The assembly and installation of the door frame is a monotonous task requiring precise calculations and actions. One small mistake can cost several days of work or even buying a new box. There are 2 main types of door frames: with and without a threshold. Recently, the second option has been more popular. In addition to the strips themselves, the boxes have several holes and fasteners. The most important are door hinges that perform a supporting function. Manufacturers have several options for boxes in terms of readiness for quick assembly and installation. The assembly itself is of 3 main types: a baguette connection, spike (ridge) and at right angles. The second option in its broad meaning implies a time-consuming and complex process, the rest leave the opportunity to do everything from start to finish with your own hands and without any particular difficulties. To understand how to assemble a door frame, you need to know the nuances of taking measurements, preparing parts and their fastening.
The door frame is 2 vertical beams installed on the sides of the opening. Elements are supplemented by a top, mounted in the upper part of the aisle, and a threshold located below. The latter may be absent due to the characteristics of the flooring or personal preferences. In the complete set of the door frame there is an additional beam. Its task is to thicken the box, necessary in some situations.
Platbands are also attached to the door frame to decorate and hide flaws. They are mounted to the box with small nails with small hats, from the side of two adjacent rooms. The door frame is supplemented by a slot for the tongue of the castle. It is made out by a reciprocal level with the necessary openings. The frame also includes hinges for installing the web and managing it. Slots are required in the duct for a double-leaf door for lower and upper fixation of the wings.
Material selection
It is selected taking into account the weight of the canvas. It is the door frame that will take all the load - from the wings and its own weight. Safety margin should be large. The most commonly used materials are wood, micro-wood fiber (MDF boards), and metal. Mostly wood is preferred.
The material is popular due to qualities such as strength, naturalness, environmental friendliness, presentable appearance, ease of processing and processing. However, most of the nuances depend on the specific tree species. Boxes of interior doors are preferably made of pine. The front door frame needs to be made stronger. As a raw material, ordinary oak is suitable.Door frame parts are also sold ready to assemble. After their acquisition, it remains only to carry out the installation.
One of the most popular materials, ordinary oak, also has other names:
petiolate;
summer;
English.
How to take sizes correctly
There are 2 methods of taking dimensions from the door frame: taking sizes of the opening and parameters of the door leaf. In the first case, 3 indicators are measured. The height and width of the passage, the thickness of the wall in all three sides (the right and left sidewalls, the top) are measured. It is also necessary to measure the diagonal, since this indicator acts as a control in the manufacture of the door frame. The thickness of the box depends on the walls. The second option involves taking dimensions from the door.
First, the sides are measured, and 5 cm is added to the results, and then the threshold, taking into account the allowances. It must be remembered that between the closed door and the door should remain a gap of 2-3 mm on both sides. The margin between the wall and the frame is ideally 1 cm on each side. This place will be filled with foam. Thus, the door frame is made 2 cm narrower than the opening.
Necessary tools
You will need tools such as a putty knife, hammer, chisel, drill, saw, level, tape measure. A spatula is necessary for applying and leveling the plaster when decorating the doorway. A hammer will be needed to fit the elements of the side of the frame and fix the platbands. A chisel is used to remove material when inserting door hinges. A drill is needed for drilling holes: in the wall for the subsequent installation of details of the design of the opening and in the canvas for accessories. A saw will be needed to cut parts of the box, platbands, and extensions. In the case of metal elements, it is replaced by a grinder. The correct position of the elements horizontally or vertically is determined using the level. Roulette is used as the main measuring device.In the process, you will also need a planer, a square, a screwdriver, a pencil, a construction knife.
Additional devices:
nippers;
construction mixer;
plaster grater;
jigsaw.
Box assembly options
There are few of them. Basically, only three are distinguished: using a tongue-and-groove connection on the crest-groove principle, using baguette fastening (at an angle of 45 °) and connecting elements at a right (90 °) angle. In the middle price range, door frames are usually sold disassembled; like semi-finished do-it-yourself products.
It consists of a box of 3 profiled wooden bars, covered with a film in the color of the door or veneer. Vertical bars usually have a length of 210-220 cm, horizontal - 100-110 cm. Preparedness for installation of goods from different manufacturers is different. In some of them, the boards are already trimmed at 45 °, taking into account the dimensions of the canvas and are fully ready for assembly. However, most door frames are sold unprepared.
Before proceeding with the assembly, it is necessary to carry out a number of preparatory measures:
All parts are placed on the floor, separately from each other.
The goods are inspected for completeness.
Parts of the product and fittings are checked for defects. After installation, it will not be possible to return defective elements.
Framing connection
Initially, two vertical beams are taken. If the door leaf has a length of 2000 mm and the finish is 30 mm high, then the length of the short side of the bar should summarize these figures (2030 mm), and with the clearance between the finish and the door, the final result will be 2040-2045 millimeters. On the inner surface of the bars, a mark is set for the desired length of the door. Then the excess is cut off at an angle.
On the inside, the cut angle should be 135 °, which is similar to -45 ° on the outside. Two vertical boards must match in length. The same actions are performed with a short bar for horizontal placement.In this case, you need to trim from two sides. It is necessary to monitor the correct size. Before directly performing work, you need to carefully double-check the measurements.
