Recently I've seen someone miter the edge of a bathroom and closet door so it swings shut without hitting the door frame. I've never seen this before -- is it normal?
Clarification: The edge that was mitered was the part that would swing into the door frame first due to the angle the door is at while closing it.
It shouldn't be necessary. Some times it might be useful:
I believe this was pretty standard practice when interior doors were solid wood. My last house was 100 years old, and every interior door had an angle on the edge the way you describe. Was the guy you saw doing it an old-timer?
I think the practice has advantages. It allows you to get a smaller reveal between the door and frame, which might look better. It also lets you even up the reveal without resorting to shimming the hinges. And when the house shifts and the door starts to rub it's much easier to remove the offending bit since you're planing off a bit of an arris rather than a whole flat edge.
You only need to do this if you've incorrectly mounted the hinge. The better solution would be to remount the hinges so you don't have to do this.
This may be necessary to repair an old door and frame where age may have been a factor in reducing clearances.
