Needless to say I have been remiss in documenting progress on the house. Progress has been there, just not documentation, but it’s coming … soon.

================
I had to put a door in my air conditioned/heated room that I built in the workshop. The prehung door and frame that I bought were different than any other type I’ve ever installed before. The frame splits into two halves for installation. This way you don’t have to remove and replace the trim (I like that). Side two fits into side one via a tongue and groove fitting.

I wanted to try to hang the frame with the door attached so my fit would be nice and tight. But, once I removed the plastic plug that they put in the doorknob hole the door wouldn’t stay shut. So, I had to take the hinge pins out and remove the door.

So now, how do we hang half of a door frame so the two vertical sides stay parallel all the way down and at the desired spacing so the door will fit back in nice and tight. I hemmed and hawed around awhile until it hit me, hang the door frame from the top first. So, I centered the frame in the rough opening, which left about ¼” on each side and hung it (from the top) with sheetrock screws. Figuring (more like hoping) the door corner was cut with a nice 90 degree angle, I put a big square on the frame to locate where the bottom of the frame (hinge side) should be. This allowed me to very accurately place the wedges on that side to get it just right. With two sides located properly, I went ahead and put the door back on it’s hinges. Then, I could close the door and figure what size spacers I would need on the other side of the frame to make the door sit right in the frame.

Everything turned out much better than I expected. After mounting side one; side two slid right back in just like it was supposed too. I put in a couple more drywall screws and it was done.

I know hanging a door isn’t a big deal, but I had never worked with a split frame before and I thought my solution was kind of innovative.