How to properly assemble a door jamb. Do-it-yourself door frame installation

When purchasing a new door, the buyer receives a far from finished design for installation. She has no places for installing hinges, locks are not embedded. The buyer has an inevitable question - how to collect

You can use the services of professionals or mount the structure yourself. To do this, you need to prepare tools and study the features of the technology.

Doors on the market are sold mainly complete with a box, but sometimes they need to be matched to each other.

For the most part, new doors don't fit in old boxes either in size or style. In this regard, it is necessary to completely change the previous design.

Choice of door frame material

Now the market is dominated by products with a spectacular appearance and low price, for example, from MDF - a composite of pressed fibers.

How to assemble an MDF door frame so that it serves no worse than a wooden structure? The advantages of the new material are many, but here it is important to dwell on the shortcomings. Despite the great strength, the box can be deformed if heavy. In addition, in a humid environment, MDF panels can peel off and also swell, leading to a violation of the geometry of the opening.

Despite the disadvantages, affordable cost, good mechanical properties and a wide range of MDF parts make them a priority even when completing premium doors.

Required Tools

Before assembling the door frame, you should first prepare the tools:

  • a hammer;
  • a set of chisels;
  • roulette;
  • square;
  • or with fine teeth;
  • level with a plumb line;
  • dowels, self-tapping screws, hinges;
  • miter box - a tool for cutting at certain angles;
  • screwdrivers.

The work is greatly facilitated by the presence of a power tool: a screwdriver, a jigsaw, an electric drill, a rotary hammer, a milling cutter.

Preparing the doorway

It is important to choose the right door for the width of the opening, so that later there is less work on fitting. The minimum clearance must be at least 15 mm on each side.

Before installation, the evenness of the opening is checked. It is measured in several places vertically and horizontally.

How to assemble the door frame of an interior door if the opening is too large? To do this, strips of the required width are stuffed around the perimeter or the space is laid with bricks.

Other options are glazing the opening, making a frame from wood or metal and plasterboarding it.

Components of a door frame

The box is made of timber and consists of fragments:

  • hinged beam and vestibule;
  • lintel (upper beam);
  • threshold.

Thus, in order to assemble the door frame (it is equipped with a threshold only for a heavy canvas, which is mainly used at the entrance to the apartment), it is necessary to correctly connect its components.

Thresholds are rarely set for interior doors.

Door frame assembly methods

Assembly is carried out very carefully so as not to damage the decorative coatings. Even one minor chip or scratch spoils the appearance of the structure.

Hinges are required to install doors in a box. In interior designs, two are enough, and a third is often installed for the entrance.

The main difficulty in assembling the box lies in the correct execution of cuts and the connection of the horizontal beam with the vertical ones. Their profiled structure creates difficulties for beginners. The installer must fit all elements exactly to size. Before assembling the door frame, you should choose the installation technology. The beam is attached in several ways.

spike connection

The most durable and reliable, but at the same time the most difficult is the spike connection. To do this, at the junction of the bars, grooves and ridges are made according to their thickness. It also requires the ability to use it. The connection is made without fasteners, but many craftsmen make additional reinforcement with galvanized nails.

It is not so important on which part to make a groove or spike. In any case, a rigid connection is provided.

A router is a tool for professionals and it is not advisable to purchase it to install even several doors. When we assemble the door, the most accessible way is to dock at an angle of 45 0 or 90 0.

Assembly at a right angle can be done even by a beginner, if he performs all the operations correctly.

How to assemble a box with docking 45 0

Cuts are made at the junction of the horizontal and vertical beams. Preliminary measurements are made several times so as not to make mistakes in the calculations. It is especially necessary to accurately adjust the horizontal beam in order to correctly select a gap of 3-4 mm and the width of the door. Racks can later be sawn off from the bottom after assembling the box, since they are made with a margin in length. After cutting, the surfaces to be joined are leveled with a chisel.

The timber is usually fastened with self-tapping screws, at an angle of 45 0. To prevent the wood from splitting, holes are made under them with a drill, the diameter of which should be smaller than that of the self-tapping screw core. The drilling depth is made less than the length of the fastener so that the connection is reliable. For one joint, two self-tapping screws are required on one side. You can add another one in the middle, on the other side of the corner.

How to assemble a door frame with docking yourself 90 0

The assembly method is best suited for beginners. First of all, the door leaf is measured for compliance with a rectangular shape. It is often observed that one of the sides is slightly different in size from the other. This deviation must be taken into account when sawing racks. The cuts from the ends of the timber are also checked, which must be strictly at an angle of 90 0. Workpieces may leave the factory with an uneven cut.

The connection of the horizontal bar with the vertical ones is also made with self-tapping screws.

Checking for correct connections

The check is made by placing the box on a flat horizontal surface and laying a door leaf on top of it. If it enters with a small gap, then the assembly is done correctly.

The lower ends of the racks are filed, as they must rest against the floor. The horizontalness of the floor covering in the doorway is preliminarily checked. Deviations should be taken into account when sawing off racks.

Important! The blanks are cut from the side of the veneer to prevent its peeling.

Hinge installation

Before you need to choose the side where it will open. Depending on this, loops of a certain type are selected - right or left. The fabric for fastening the loops is chosen more massive, without defects and cracks. The place of their installation is marked at a distance of 15-25 cm from the door end. The canopies are divided into a large part for the box and a small part for the door leaf. Then the loop is applied to the end of the door and outlined with a pencil, and then with a knife. Do the same on the box. In this case, the door leaf is attached to the box and the coincidence of the marks under the hinges is checked.

The edges of the door leaf and hinges are combined, avoiding distortions. The hinges must face the direction the door opens. When marking, it is unacceptable to confuse the top and bottom of the door. It depends on how it will be installed after fixing the loops. If the door has glass, their location should also be considered.

Using a chisel and a hammer, a place is cut out for the hinges to a depth of 3-5 mm so that they enter flush with the wooden surface. Seats for fittings are made with special care and precision. Then the loops are applied, the screws are marked and screwed. The marks must match the centers of the holes so as not to split the wood when screwing in the fasteners. To prevent tightening of the loops with self-tapping screws, the pencil marks are additionally marked with an awl.

