and used flush cut with bearing at bottom. Thankfully a similar result. Good video.

Great tips. Thank you

Titan saw & 60 point blade, and no riving knife to worry about! Bless.

Like others, I will await your explanation of carpeting in a bathroom.

Clever idea with the two pencil marks. 👍👍👍

Carpet in a bathroom? You've got to be joking! That 'knife' is blade dependent, New blade, new knife. Change the thickness of the blade, the knife has to be changed too.

Great video thanks 😊

Great timing on this as I'm planning on doing this for my bathroom door. The wonkeyness at the bottom has been bothering me for ages.

Nice work Mr mac

1.8mm blade is a thin kerf blade for a cordless saw. Standard AC mains TS55 blade is 2.2m. Screwfix stock both freud kerf widths plus an ultra thin 1.5mm. If your splinter guard was trimmed to the original blade, it won't be as tight with the narrower blade. Enjoying the project. Keep up the good work and start enjoying your new home!

Technical stuff , bet the house smells great with all that new carpet 🤩🧱👍🏼

Great video, as always. And you're right about RU-vid going crazy about the bathroom carpet...not what I would choose, but it isn't my house. so, you do you.

I did exactly this job two weeks ago. It wasn't until I had the door off its hinges and had to carry it down a very steep, narrow staircase, that I discovered that the bugger was solid oak!

When using the plane, clamp -or strap- a piece of wood flush with the bottom of the door on the exit side of the plane with the grain against the cutting surface and any possible damage will be transfered to the end of that piece.

I've had to do this numerous times. Usually, I cover the bottom with painter's tape and use a straight edge against my circular saw to cut the bottom off. Wish I had a track saw!

I always lay a plugesaw track next to the hand door and run a pencil at the track's height. If the floors are level this works a treat to mark the amount to be taken off.

Andy....so pleased that there's someone else that paints - including the gloss paint on mine - the top and bottom of the doors....helps with dusting et cetera.....I now know that I'm not on my own.

We always aim for a 10mm gap under the door between the finished floor and the bottom of the door. Its listed as being very good for ventilation and air flow in rooms although you don't want this with fire doors :)

Pretty sure Freud blades come with a variety of kerfs? Though it's not always possible to get the blade size/bore/tooth count and kerf combination bang on every time...

100% on board with carpet in the bathroom. I find those smaller bath mats get soaked in piss much too quickly 🤣

Which hinge jig did you use? I used to used the Trend one [including lock jigs], they are a tad expensive bur work really good, especially with the little corner cutter

Reading interesting discussions on larger door gaps for air circulation/moisture control in air tights houses (think trickle vents/PIV) any thoughts on this ? I’m used to them from living in the USA where they’re needed for HVAC air flow, but felt weird to start with!

If house has forced hot air system, usually you take about an inch above the flooring so that return air can circulate out of the room even with the door closed.

I've successfully trimmed a door using a straight edge and a router with a long straight cutter. I screwed a batten to the edge of the door to stop blowout.

I do a lot of doors after the carpets are fitted, as our local independent carpet shop tend to pass my name on. If the carpet is down and the door is on I use a 1mtr straight edge lying on top of the carpet to mark the door and check it with the door fully open and almost closed, amazing how much some floors slope. I don't have a track saw as Milwaukee haven't brought one out yet, so use a batten clamped to the door if there is too much to plane. The real pain are cheap hollow core doors where there is not enough material to cut off at the bottom of the door. I carry some various thicknesses of timber to glue and pin in the bottom of the door using 5 minute Polyurethane glue. I always warn my customers that this might happen with these doors. I tend to put lots of dust sheets down and use my plane or saw with the vacuum attachment rather than hump doors up and down. I don't like to have the carpets even "kissing" the door, as you can still end up with a semi-circular shadow in the carpet after a while. Otherwise I do it the same way as you do it.

@15:32 Plane works great on solid wood doors but on crap core doors, it'll chew into the composite and leave uneven divets and chipping.

A bit overkill I know but the best tool I have for this job and another option is the router I bought for when I did the kitchen worktops.

OMG - carpet in the bathroom, I thought that died out in the 80s :)

perfect

What about the undercut for the mechanical extraction, Andy?

Great Job. Carpet in the bathroom....ohh noooo!

Use one of those balloon things to lift the door! Much easier!

Hi Andy, thanks for the video. Can I ask, why did you use a hand screw driver when re hanging the door, as opposed to your drill? Is this better to do when re-hanging? Thanks, Claire

I always allow 5mm, I'll measure off the sub floor and mark the door in situ allowing for thickness of carpet and underlay plus the 5mm, I'm pretty sure door's shouldn't be rubbing on the carpet

Hi Andy, what paint colour do you have on your walls here? Thanks

If it's a kitchen door then make sure that the top and bottom edges of the door are painted to stop the door absorbing moisture.

So thats a door on a bathroom with no air gap underneath for you extractor to pull any fresh air through?

Andy - did you revamp the original doors in the house??

If the door is already fitted, there is a much easier way, just add the underlay and carpet MM together and cut it off the door.

Dilema, need a new door but frame is not standard and all doors except solid wooden doors can only be planed by max 10mm and i need 12mm each side and dont want to spend extra on a solid door , so my only option is to reduce the door frame size. Need to plane across width any tips on how to avoid breakout? Or is there another solution?