The clearance between the frame and the door should be 3 mm.
Stud connection
This option implies the presence of grooves in the vertical slats and spikes (ridges) in the horizontal. When folded, a self-tapping hole passes through these alternating elements. With sufficient experience, this spike groove system can be done independently. To do this, you need a building beam, MDF materials will not work. Regardless of whether semi-finished boards are purchased or made by oneself, measurements are first made for processing to the required length.
A doorway is measured in several places. As a basis, the result is less. You need to know the dimensions of the door itself and add gaps for its movement, 3 mm on both sides is enough, but you can bring the figure to 5 mm. At the top of the vertical slats, grooves are made for connecting with a horizontal bar. The length of the latter is calculated taking into account these recesses. From the width of the entire box, subtract the difference in the thickness of the beam and the size of the groove.
Right angle
This is the easiest option for DIY assembly. This method involves removing from the uprights of the assembled frame the vestibule of the box to the thickness of the vertical beam. The horizontal board is sawn less, taking into account the thickness of the vertical ones. All prepared items should be placed on the floor. All parts of the frame are connected by self-tapping screws. On each side, 2 pieces are required. Corner joints of the structure are connected by fasteners, 2 screws are needed for each of the corners.
In frames sawed at 90 degrees, they are screwed in at the same right angle (at 45 ° - at an angle also of 45 °). To maintain the parallelism of the uprights and the correspondence of the distance between them, the door should be placed on the incompletely assembled frame as it will stand, and fix the gaps with wedges. Narrow openings are also created so that the wood does not crack. Hats fasteners should be inserted inside the material.
Step-by-step workshop on installing a box without a threshold
You will need:
Apply tags.
Saw the workpiece.
Milling a place under the hinges.
Assemble the door frame.
Mount it in the opening.
First of all, marking is drawn on the material for subsequent sawing. This is a very responsible step, because with a slight deviation, the workpieces can turn out to be unsuitable for use. In order for the door to serve the entire promised term, it is important to make the hinges correctly. If there is a manual router, then it is necessary to ideally set the width and depth of the sample, taking into account the parameters of the door hinge.
Before assembling the door frame, it is recommended to drill narrow holes in places for self-tapping screws. This technique significantly reduces the likelihood of violating the integrity of the product. Parts of the box are assembled very carefully: even minimal deviations are unacceptable. At the same time, considerable efforts are required to ensure the reliability of the result. Install the door frame should be in no hurry. In the process, small elements are used to pre-fix the frame. Lateral gaps are filled with polyurethane foam.
Marking and cutting blanks
The marking of the upper part of the door frame is done as follows: a bar is placed on top and marks are applied with a gap of 2-3 mm. For the template, you can use packaging cardboard. Its thickness is perfect for this. Marks can also be made with a sharp-pointed pencil. As for the width of the door leaf, then 6 mm is added to it. Boards of the door frame are cut on the machine according to the marks made. If they are veneered with natural material, then there may be problems with washing.
Natural veneer reaches a thickness of 1 mm, which means that when cutting, the board will fit into this guide with such a bias. A pointed chisel at the places of washing down removes a strip of wrapped veneer. This ensures perfect washing and tight fit of parts of the box. Next, the transverse blank and two sidewalls are sawed.Dimensions should be checked several times, so that the box is not too short, if this happens, you will need to start all over again with new materials.
Loop milling
A properly seated hole ensures the correct positioning of the hinge on the door. Accordingly, the door will function properly and will serve no less than originally calculated. When drilling a loop, it is necessary to observe the required depth, maintain a distance from the horizontal and vertical edges, adhere to the perpendicularity of the drill relative to the part, work carefully next to the rounded edges - they can easily get damaged.
It is good if there is a manual milling cutter. It is useful in many cases. On the tool, you need to set the sample width taking into account the corresponding loop parameter, as well as the depth, based on its thickness. The machine must be placed on the board box for milling the seat jack according to the marks. Roundness is removed from the corners using a chisel. During work, extreme caution is important. Cracking of the workpieces must not be allowed.
Box assembly
Before attaching the loops, it is better to drill holes in these places with a diameter smaller than that of self-tapping screws. Thus, the likelihood of cracking the board will be reduced to a minimum. Now you can start assembling the box. Self-tapping screws must be inserted at right angles to the surface of the slices. It will be necessary to ensure that the technological grooves do not overlap with self-tapping screws. Elements must be precisely combined, avoiding general displacement, since it is very difficult to correct such a defect.
To facilitate connection at the very beginning, it is better to make narrow holes. When assembling, you need to neatly, but at the same time connect the parts as much as possible. Otherwise, the self-tapping screw can even turn in the first before starting to screw into the second element - as a result, a gap will appear.Assembly is carried out on a horizontal surface, preferably on the floor.
Installing the box in the doorway
The frame is carefully placed in the opening and for some time attached with pieces of cardboard or polystyrene. Then the building level checks the correct position of the box on the hinge side. Adjust the gaps and strengthen the structure with wedges. They can be made from the remnants of the bars. Wedges are set under the loops. One more hammer in both upper corners.