By applying a ruler, the correct fit of the loop is checked. When protruding, the platform under it deepens, but not more than the required level. If the hinges are installed correctly, the leaves should open 180 0. The load on the door must not exceed the specified one. Usually it is 50 kg.

Installing a box in a doorway

At the moments describing how to properly assemble the door frame, the work does not end. It still needs to be installed so that the door opens and closes well. To do this, the box is carefully placed in the opening and temporarily secured with pieces of packing cardboard or foam. The verticality of the loop bar is checked by level. Then wooden wedges are cut.

They are installed under the hinges. In the upper corners, these parts are also clogged. To prevent displacement of the box from opposite sides, two wedges are hammered with sharp parts overlapping each other. The positions of the sidewall and lintels are checked with a level, as displacements are possible during wedging. The box should be flush with the room wall. The wedges must not protrude outwards.

Questions on how to assemble and install the door frame, as well as hanging the door leaf are solved together, since everything is a single structure.

The door frame is attached to the wall with dowels in the places where the hinges fit. There are also wedges to prevent deformation of the timber. The feigned side has not yet been exposed.

For greater stability of the exposed elements of the box, they must be partially foamed. The surfaces are pre-cleaned and wetted with water, which increases the adhesion of the foam by an order of magnitude.

Hinges are attached to the door leaf, after which it is installed on the lining in the doorway. Then the door hinges are attached to the box beam: first from above, then from below.

The door closes and the porch is exposed with the help of wedges. When all the gaps are set, the box should be foamed around the entire perimeter. At the same time, it is recommended to install spacers in it to prevent swelling of parts.

Conclusion

If you have the necessary tools, you can install the doors yourself. For this, the most important thing is to figure out how to assemble the door frame. If you correctly and consistently perform all the installation operations, everything will work out.

Unlike metal doors fully prepared for installation, wooden counterparts are sold as a complete set. The explanation is simple - many manufacturers (mostly foreign companies) supply the market with models of certain standard sizes, and not for a specific opening, and do not meet our standards. In addition, it is not known in which direction the door should swing open at the installation site.

Therefore, the door frame is represented by bars, from which you still need to assemble the jamb and prepare it for hanging the canvas. Knowing some of the features of "design" will allow you not to resort to the services of hired craftsmen, but to do all the work yourself.

Helpful information

  1. It will be useful to those who, for whatever reason, do not want to purchase a door in a furniture store, but prefer to make it on their own, according to their drawings. This often happens with non-standard openings; it is much easier to assemble a box of the required dimensions than to expand / narrow the passage. The nuance is in the choice of the width of the beam. It must correspond to the thickness of the wall, and the latter (for buildings erected according to a standard design) depends on its material.

Dimensions - in mm. Deviations within ±5 are allowed.

  • Brickwork 75 - box 108.
  • Log house (log, timber) 100 - jamb 120.
  1. If an imported model is purchased, then its box is slightly different in size due to a mismatch of standards. Its width varies from 80 to 205. Therefore, you will need to choose a suitable block, focusing on the thickness of the wall at the location of the opening.

What is it connected with? With a significant difference in size, problems with the installation of platbands are provided. There are several solutions - the use of extensions, the manufacture of a "draft" box; but all of them only complicate the installation and increase the final cost of the work.

Box contents

  • Loop jamb (vertical rack on which canopies are attached).
  • The vestibule (opposite side of the box on which the striker plate of the lock, latches is mounted).
  • Ceiling (horizontal element connecting the racks) It is also called the upper beam.
  • Nut (lower jumper; optional part of the design, but some models are equipped with it). It is used if a do-it-yourself door frame is assembled for its installation in rooms such as a bathroom, toilet, and a number of others, where emergencies are possible associated with a breakthrough in liquid communications. The task of the threshold is to prevent the spread of water in adjacent rooms.

Assembly Options

The task is to connect the individual parts of the kit into a rectangular frame structure. Depending on the presence/absence of the threshold, it takes the form of a closed/open loop. In principle, there is nothing complicated; the main thing is to make a competent installation. When deciding how to assemble a door frame, you need to consider that this can be done in several ways. Which is preferable, you will have to decide on your own. In this case, much depends on practical experience in this area and the tool that is at hand.

baguette connection

Plus - the relative ease of assembly. The technology consists in corner sawing (trimming) of the ends of the fastened elements (450). After combining the parts, the final fixation is made with screws (self-tapping screws).

Minus - limitation in application. It is related to the material of the jamb. For example, it is not recommended to assemble an MDF door frame in this way - it is possible that the edges will “ruffle”, the appearance of cracks and chips.

spike connection

Plus - reliability. This assembly option ensures the durability of the structure, while the door is subjected to constant and significant loads. For example, at the entrance to the building, in places of intensive movement of people.

Minus - self-assembly requires not only experience, but also a special tool. In their absence, no, even the most detailed, step-by-step instruction will help.

Right angle

Plus - it is considered the simplest technique to implement independently, and therefore convenient: a special tool, except for a household one, is not needed. It is only necessary to cut off a certain part of the quarter (depending on the dimensions of the connected elements) and fasten the parts according to the dimensions of the opening. Sometimes this is not practiced - the connection is made end-to-end. The result is expected - the door frame is strong, reliable.

Assembly order

The technique is a right angle. When self-assembling, it is recommended to completely mount the structure, and only then place it in the opening.

In some step-by-step instructions, a different technology is considered - the preparation and installation of individual parts of the frame in the opening, their alignment with linings and further connection into a single whole. This method is much more difficult, and without proper experience it is better not to practice.

  1. Preparation of the workplace: free a certain segment on the floor, put together several tables of equal height. The task is to provide a smooth, solid foundation. Otherwise, it will not work to make a high-quality assembly of the box for the entrance, interior door.
  2. Measuring the dimensions of the opening. Produced in 3 levels (width) and 3 points (height: center and sides). In accordance with this, the required dimensions of the box are determined; there should be a technological gap between it and the walls (recommended within 4 ± 1 mm).

