Hanging a new shed door on a frame that is not level

Question

I have moved into a house that has an old shed without a door. I have just bought a tongue and groove, braced and ledged door and primed and painted it. I'm looking to install it.

I have 3 issues:

1. The frame (and therefore the shed I guess) is not level. a) Should I ignore this and hang the door level? b) or try and hang to the level of the frame?

2. The door is 76.3cm wide while the opening is 78.5cm. a) Will the door look odd with an 11mm gap on each side? b) what would be the ideal gap? c) Should I leave a smaller gap (5/6/7mm) hinge side and pack out the frame on the other side to match? d) is the gap I should leave dictated by the thickness of the hinge/ distance between the flat hinge and screw holes or do you just leave a bit if hinge overlapping the door to increase the gap?

3. I would rather have the hinges on the right as the light switch is on the left. Does it matter that the braces perhaps suggest I hang it from the left?

Thanks!

Answer 1

Almost any door should be hung plumb on both axes, level, and square. Not doing so results in undesirable movement due to gravity along with other adverse functional issues.

In this case, I'd hang the door roughly centered in the opening using shims, then I'd apply casing on the outside to cover the uneven gaps. Optionally case the inside as well. I'd then construct a threshold in an appropriate shape to mate to the door edges and the floor.

The ideal gap between a door jamb and the rough framing is one that's large enough to accommodate out-of-plumb and out-of-level conditions, along with room to shim. More is not helpful, but may also not be a problem if the casing is large enough.

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In response to the new information provided... You have a small, lightweight shed. Level the floor by any convenient means and the door opening should return to something approaching plumb/level/square. Then you can hang the door parallel to the opening and expect it to work well.