Whether you've bought a new, traditional internal door or a more modern style, the next vital step is to carefully and accurately hang your door. To do this you'll need to ensure you have high quality hinges that fit firmly and securely to your door and frame.
Fitting hinges to a new door isn't a complex job, but getting a safe, reliable fit, a professional looking finish and a smooth door opening operation requires a few important steps and a bit of woodworking know-how before you get started.
At Door Giant, we have put together some simple guidelines that will help you to add and adjust your door hinges for an effortless finish.
#1. If you are replacing an existing door, it often makes sense to use your existing hinges, as you can be completely sure that they'll fit the existing hinge recesses in the frame - so hang onto them! However, if they're worn out, old or no longer looking their best, try purchasing either the exact same ones or hinges of the same size to make fitting your hinges and door a lot easier.
#2. If you're undertaking a brand new door hinge fitting job and you're unsure where your hinges should be located on your door and frame, the traditional measurements are 4 inches from the top and 9 inches from the bottom of your door. A better idea is to look around your home or office at existing door hinge positions and you'll be able to get a reliable sense of where they need to go and how to achieve some visual continuity in your interior space.
#3. Once you're certain of where you want your hinges to go, lightly mark out your hinge edges using a brand new utility blade - this is far more precise than a pencil - and trace around the hinge perimeter with your knife. To make measuring easier, you can flip your hinge over so the hinge section is more firmly and securely up against the door while you're lightly scoring your hinge outline on your new door.
#4. You can then set the depth of the hinge by measuring the hinge thickness and marking out the depth using a utility blade and a ruler.
#5. The best way to guarantee that your hinge will be flush with the wood surface of your door is to slowly and methodically take away small amounts of the wood material. Start by deepening the existing perimeter cuts you've made with your utility blade before moving onto the next step.
#6. Take your hammer and apply your chisel firmly, evenly and consistently across the length of the marked out hinge section. Avoid the extreme edges of the hinge perimeter until the end of this job where you can easily tidy up the perimeter without impacting any of your precise measurements. If your door is made from pine or a similar softwood, the wood fibres can be chiselled away easily when creating your new hinge recesses.
#7. After you've repeated this process a few times you'll be able to roughly see how your hinge will look when it's in place and continue to take away more wood material accordingly until you reach a point where the hinge is perfectly flush with the door surface.
#8. Once your hinge is flush and in place you can use a nail tip to mark the dead centres of each screw hole and gently drill into the wood to create pilot holes. Add the hinge and then fix and tighten the screws in place.
#9. Place the door with the newly secured hinges into the frame and work out whether you will need to drill new frame holes in order to fit it. If the new hinges are larger than those from your old door, you'll probably need to chisel a little more out of the door frame recesses to make them fit.
#10. Place the door back into the frame and gradually begin to drill each of your screws into place, opening and closing your door to ensure there's no rubbing or sticking. If you find that your door is sticking, you may need to loosen the screws a little or chisel some more material out of the door frame recesses.
#11. Once you've made any necessary adjustments and you're happy, tighten the remaining screws and your door will fit perfectly in place.
Door Giant offers a selection of stunning Stainless Steel, Matt Black, Polished Brass and Satin door hinges to suit any home or interior design specification. Whether you're looking to find the perfect hinges for a modern or traditional project, you can browse some of the best products from trusted brands, including LPD Doors and SD Hardware.
The Eclipse 4 Inch Grade 11 Internal Ball Bearing Hinge - Satin Stainless Steel (Pair) is a brilliant choice for fitting onto fire doors, pine doors, glazed and unglazed doors of up to 80kg. Made from a hardwearing stainless steel construction with a sleek satin chrome finish, this hinge set is easy to install and secure once fitted.