  1. Open samples. It is done if their dimensions in length do not match the opening. To do this, you need a pencil (draw lines) and a hand saw.
  2. Pre-assembly of the box. All parts are laid out according to the scheme, taking into account the direction of opening the canvas. That is, it takes into account which side of the rectangle the porch and the loop jamb should be on. After aligning the “shape”, its geometry is controlled, the sizes match, and marks are applied to select a part of the quarter.
  3. Connection preparation. Notches are made along the marked lines, after which a part of the part is removed with a chisel. To increase the reliability of the joint, the cut is leveled to an ideal state - with a knife, file, grinder.
  4. Marking for fittings and material selection. It is more expedient to immediately prepare the “nests” for the hinges, the striker of the latch (lock), than to do this after the door frame is installed in the opening. But modern canopies (for example, "butterflies") should not be fixed. They are fixed on the box when hanging the canvas. The only exception is for loops of old modifications, collapsible; one half of them is installed on the frame during its assembly.

  1. The connection of the parts of the box. For each "line" - at least two fasteners. The interval between them is chosen so that they are located at least 5 mm from the edge.

Note. If a threshold is provided, then it is placed in a box with the expectation that there should be at least 10 mm from it to the canvas. This is necessary to ensure the natural circulation of air currents.

It remains only to check the correctness of the geometry, to process the joints in order to eliminate possible differences in height and install the door frame in the opening.

It turns out that there is nothing super complicated in the assembly of the jamb. In the process of work, cutters, a laser level and other special tools (equipment) will not be needed. All that is needed for the "design" of the box is accuracy, attentiveness and marking accuracy.

Do-it-yourself assembly and installation of interior doors is a very serious and responsible business. Therefore, in this article, in order to independently assemble, install and save money, we will analyze step by step such a topic as assembling and installing interior doors with our own hands. After all, not everyone can independently assemble and install the box and doors correctly. Calling a specialist will cost you a pretty penny, and if the house is new and you need to install more than, say, 10 doors, you can generally go broke.

The most common on the market, among ready-made interior doors, are doors made of natural wood, MDF and fiberboard.

MDF doors consist of a wooden frame sheathed with laminated MDF sheets. This is one of the cheapest types of doors and also the lightest. But the strength of such doors leaves much to be desired, and besides, they are afraid of moisture, because of which it can be “unscrewed” a little. So if you want to put such a door in the bathroom, then you should first think carefully.

Interior doors made of MDF are more durable, resistant to moisture and have better sound insulation in relation to doors made of fiberboard, respectively, and their price is slightly higher. Well, as the saying goes, "you have to pay for quality."

Interior doors made of natural wood, as you may have guessed, are among the most durable and expensive types of interior doors. And their prices depend on what kind of wood they are made of.

They are also divided into types according to.

Types of door frames for interior doors.

Fiberboard boxes, like doors, are not very durable, respectively, and their price is also low. Due to their fragility, heavy doors such as MDF and wood cannot be hung on such boxes. Since the boxes are made of fiberboard, then the doors should be made of the same material.

A door frame made of dry, untreated profiled timber is accordingly much stronger than the previous ones, and the price is higher, although it needs a do-it-yourself finish.

The door frame made of laminated wood is similar to the previous one, except that it no longer requires processing. However, when buying such a box, you need to pay attention to the quality of lamination, if the layer is too thin, then it is more susceptible to physical impacts, and this is the appearance of scratches and scuffs, cracks may appear and subsequently fly around.

Preparatory stages before assembling and installing interior doors with your own hands.

First you need to dismantle the old interior door, remove the old door frame and remove ill-fitting cement. If there is such a need, then level the doorway with various dry mixes, of which there are a huge number on the market, for example, Teplon.

If, after removing the old door frame, too large chips remain at the doorway, then to level them, you can fix the board to the slope that needs to be leveled, it will act as if it were a formwork, and hammer potholes along it and along the walls. After the solution has hardened, you can carefully remove the board. You can fix it with the same dowel-nails or with spacers. After leveling, you can proceed to putty, if there is such a need.

Do-it-yourself assembly and installation of interior doors, the main stages.

Do-it-yourself installation of interior doors usually begins with assembling the box, installing hinges, and after that we install the box in the doorway, anchor it and foam it. We install the door leaf, an additional element if necessary, and finally install the trim. If the door frame has a threshold, then the door must be folded to it.

Tools and consumables for assembling the door frame and installing interior doors with your own hands.

Building level

Roulette, square
saw, hammer, hacksaw
cutter, chisel
perforator
screwdriver
miter box
drills 3-4 mm and drills 4-6 mm
wood screws
dowel-nails
polyurethane foam
wooden blocks, wedges
drill bits for concrete and wood.

Assembling the door frame of the interior door with your own hands.

1. First of all, you need to choose a flat surface, it can be either the floor or a couple of tables shifted towards each other, and lay something soft, cardboard packaging from the door is also suitable. We put vertical bars (stand, hinge and porch) from the door frame with the porch to the top and put the door leaf into them. Now we need to "adjust" both standing ones so that there is a gap of 2-3 mm between them and the door leaf. To make it easier, you can use pieces of cardboard to maintain the gap, inserting them between the canvas and the stand.

2. Now we need to cut the ceiling, top crossbar to size. To do this, we apply a crossbar to our lying standing and canvas from above, align it “flush” with one of the standing ones and mark the length. It remains to saw off the bar at the mark. If you have a laminated door frame, then you need to start sawing from the laminated side. If you do the opposite, you can chip the laminate and ruin the look.

3. Again we apply the crossbar to the uprights and the canvas, and mark the dimensions of the protrusions of the porch for sawing on the upper crossbar or on the standing ones. A hacksaw is best suited for sawing, as it has smaller teeth and a thinner web, so the laminated surface will not chip off. It is best to cut not according to the mark, but next to it. While sawing, be careful not to touch the laminated surface below. When the cuts are ready, the extra protrusions are carefully removed with a chisel.