Have you got a video on how to hang a door?

You mentioned in a previous video that you added a piece of trim to the door frame, as the plaster came out further than the door frame itself which is a similar problem I have. Is it still safe to hang a 30kg door on these frames with that in mind? Just a bit concerned that the door frame will not be able to hold the weight and split/break

I'm surprised there are no thresholds installed. It makes finishing carpet or other flooring simpler. Installing them is a thing in itself. There are some judgment calls when deciding on a size and exact placement. The brass strip looks terrible. A large bonus when installing saddles is the height of the door never changes after that. If the owner rips out the carpet on one side because they changed their mind, the door height still looks good. As a commercial carpenter, I used to install swing doors with in floor hydraulic closers. This means I always had a Rixon wrench or two with me. This was invaluable when jacking up doors. Always used with a fulcrum of some sort, mostly a hammer handle.

There should be a gap between door and carpet, for ventilation. Some say 5/8 inch.

Only problem I see, is you need a half inch from the carpet to the bottom of the door for air flow. Air cannot enter through the register in the room, if it can’t get back out. It simply builds pressure in the room to the point where air will no longer flow into the room.

I always leave at least a 3 mm gap just for air flow

Hi Andy I have a question - is it possible to renovate badly moulded walls? I was thinking to hammer the wall to the bare brick - disinfect and re-plaster but what about wood? Just disinfect first with bleach - solution and dry? When I mean mouldy I mean really badly - can't breath inside - house needs full renovation. Thanks Rene

Are those not removable hinge pins, much easier, safer and more accurate to just pull the pins, then you don’t enlarge the screw holes and you know the door is going back exactly where it should.

Hi, bit of a random question, what colour are the walls behind you? Been loving the extension videos. Cheers!

What steel ruler is that?

Is it typical to leave a separation where the carpets meet? I’ve never seen this done before. Usually (in the US) the carpets in all rooms and halls are butted up against each other so it looks like one continuous piece of carpet throughout the house. Is the gap between the carpets typical over there? Just interested. Great tip on cutting the bottom of doors! I like Freud blades, but can’t afford any tools in the Festool family. 😀

Fly: Hello sir. 😆

that door at 8:40 looked like chipboard :O

Air wedges Andy. Parkside ones do a job for DIYer and are good value. Great for doors Edit: Festool’s answer is buy Festool blades….. 😉. No riving knife issues. Pulling your chain Andy 🤭

Question - why did you take all the hinges off rather than just remove the hinge pins?

be careful if you ever need to trim ~1cm or more off a hollow core door - they often hold the frames together with metal brackets/staples so you might want to use a sacrificial blade! Can just bevel the edges with sandpaper if you get a little tearout.

I've got a question, I don't know if anyone has come across this before and might be able to help. I need to trim the bottom of a door after laminate has been fitted in but when taking the door off, as you would expect the bottom/underneath isn't open to see inside (should be a standard hollow wooden door), but there's a small recess bit along the wood near the hinge-side corner with what seems to be a piece of metal inside and now I just don't know how to do it, has anyone seen this before? I cannot find anything anywhere! I asked the fitter to do it but he wouldn't on the basis that trying to cut through the piece of metal while cutting along the wood may damage his saw and end up very costly... You'd think a so-called professional floor fitter has been in this situation before and would have all the tools but clearly that's too much work for him... Thanks a bunch!

Here’s a tip from a carpet fitter, never trim a door until you’ve had the carpets fitted.

Thanks for a fairly comprehensive video on a job I had to do recently. Two thoughts : If your house has some mechanical ventilation system (typically extractors in humid rooms drawing air from the other usually dryer rooms), a 10mm air gap is required under the doors so that the system can work as designed and take moisture away from bedrooms for instance. As to saw kerf, with the 'old' TS55, it's best to stick with 2.2mm blades otherwise you may need to retrim the rail lips and experience problems with some jigs when switching between blades of differing kerf (the issue with the riving knife is also something to consider obviously).

The carpet color very match with the wall color, look so classic and luxury.

I'm surprised you didn't fit some nice wood thresholds under the door instead of that metal strip. Any reason why not?

Like, yours it marginally more professionally done than mine, but it took you 2 days, or so. I did the same thing in 20 minutes (quick drying eggshell paint). It's really good, but if you took 2250 minutes to do a door !!! You must be rich lol!

If you are committed to that blade you can thin down the riving knife with an electric sander

How about removing and refitting a door with an concealed door closure? It looks a right fiddle of a job!

Wi i Geordie lad, some fancy kit to do the job. Like the idea, could use masking tape to mark the framework. Seams strange to see you using a hand screwdriver. Best regards, not quite a makam man.

I don't know which is whiter, the door or your legs!

i like to fit the door and be lucky every time lol

Don't you have hinge pins?

Thank you sir you are a genius. Been mulling through ideas on how to measure up my doors as I'm fitting a new hall carpet and looking at the pile I am definitely gonna need to take something off two doors. Your way of measuring up is gonna save me A TONNE of hassle. Merci-buckets. 😁

Once you've fitted the door hinges and catch, you are never going to raise the door to take up slack at the top without major issues with your rebates and catches.

I tend to take 5 extra mm for air to circulate.