What do I need to know before rehanging original doors?

Question

The previous owner of my house removed several interior doors, but kept them in the basement in case they were needed later. We now, in fact, want to restore the unit to having doors in these doorways. When I search for information on rehanging doors, I only find tips for making a new door fit an old frame, and for rehanging a door with a new orientation (changing the hinge side). Neither my partner (who is much handier than me, but less internetty) nor I has ever hung a door before, but we are hoping this will be somewhat easy, since the doors and doorways are already a match. We just need to put them up.

Are there tools, preparation, or explicit steps that could benefit us?

Answer 1

You need to identify which door goes in which opening.

• If they're newer "pre-hung" doors of the same brand, then the doors should all be exactly the same size and the hinges will have been installed at the factory into precut mortises that are spaced exactly the same distance from the top & bottom of the doors.

  There's a chance that different brands of pre-hung doors may have somewhat different spacing for the hinges.

• If they were hung on site, then it's likely that the spacing of the hinges will be slightly different from door to door (even if it's only 1/4" or 1/8"), and you need to be sure to put the door back in its proper place.

• There could also be differences in the latch/strike plate locations if the doors were hung on site instead of at the factory.

If the hinges were removed from the frames but left attached to the doors (with the hinge pin).

• Have one person hold the door in the proper location and have a second person screw the hinges into the frames.

  From personal experience, the door can be a bit wobbly when you're holding it. I tend to get one screw in the top hinge, lightly screwed in, then get a screw in the bottom hinge, lightly screwed in. This helps holding it in place. Then add the other screws, then tighten them all down.

• If you don't have all the original screws, you'll need to get some matching screws from the store.

  Remove one screw from a door, take it to your hardware store & buy enough matching screws to hang all the doors.

  Generally, the screws are brass or silver colored to match the hinge leaf color. Replacement screws don't have to match, but it's a nice touch and, frankly, they'll stand out if they don't.

  If the holes (in either the door or frame) appear to be a bit "rough" or worn, it would be worth getting screws of the same diameter (so they'll still fit through the holes in the hinge leaves), but of greater length so that at least some of the screw will bite into fresh wood. You can also fill the hole (toothpicks and wood glue have always worked for me) before driving the screws home. 1/2" to 1" of additional length (depending on the length of the current screws) should be sufficient in most cases.

If the hinge leaves were left in both the door & frames and just the hinge pins were removed.

• All you need to do is put the proper door in the proper frame and insert the hinge pins.

  Use a small hammer to tap them down into place. You can use the handle of a large screwdriver as your hammer - this is handy if your aim isn't particularly good, as the plastic screwdriver handle won't damage the edge of the door or the door frame if you happen to miss.

• If the hinge pins are missing, obviously, you'll need to get replacements for those.

  If the hinges are reasonably modern (i.e. from, say, the 1950s or newer) I believe they're pretty standard sizes. If they're older, they may be more decorative and different sizes. I'm not sure of the availability of just the hinge pin, but I'd take one out of a door and head to the hardware store to browse the selection and see what they've got. Look for one of a matching diameter and length.

  If you've got a 3" hinge, for example (pretty standard for doors, interior & exterior), the length should be the same for the pin and the diameter might vary.