4. We apply a lintel to the pillars and fasten them with self-tapping screws, two on each side. Usually, the upper ceiling bar is attached to the stand-by wood screws with dimensions 4 * 75 and 4 * 50. Of course, it is initially desirable to drill holes slightly smaller than the diameter of the self-tapping screws, especially for boxes made of fiberboard. Now we also need to observe a gap of 3 mm between the lintel and the top of the canvas, again, you can use pieces of cardboard.

5. Just in case, let's check the diagonal, and if everything is fine, then we proceed to sawing off the standing ones. They need to be sawn off so that there is a gap of about 10 mm between the floor and the canvas, there should also be a gap between the floor and the standing 1-2 mm, to ensure thermal expansion of the floor covering. In general, for interior doors without a threshold, it is customary to leave a gap between the floor and the canvas of 5-10 mm, this is necessary to ensure air exchange, and a gap of 10-15 mm is left at kitchen doors. Here it is needed for a sudden gas leak, since the gas is heavier than it falls to the floor, and when the door is closed with a small gap, the kitchen will quickly fill with gas, and for it to explode, it is enough to turn on the light, and with a normal gap, it will spread throughout the apartment, thanks to which a leak can be identified by smell even before the critical volume.

If you have a door frame with semicircular sections of the porch, then a rectangular joint will not work, since the joints will be very noticeable, in such cases the joints are made at an angle of 45 °. To make such connections, you will need a miter box.

When assembling and installing door frames and interior doors with a threshold, such as entrance or bathroom doors, the threshold is installed in the same way as the lintel. The only difference is that after installing the upper crossbar, the posts are sawn off 3 mm longer than the door leaf in order to maintain the gap.

Installation of hinges, awnings, on the box and the interior door.

Before installing the hinges (hinges), you must first determine where the doors will open, outward or inward, and in which direction, to the left or to the right. Accordingly, we select the left and right loops. If you turn on figurative thinking, and imagine that the door opens on you to the left side, then you need “left” hinges, if to the right side, then “right” ones. The hinges consist of two parts, cards, one of which is screwed to the door leaf, and the second to the frame.

Where the door will open, into the inside of the room or out, depends on the premises where the doors are installed. If the installation of interior doors is carried out in small rooms (pantry, bathrooms, balcony, loggia), then the doors should open outward, in large rooms the doors usually open inward.

1. Now we mark the hinges on the box and the door leaf. Generally, there should be 200mm from the top of the top loop to the edge of the fabric and from the bottom of the bottom loop to the edge. We take out pieces of cardboard from the vertical slots between the canvas and the uprights (we don’t touch the honeycomb of the upper crossbar and the door of the cardboard), move the canvas to the side where the lock will be. We insert the loops into the enlarged gap, measure them, and mark their locations with a pencil. For the convenience of work from below, the standing ones can be carefully fastened with a wooden plank, a bar.

2. After marking, we take the canvas out of the box, put it carefully on the edge, apply the loops to the marked places and draw them around the contour with a pencil.

3. Then you need to make a sample for hinges with a depth of one hinge card, with a well-sharpened chisel or cutter. Since the selection for loops cannot be corrected in the future, you need to work carefully. When working with a chisel, you first need to walk along the contour of the future loop, while retreating 1-2 mm inward and try not to cut deeper than the thickness of the loop card. When sampling wood for sheds, you need to regularly try on a sample map to control the boundaries and depth of sampling.

4. We apply the hinge cards to the selected places and fasten them to the door, initially drilling holes for the screws so that the canvas does not crack. The caps of the self-tapping screws should be flush.

5. Now you need to cut the hinges onto the standing ones, for this we put the canvas back on the box and check the marking places on the box, we also make a selection and fasten the second card (part) of the loop. It is only necessary to carefully insert into the door frame due to the fragility of the structure, so it must be held well, it is not advisable to lift it. You can embed the hinges into the floor before assembling the box, making all the necessary measurements and markings for this, or after installing the door frame in the doorway.

Many advise installing three hinges on the door, the third is placed either in the middle or between the middle and the upper hinge (hinge) about 50 cm from the top of the door leaf to reduce the load on the upper hinge. Because over time, under the weight of the door leaf, the screws screwed into the upper hinge begin to break their seats and the door sags, and various attempts to strengthen the upper hinge do not help. Therefore, experienced craftsmen recommend installing three hinges at once, and it will be difficult to find the same one later.

If you want to simplify your work or are afraid to spoil the door with a frame, then you can install overhead butterfly hinges that do not need to be cut in, but there is one thing, it is not advisable to install them on doors weighing more than 40 kg, but for budget (laminated, veneered) they are perfect.

Do-it-yourself installation of the door frame in the opening.

Before starting installation, you need to make sure that the doorway is clean and there is nothing superfluous in it. If the opening is very wide, then it can be reduced by installing one or two beams at the installation sites of the standing ones, the width required to the missing size.

During the installation of the door frame, you need to make sure that the transverse is horizontal, and the vertical ones. We fasten the upper part of the box with wedges at the junction of the standing and transverse, if the opening is much wider than the door frame, then bars can be installed. To fix the lower part, you will need a bar, 6 mm more than the width of the door leaf in order to maintain the gap, it will play the role of a temporary lower cross to wedged the lower part of the door frame. We expose the standing ones strictly vertically, check them with a level, put the lower spacer and burst them with wedges. You can check the box diagonally.

When the door frame is exposed and aligned, we fix it.

We fix the door frame with dowels or anchors. If the walls are brick or concrete, then first in the standing rooms you need to drill holes with a drill for wood at the places where the hinges are attached, and on the opposite standing room, to fix the box, it is drilled at the place of the porch. Just in case, we again check the level of the door frame and if everything is as it should be, we put a drill on concrete with a diameter of 4 mm and carefully outline the location of future holes for the dowels through the drill holes. After that, the door frame can be removed, we put a drill on concrete with a larger diameter of 6 mm, drill holes for dowels or anchors, insert them, and then put the door frame in place.

