Gap around door

[Airspeed]

How much gap do you guys leave around your door? I'm thinking 1/8th"
gap all around,sound like enough? Thanks! Aaron

[Geron]

How much gap do you guys leave around your door? I'm thinking 1/8th"
gap all around,sound like enough? Thanks! Aaron

You just about have to figure out each build based on the thickness of the trim and hinge offset (hinges are different) . As a general rule 3/8 inch gap on an unfinished door seems to work in most cases. That was too much for my benroy cause I used a plastic hinge (little or no offset) You are working for about a 1/8 inch clearance on the finished door. DRYFIT everything. DRY FIT; DRY FIT; DRY FIT.

DID I SAY DRY FIT????

Cut off a little bit -- mount the trim DRY FIT. If door binds remove trim and cut a little more-- DRY FIT. Continue DRY FIT till it fits. It's easier to cut the excess off the straight sides of the door.

If all else fails get a BIG HAMMER

Did I say DRY FIT????

g

[Micro469]

How much gap do you guys leave around your door? I'm thinking 1/8th"
gap all around,sound like enough? Thanks! Aaron

You just about have to figure out each build based on the thickness of the trim and hinge offset (hinges are different) . As a general rule 3/8 inch gap on an unfinished door seems to work in most cases. That was too much for my benroy cause I used a plastic hinge (little or no offset) You are working for about a 1/8 inch clearance on the finished door. DRYFIT everything. DRY FIT; DRY FIT; DRY FIT.

DID I SAY DRY FIT????

Cut off a little bit -- mount the trim DRY FIT. If door binds remove trim and cut a little more-- DRY FIT. Continue DRY FIT till it fits. It's easier to cut the excess off the straight sides of the door.

If all else fails get a BIG HAMMER

Did I say DRY FIT????

g

Geron??? Where do you buy this "DRYFIT"????? Does it work good? You seemed to use an awful lot of it.....

[Gage]

How much gap do you guys leave around your door? I'm thinking 1/8th"
gap all around,sound like enough? Thanks! Aaron

You just about have to figure out each build based on the thickness of the trim and hinge offset (hinges are different) . As a general rule 3/8 inch gap on an unfinished door seems to work in most cases. That was too much for my benroy cause I used a plastic hinge (little or no offset) You are working for about a 1/8 inch clearance on the finished door. DRYFIT everything. DRY FIT; DRY FIT; DRY FIT.

And to think all along I thought that 1/4 inch was the norm. No wonder my doors fit so good, I didn't follow the rules again. Oh well, it's to late to do anything about it now. I just happen to think. Now I know why I can't apply any weather seal to my doors. There's no room, but they don't leak so the heck with it.

[Denny Unfried]

Aaron,

My tear has solid 3/4" walls and I cut the doors with a template and a 1/4" carbide router bit in about three passes. The 1/4" gap worked perfect after the trim was installed.

Denny

[asianflava]

I originally had 1/8 but I ended up cutting the doors down another 1/8 when I installed the trim.

[bledsoe3]

I say start with 1/4 and you can adjust from there. A belt sander will help with small areas that are too big.

[Geron]

How much gap do you guys leave around your door? I'm thinking 1/8th"
gap all around,sound like enough? Thanks! Aaron

You just about have to figure out each build based on the thickness of the trim and hinge offset (hinges are different) . As a general rule 3/8 inch gap on an unfinished door seems to work in most cases. That was too much for my benroy cause I used a plastic hinge (little or no offset) You are working for about a 1/8 inch clearance on the finished door. DRYFIT everything. DRY FIT; DRY FIT; DRY FIT.

And to think all along I thought that 1/4 inch was the norm. No wonder my doors fit so good, I didn't follow the rules again. Oh well, it's to late to do anything about it now. I just happen to think. Now I know why I can't apply any weather seal to my doors. There's no room, but they don't leak so the heck with it.

Thanks Gage, I was very unclear in my post.