In the resulting holes we place screws, dowels, but they need to be driven only halfway. It is recommended to check again the correctness of the installation with a level and, if necessary, adjust it correctly. If everything costs as you need, you can safely drive the screws or dowels all the way. But be careful, with a strong tightening of the screws, the box may bend, so that this does not happen, you can use wooden wedges. Just in case, we again check the door frame with a level and if everything is fine, then you can install the door in place. We check for opening and closing, we also check the gaps between the door leaf and the box.

There is another way to attach the door frame. We will need mounting plates, direct hangers for attaching the profile to the wall, used in working with drywall. They can also be used in conjunction with the above method. You just need to apply them before finishing the walls, or you can drill seats for them, fix the door frame, cut off the excess from the plates and finish at the attachment points.

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Instead of hangers, you can use metal mounting corners.

And if beauty and aesthetics are not important to you or you are in a hurry, then you can fix the door frame by simply drilling the stand-alone holes in two or three places on each side and drowning the self-tapping screws.

A little advice. Try not to anchor into the masonry joints, there are dowels in them, the anchors almost do not hold.

Now, with the help of mounting foam, we finally fix the door frame, after pasting it with adhesive tape. To increase the adhesion of the foam to the wall, it must be moistened with water. Since the foam increases in volume when it dries, about a third of the empty space between the doorway and the box needs to be filled. Vertical seams need to start filling from the bottom. After foaming, the door must be closed, pieces of cardboard should be inserted between the box and the door so that the foam does not squeeze the door frame, otherwise the door may not open, or open the door frame with spacers. For complete drying of the foam, you must wait one day, and then it will securely fix the box.

After that, you can remove all unnecessary and proceed to the installation of platbands.

doorway decoration

Platbands on the door

The seam with foam between the box and the wall is closed with platbands. In the corners, the platbands are connected to the "mustache", with the help of a bevel or miter box they are cut at an angle of 45 degrees. The platbands are attached to the door frame with finishing nails or screws with special plugs, initially drilling holes about 50-75 cm apart. The platbands should recede from the edge of the door frame by 10-15mm. on the thickness of the hinge connection.

Dobory in the doorway.

Since sometimes the thickness of the doorway is greater than the thickness of the door frame, the opening is trimmed with an additional strip. You can attach the bar to the opening with building silicone.

If the doorway is wider than the door frame and you do not want to install extensions, then you can plaster the “surplus” of the opening. How to do this, you can read in the article. If the door frame is made of fiberboard, then such a finish cannot be used, since fiberboard is afraid of moisture and can swell.

Do-it-yourself assembly and installation of interior doors, as you can see, does not require a lot of time and effort of many people. Doors can be installed by one person, the main thing is to do everything right, take your time, measure everything accurately and you will succeed no worse than professional installers.

Making your own door frame

It often happens that the door frame is not included with the door, or it is included, but sold unassembled, or it is available, but does not fit your doorway - not all types of door frames are suitable for the openings for which they are intended . Or you are just confident in your abilities and want to save money by making a box with your own hands. And there is nothing impossible in this. But still, before you make a door frame, check the availability of the necessary tools and materials, which will be discussed below.

What is a door frame made of?

All types of door frames are based on four profile bars - two long ones, located vertically and constituting the side parts of the box, and two short transverse ones, which are respectively the upper and lower parts of the box.

Removing the dimensions of the future door frame

Bars for the box can be bought ready-made or made by yourself, it all depends on your desire, skills and available tools.

If you are making a box from scratch, you need to start by taking measurements. You can do this in two ways:

  • On the finished door.
  • Through the doorway.

    If you are using a door to be installed as a basis, measure the sides of the door first, adding 5 cm to each. Then measure the top and bottom of the door, also adding 5 cm each. Calculate the results and you can start cutting.

    Preparing for cutting and making parts

    It is better to start with the bars intended for the side parts of the door frame. The prepared bars are placed on the floor, at the same level, so that the grooves are on top. On them it is necessary to mark the upper and lower borders of the door, taking into account the thickness of the threshold. Then, bars are applied for the upper and lower parts of the door, on which marks are also made for the future cutting line.

    After that, you can cut the blanks under the box. First, in order to avoid errors, it is desirable to cut off the blanks with some margin. After that, they should be tried on, and only then make a more accurate fit of the parts.

    Production and docking of the door frame

    There are two ways to join the side and transverse parts of the box:

    • at an angle of 90 degrees;
    • at an angle of 45 degrees.

    The second method is more difficult, it requires certain skills and extreme accuracy. And for those less experienced in such matters, it is better to use the first method, and cut the side parts at an angle of 90 degrees.

    Side preparation

    Then, on one of the side parts, which will be located on the side of the loops, you need to mark the places where the loops will be. Do this by attaching this part to the side surface of the door. The depth of the groove is made equal to the thickness of the hinge leaf. The recesses for the hinges are cut out very carefully so as not to damage the door leaf. With your own hands, this is easy to do with a chisel and a hammer, while experts usually use an electric cutter.

    Next, you need to put the loops into the recesses prepared for them in this way, and using a drill, make recesses for self-tapping screws on the side surface. Moreover, the diameter of the recesses should be less than the diameter of the screws that will be located here. Then, using self-tapping screws, the hinges are attached to the door leaf.

    A latch lock is installed on the other side surface of the door.

    Do-it-yourself box assembly

    It is most convenient to assemble the details of the door frame into a single whole with your own hands on the floor covered with cardboard or paper. The actual assembly of the box consists in connecting the prepared parts with self-tapping screws. But first, you need to very carefully combine one of the corners of the box, and drill a couple of holes from the side of the transverse bar into the end of the longitudinal part with a drill or screwdriver. This is done to prevent damage to the door leaf with self-tapping screws in the future. Further, self-tapping screws are screwed into the prepared holes. Thus, two self-tapping screws are screwed into all corners of the box (at a right angle).

    Do-it-yourself door frame installation

    After the manufacture and assembly of the box is completed, you can begin its installation in the doorway, for which you will first need to “try on” the box made. Check the verticality of the box with a plumb line, and the squareness of all corners. It is possible that you will first need to fit the box, which consists in eliminating gaps with wedges or foam.

    After that, the box is attached to the slopes with dowels. Don't forget to make sure there are no "adjusting" wedges or slats visible anywhere. Only after this can the manufacturing process of the door frame be considered complete. Then it remains only to hang the door leaf on the hinges and attach the trim.

    In general, assembling a door frame with your own hands is not as simple as it might seem. Still, this requires some experience. But if you are still determined, first you should study the theory of this process well, and study useful photo and video materials on it.

    How to make a door frame: DIY process

    The door frame is basically a frame that contains bars and folds. Strengthen the box with special bolts or use steel lining.

    The door frame can be assembled with your own hands using wooden blocks and fasteners.

    Use a plumb bob and level to prevent unevenness when setting up the box. In the case of stone walls, the box is attached to wooden corks using nails. If the walls include slabs, the structures will only be supported by brackets.

    Self-made box

    In order to understand how to make a door frame with your own hands, you need to familiarize yourself with some points of the work itself.

    To begin with, dimensions are taken. There are 2 ways to retrieve data:

    • along the doorway;
    • on the installed door.

    For example, the calculation of data on the current door. First, measure the sides, add 5 cm on all sides of the door. Next, measure the threshold and the upper part of the system, leaving room for an allowance. Then they calculate the footage and start sawing.

    Next, the bars are folded on the floor, they will be needed when setting up the side box. They should lie on the level, grooves on top. Mark the upper and lower boundaries of the future door, while adding the thickness of the threshold. From the bars that are applied to the threshold and the crossbar, certain notches are made so that the sawing line is visible.

    Scheme for taking measurements of the doorway.

    Then the prepared materials are sawn for collection. After cutting the blanks, it is necessary to adjust them to the appropriate size. In one of the blanks, a slot is made for future loops using a chisel and a hammer. Before you start doing, you need to know the necessary side of opening the structure.

    To continue self-assembly, it is necessary to use self-tapping screws and nails for the strength of the future structure. Next, hinges are hung and the doorway is strengthened. Even out the gaps.

    The necessary tools to help assemble the door are:

    Use a set of screwdrivers of different configurations, use pliers, crowbar, small nail pullers.

    A hammer drill is required to punch a hole in concrete. A miter saw can prepare materials for the door. Quite a lot does and electric milling cutter. With the help of it, holes of the necessary locks and hinges are made in a short period of time. If there is a large set of cutters, then even better. If it is necessary to make a door frame with special quality, a woodworking machine will also be needed.

    Some Features

    Door frame device.

    The process itself looks something like this. First, a smooth board 5 cm thick (maybe several) is prepared, 4 identical segments are made from it. 2 of them are equal to the length, 2, respectively, to the width of the opening.

    At the same time, the segments have processing of only 3 sides - they must be made very smooth, the 4th is placed near the wall. Focusing on the width of the board, make a cut into which the door will be inserted.

    An incision is made only on the side where it opens. If a double door is planned, cuts are made on all sides. It is easier to make cuts on the machine, where it is possible to raise the table and adjust the required length. The existing material is cut to the required length, all ends are machined.

    When all the necessary blanks have been prepared, they begin to process the transverse segments. Longitudinal compartments of standard doors are 193 cm, transverse - 90 cm. The cut at the end of the door frame should be 1.5 cm deep and 5 cm wide.

    First, you need to attach all the strapping located on the top and side, and only then begin to install the box itself in the doorway. In this case, there must be a space between the door and the wall of 2 cm. In the future, it is used as thermal insulation.

    One of the important elements in fixing the door is washed down. There are 2 options for sawing boxes: 45° and 90°.

    The scheme washed down the door frame.

    I washed down the boxes at 45 ° as follows:

    • boards are taken;
    • the necessary marks are made on the inside, the unnecessary is removed;
    • sawing angle inside should correspond to 135°, and outside 45°, along the length of the vertical boxes should be standard and the same.

    The same is done with horizontal small bars. It differs only in that it is necessary to saw off from all sides. The most important thing is not to make mistakes in sizes.

    To assemble the box at 90 °, place the finished parts of the future door on a flat surface. The corners are neatly connected with self-tapping screws, screwing 2 self-tapping screws into all corners (at right angles).

    To keep the door frame in the desired position, several methods can be used:

  • Strengthening the door frame with small rails. Reiki must be fixed perpendicular to the racks with small nails (screws).
  • Adding wide and hard corners that are designed for fastening. Install all corners, carefully checking the perpendicularity and verticality.
  • A box is inserted into the doorway and correctly centered. At the end of all work, be sure to check for cracks, distortions and other irregularities. If necessary, use a seal.

    In order for the box to be fixed qualitatively in those places where there is contact with the wall, a sealant is placed.

    At the end of all additional operations, the perpendicularity of the elements on the side is checked.

    Of course, if you use all the specialized tools and assistants who can supply parts if necessary, making a door on your own will be quite simple. So choose the option that suits you. Good luck!

    We assemble and install the door frame with our own hands


    In most cases, the door frame comes already assembled with the door. But you can often meet a product from different components, especially if you need to assemble a structure for a non-standard doorway. The very process of assembling and installing such a device is quite complicated, especially if there is at least minimal knowledge and skills in carpentry.

    But nothing is impossible for a person, and therefore he is able to assemble a door frame with his own hands. Naturally, this will require a lot of effort to conduct the correct measurements and process the material. But if you follow a consistent algorithm for the execution of work, everything can be done in a short time, saving both time and money.

    What is a door frame for?

    Under the door frame means a special element. used in the design of the doorway, which essentially acts as a supporting structure on which the canvas is hung. In its form, it follows the contour of the doorway, framing its inner part. It is on it that hinges are hung, on which the door leaf will open or close. Without a door frame, it is simply not possible to install the door itself.

    The structure of the box includes several basic elements: side frames, top cross and nut. If necessary, the kit can be supplemented with extras. But in order to fully understand the sequence of doing all the work with your own hands, you need to consider all the stages from choosing the right material to installing the finished box in the doorway. But let's talk about everything in order.

    Material for the manufacture of the door frame


    If the homeowner decided to independently assemble and install the door frame, then first you need to choose quality material. In this case, the choice should be based on the weight parameters and dimensions of the canvas, since all the load from it will go to the door frame. At the same time, the following materials are considered popular for assembling a door frame:

    • wood;
    • metal corners;
    • finished sidewalls from MDF.