Both Kuffel Creek and Mike's Generic Benroy plans recommend the 3/8 inch BUT I found that that was too Much Gap in BOTH cases. I should have stated like Bledsoe did.

"Start with 1/4" and go from there."
Easier to belt sand that shim da trim.
DONE BOTH.

Incomprehensible communicator -- that's me.

g

[Geron]

How much gap do you guys leave around your door? I'm thinking 1/8th"
gap all around,sound like enough? Thanks! Aaron

You just about have to figure out each build based on the thickness of the trim and hinge offset (hinges are different) . As a general rule 3/8 inch gap on an unfinished door seems to work in most cases. That was too much for my benroy cause I used a plastic hinge (little or no offset) You are working for about a 1/8 inch clearance on the finished door. DRYFIT everything. DRY FIT; DRY FIT; DRY FIT.

DID I SAY DRY FIT????

Cut off a little bit -- mount the trim DRY FIT. If door binds remove trim and cut a little more-- DRY FIT. Continue DRY FIT till it fits. It's easier to cut the excess off the straight sides of the door.

If all else fails get a BIG HAMMER

Did I say DRY FIT????

g

Geron??? Where do you buy this "DRYFIT"????? Does it work good? You seemed to use an awful lot of it.....

Actually, DRYFIT is not a product one purchases.
DRYFIT is what one pitches each time the door is mounted and STILL doesn't fit.

[bledsoe3]

My fits usually end up wet. Mostly whiskey.

[Sierrajack]

Hey, I got a door for sale. I used the 3/8" "rule" and wound up with a door that's wayyyyyyyy too small. 1/4" measured AFTER you've cut the door out and assuming you're using aluminum trim works fairly well. Yes, DRYFIT and then do it again several times. I did that with my hatch 8 times and now it fits like a glove.

[madjack]

...the way we trim our doors/jambs, we use 3 pieces 1/16th trim for a total of 3/16th, add in 1/8th all around and you're upto 5/16th...in our case, we found this to be too small an opening and increased it by 1/16 all around for a total of 3/8th...we use no T molding and incorporate an internal seal.....
madjack

[tonyj]

I ended up with 3/8 as well after several "Dryfits". It also depends on the thickness of your finished door. My doors are thick, so I had to factor in the arc of the inside corner of the door as it swung open. You can compensate by making the hinge side flush (no gap), but it looks nicer to try to have a somewhat even gap all around the door when it is closed.

[Keith B]

To compensate for the "inside corner" clearance, a 2-5 degree bevel will allow you to get a tighter gap... look at your house front door...almost all of them have it...closet doors, etc. usually do not.

[Ira]

How much gap do you guys leave around your door? I'm thinking 1/8th"
gap all around,sound like enough? Thanks! Aaron

You just about have to figure out each build based on the thickness of the trim and hinge offset (hinges are different) . As a general rule 3/8 inch gap on an unfinished door seems to work in most cases. That was too much for my benroy cause I used a plastic hinge (little or no offset) You are working for about a 1/8 inch clearance on the finished door. DRYFIT everything. DRY FIT; DRY FIT; DRY FIT.

DID I SAY DRY FIT????

Cut off a little bit -- mount the trim DRY FIT. If door binds remove trim and cut a little more-- DRY FIT. Continue DRY FIT till it fits. It's easier to cut the excess off the straight sides of the door.

If all else fails get a BIG HAMMER

Did I say DRY FIT????

g

If you're not handy, like I ain't--unlike Aaron who IS--this is the ONLY way to go. The only time I wanted to touch a saw was to cut the door out of the side.

From then on, it was a rasp and sander until I learned to HATE that rasp and sander.

it was like, "Hello, door! Time to sand you down!" Then, "Hello, opening! You too"

they ain't perfect, but I can't IMAGINE how they wouldhave turned out if I tried to use a tape measure to cut the opening to final, perfect "size" pre-trim and all.