    The most popular is wooden box. which you can easily do yourself. In this case, the selection of suitable bars usually does not create any special problems. There are already prepared blanks on the construction market, from which you can quickly construct a frame for a doorway with your own hands. All that is needed is to fit to the required dimensions and connect the constituent elements into a single structure.

    Wood is a durable, practical and, most importantly, environmentally friendly material. It is fairly easy to process. In most cases, do-it-yourself pine is used to assemble a door frame, but due to its comparative softness, it does not have high strength. Therefore, for the front door, it is better to use harder types of wood, such as oak.

    If we consider MDF as a material for a door frame, its use is advisable only in openings between rooms with a low level of humidity. Metal structures are leading in their strength, but to work with them you will need a welding machine, and outwardly they do not look very aesthetically pleasing.

    DIY tool kit

    In order to obtain a quality result, it is important prepare the instrument according to the following list:

    • a hacksaw for wood and a miter box for cutting parts at the right angle;
    • electric screwdriver or a set of screwdrivers;
    • chisel for chamfering under door canopies;
    • drill with rebound function for attaching the box to the wall;
    • construction hammer, water level and a simple pencil;
    • mounting foam bottle, nails, wedges and fasteners.

    Preparatory stage


    On the door leaf with an electric cutter or chisel, chamfers are selected for the installation of canopies. Important keep the minimum distance from the extreme top and bottom of the canvas to the loop, which should be 200 mm.

    At the next stage, slopes are cut strictly at an angle of 45 degrees. Then the prepared part is applied to the door leaf, and the attachment points of the canopies on the jamb are outlined. Again, with the help of a chisel or its electric substitute, recesses are made according to the size of the loops.

    In the resulting recesses are invested corresponding halves of the loops. which are fastened with self-tapping screws using a screwdriver. But holes are pre-made to prevent cracking of the wood. It is important that the diameter of the drill is slightly less than the thickness of the self-tapping screw.

    Do-it-yourself box assembly and installation

    The next stage of independent work is the assembly of the door frame, which provides certain sequence of actions .


  • The ends of the upper crossbar of the door frame, in accordance with the dimensions of the leaf, are cut at an angle of 45 degrees.
  • The slope structure should be 5 mm along the inner perimeter, larger than the main canvas.
  • To fasten the elements of the door frame, holes are made at the corners of the structure.
  • The length of the slopes is also shortened in accordance with the dimensions of the door leaf, taking into account the necessary clearances. According to technology, the gap between the lower edge of the canvas and the floor surface should be 10-15 mm.
  • The blanks are folded in the shape of the letter "P" on a flat, clean floor and are interconnected using self-tapping screws through holes made in advance.
  • In the grooves for the installation of hinge mechanisms, through holes are made for attaching the door frame to the wall. With the help of a dowel, the upper part of the structure is fixed in the doorway.
  • The structure of the box is aligned with the water level and fixed at the bottom with dowels.
  • After fixing, wedges are pushed into the resulting gap between the box and the wall, and the screws are finally tightened.
  • If we consider how to install a door frame in a wooden building, then there are some nuances. First of all, it is necessary to provide removable casing bars from the side of the handle, thanks to which you can increase the width of the structure. This is primarily due to the shrinkage of wood after the construction of the house for 6 years.

    Installing a lock mechanism with a latch

    Fastening the door handle is an important stage, since it will depend on it. ease of use of the door for its intended purpose.


  • The door is settled in a horizontal position and at a distance of 100-120 cm from the bottom on the side opposite from the canopies, a hole for the latch is drilled with a crown of the appropriate diameter.
  • The latch is inserted into the recess and circled around the perimeter with a marker. Further. a cutter or chisel makes a recess under the front bar.
  • The valve body is inserted into the recess in such a way that it is placed in the same plane with the level of the end of the door leaf.
  • On the door leaf under the handles, marks are made along which holes are drilled.
  • The latch is placed in its place and secured from the end with self-tapping screws.
  • In conclusion, also with the help of self-tapping screws handles are fixed and decorative special overlays. Their fastening is carried out with special hexagons.

    Hanging door leaf

    At the next stage the canvas is hung on hinges. attached to the door frame.

  • When hanging the door, use self-tapping screws to fasten the hinges. At the same time, the canopies will hide the attachment points of the box in the doorway.
  • After the canvas is installed in its place, it should not spontaneously open or close.
  • Wedges are driven into the upper part of the box for reliable fixation.
  • At the next stage, a striker plate is attached under the latch. To do this, the door is covered and a place is marked at the level of the bolt. In the door frame, holes are drilled according to the diameter of the latch.
  • At the next stage, the second half of the box is fixed. To do this, the door closes and the same gap is set along the entire length of the canvas.
  • At the height of the latch, a wooden wedge is inserted into the gap between the box and the opening, which is attached to the wall with a self-tapping screw through the hole for the locking mechanism.
  • In conclusion, the box is securely fixed with wooden wedges. and the locking plate for the latch is installed in its place, thereby hiding the place where the structure is attached to the wall.

    Filling mounting gaps with foam

    In order to prevent the penetration of drafts into the room through the gaps between the box and the wall, as well as to more reliably fix the door structure, all gaps filled with mounting foam .


  • Use masking tape to prevent foam from entering the faceplates.
  • The gap between the box and the opening is wetted with water and filled with construction foam.
  • After the final hardening of the foamed sealant, it is cut off with a knife, and the adhesive tape is removed together with the remaining foam.
  • Installation of decorative platbands

    The final stage of the installation of the door frame is its decorative trim with cash.

  • Docking of platbands is carried out at an angle of 45 degrees. For this purpose, a hacksaw and a miter box are used.
  • Before fixing the platbands, a sealant is applied to the surface of the jambs.
  • The prepared parts of the casing are fastened with small nails with cut heads.
  • With a minimum set of tools, consumables, and the main desire, everyone will be able to assemble and install the door frame with their own hands. In this case, all work will take just a few hours. The main thing is to control the installation of the box in accordance with the water level and the plumb line.

    Zabarankov Stanislav Egorovich

    Installing the door frame of an interior door with your own hands is not as easy as it seems at first glance, so you need to approach this process with all responsibility. Before proceeding to work, it is worth carefully studying all the theoretical aspects of the work, preparing the required materials and tools. In addition to studying the stages, you can watch a video containing detailed instructions for performing the work. This will allow you to complete the installation without errors.

    In order to mount an MDF box, of course, there cannot be a universal set of tools, but a list of the most necessary ones still exists. The first thing you need in almost any job is a marking pencil, a tape measure with a square and a knife. To prepare grooves for locks with hinges, well-known chisels cannot be dispensed with. In addition, you will need hammers, a level with a plumb line and a hacksaw. You need to buy screwdrivers and pliers.

    Do not be afraid of power tools, since installation is hardly possible without a drill or screwdriver. In addition, a screwdriver is used not only for screwing in screws, but also instead of a drill, only with less power. A puncher will be needed for installation in the same way as a miter saw, with which the elements will be prepared.

    The ideal option would be a universal trimming tool, which will allow not only to prepare elements such as additional strips, but also to trim the trim. A milling cutter will be of great help in the work, with which you can quickly make holes for locks, hinges or crossbars.

    Opening preparation

    If you still wondered how to assemble an interior door with your own hands, the first thing to start with is to check how even the wall is relative to the vertical. This is done by measuring the opening along the horizontal axis, and then along the vertical axis. It is best to take measurements in several places. The main goal is to create a gap of about 1.5 cm. It should be borne in mind that it must be present on all sides, and the difference in size between the opening and the door should be 2-3 cm.

    Diagram of a door frame in a wall opening

    There are times when the door leaf does not fit the opening a little in size. What to do in this case? For example, if the opening is larger, you can narrow it down a little by stuffing a plank of the required width over the entire area. If the difference is large enough, you can resort to brickwork, that is, lay the extra space with bricks.

    You can use another option: make a metal frame, followed by plasterboard wall cladding. If we talk about the ideal option, you must first make the necessary measurements, and then purchase the door and install it. This will avoid many of these problems.

    box assembly process

    Today, there are only three ways to assemble the door frame of an interior door with your own hands: with a tenon joint, fastening the bars at angles of 45 ° and 90 °. As for the first option, special spikes are made on adjacent bars. With their help, the connection takes place. The height of the spikes, as a rule, is similar to the thickness of the timber.

    What is the 45° assembly technology? At the junction of the horizontal beam and the vertical one, a cut is made on both sides at the specified angle. When determining the length of the bars located vertically, it is necessary to take into account their thickness, the height of the opening itself and the size of the gaps. Their length must be the same.

    As for the horizontal bars, you need to add up the thickness of all the beams vertically, the gaps, as well as the width of the door itself. Before cutting, it is necessary to check the measurements several times to see if the calculations were made correctly. Fastening can be done with nails or screws, and they must be screwed in at the same angle of 45 °.

    If the connection occurs at a right angle, then the element, which is located horizontally, is installed on a vertical beam. This method is one of the simplest, however, it involves sawing off the porch on vertical bars.

    Once the bars are ready, you can assemble the door frame of the interior door with your own hands. All work must be done on as flat a surface as possible. When adjusting the bars, it is best to put something under them, for example, stools. To connect the structure, it is necessary to screw two screws into the corner joints. How to properly assemble the door frame, you can see on the presented videos.

    How to install hinges?

    The main thing is to decide on the operation of the door: where it will open. Before starting work, you will need to purchase the loops themselves and all the necessary tools. The side of the web for inserting loops should be chosen the one that is more massive and does not have any cracks and defects. Features of the insert depend on the type of loops. Installation of interior doors of a standard type is most often carried out on two hinges.

    As a rule, they are quite enough. If we are talking about input structures, three loops can be installed here for greater reliability. For optimal load distribution, the third loop is installed slightly above the middle. You can determine the place where you want to install the hinges as follows: measure 20 cm from the bottom and top and mark up. Next, the loop is applied to the marked place on the end of the door and circled with a pencil, then with a knife.

    Now, with the help of a hammer and a chisel, it is necessary to cut out a place for the loops about 3-5 mm deep, otherwise they will either hang out or stick out. In order to get the ideal depth, you need to cut the tree gradually, applying a loop periodically. The final stage is fitting loops and marking places for screwing screws. Next, holes are drilled. The hinges are fixed with screws.

    How to mount the frame in the opening?

    The block is mounted using self-tapping screws. It would, of course, be possible to fasten with anchors, but this is not advisable. Most often, in order to qualitatively fix the structure, 3 fasteners are enough. When assembling an MDF box with your own hands, the fastening elements must be masked with a hinge striker, as well as a lock. Next comes the installation in the opening itself. The rack is also fastened with self-tapping screws.

    The next step is hanging the canvas itself, which needs to be well strengthened. When fixing the door leaf in a vertical way, it becomes fixed. After that, the lock rack is attached. On the canvas, you need to display the same gap between the crossbar and the uprights. It should not be more than 3 mm, otherwise the aesthetics of the door will be compromised.

    If, on the contrary, it is made smaller than the indicated size, then over time, due to changes in humidity and wear of the hinges, it is likely that difficulties may arise with closing and opening. In buildings with brick walls, before installing the racks, you need to prepare mortgages for self-tapping screws. On each side, 4 spacers made of wood are mounted.

    The gap formed during the work is removed with ordinary mounting foam, but you should be very careful not to stain the coating of the door itself with it. The foam hardens, as a rule, for 3 hours, however, the end of the process occurs in a day, when it becomes approximately 3 times larger in volume. When working with it, it is necessary to take into account the mentioned property, since if you “go too far”, then the elements of the block may suffer.

    It is worth noting that the assembly of the box is a rather complicated process, which includes certain steps that require special attention. All work must be done step by step to avoid mistakes and disappointments. You can learn how to properly assemble the door frame of an interior door with your own hands from the video.

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