The verticality of the frame is checked by level. The box is mounted through the holes for the screws. When setting the sidewalls, the horizontalness of the upper bridge is checked. If the floor is not perfectly smooth, this must be taken into account in advance, and then everything will be installed correctly. During the installation of the box, for the stability of the elements, you need to slightly foam them. Shortly before this, it is necessary to clean the surfaces of dirt and dust and spray them with water, because the coefficient of adhesion of the mounting foam to wet surfaces is much higher.
Features of installing a threshold box
Such a frame is required for bathrooms and toilets and to a lesser extent for other rooms. The floor level in bathrooms is often higher than that of an adjacent room, so installing a box with a threshold is necessary, among other things, to protect against water entering the parquet, linoleum or other coating. Fastening parts of the box with a threshold should be made with galvanized screws. The clearance for opening the door leaf is additionally 4 mm larger than that of the version without the lower bar.
Door frames with a threshold are more durable, so they can be installed in places where there is a high level of vibration, for example, next to railway tracks. Installing a frame with a lower bracket may be required in rooms with a high level of noise pollution. In addition to the soundproofing function, the threshold is able to play the role of a sealant: to prevent the outflow of air and, as a result, heat loss.
Advantages of door frames with a threshold:
partially solve the problem with drafts;
protect from dust and smoke.
Useful tips and mistakes to avoid
Due attention should be paid to the fastening of the door frame from the side of the hanging web. Do not increase the number of screws or dowels more than two, because all the load will be transmitted through the loops. No matter how many screws are attached between them, they will not change anything. There will be only extra holes in the box, sometimes very noticeable. Hardware fasteners can be hidden. It is only necessary that they be securely installed. Even the most insignificant vacillations need to be eliminated right away.
The fact is that the foam holds the lateral load well, but is practically useless when compressed. Not a problem if some fasteners were longer than necessary, and slightly came out on the other side. This will not affect the strength of the mount. If there are no cracks on the frame, then everything is in order, it remains only to slightly mask the defect if it catches your eye. However, it may not be visible at all.
If the box is made of natural wood, then self-tapping screws are used in large increments, and if from microwood fiber - with small ones.
Conclusion
To assemble the door frame, you must be able to use tools and take measurements. In this matter accuracy is of great importance. Material should be selected strong, for example, oak, despite the fact that it is denser and, accordingly, heavier than many other species. One of the key stages of the work is sizing.
It is very important to make clearances correctly. If the strips are not initially ready for assembly, you will need to process them, giving the desired size and shape. The second most important moment after measurements is milling for loops. The ability of the frame to withstand the load created by the sash for a long period of time depends on this simple-looking process.
After creating all the necessary holes, assembly begins. It is not recommended to rush at this stage.Installing the box in the doorway completes the cycle of work. Throughout this period, you will need to regularly measure the correct position of the product and its parts.
The assembly and installation of the door frame is a monotonous task requiring precise calculations and actions. One small mistake can cost several days of work or even buying a new box. There are 2 main types of door frames: with and without a threshold. Recently, the second option has been more popular. In addition to the strips themselves, the boxes have several holes and fasteners. The most important are door hinges that perform a supporting function. Manufacturers have several options for boxes in terms of readiness for quick assembly and installation. The assembly itself is of 3 main types: a baguette connection, spike (ridge) and at right angles. The second option in its broad meaning implies a time-consuming and complex process, the rest leave the opportunity to do everything from start to finish with your own hands and without any particular difficulties. To understand how to assemble a door frame, you need to know the nuances of taking measurements, preparing parts and their fastening.
Content
Parts and accessories of the door frame
The door frame is 2 vertical beams installed on the sides of the opening. Elements are supplemented by a top, mounted in the upper part of the aisle, and a threshold located below. The latter may be absent due to the characteristics of the flooring or personal preferences. In the complete set of the door frame there is an additional beam. Its task is to thicken the box, necessary in some situations.
Platbands are also attached to the door frame to decorate and hide flaws. They are mounted to the box with small nails with small hats, from the side of two adjacent rooms. The door frame is supplemented by a slot for the tongue of the castle. It is made out by a reciprocal level with the necessary openings. The frame also includes hinges for installing the web and managing it. Slots are required in the duct for a double-leaf door for lower and upper fixation of the wings.
Material selection
It is selected taking into account the weight of the canvas. It is the door frame that will take all the load - from the wings and its own weight. Safety margin should be large. The most commonly used materials are wood, micro-wood fiber (MDF boards), and metal. Mostly wood is preferred.
The material is popular due to qualities such as strength, naturalness, environmental friendliness, presentable appearance, ease of processing and processing. However, most of the nuances depend on the specific tree species. Boxes of interior doors are preferably made of pine. The front door frame needs to be made stronger. As a raw material, ordinary oak is suitable.Door frame parts are also sold ready to assemble. After their acquisition, it remains only to carry out the installation.
One of the most popular materials, ordinary oak, also has other names:
How to take sizes correctly
There are 2 methods of taking dimensions from the door frame: taking sizes of the opening and parameters of the door leaf. In the first case, 3 indicators are measured. The height and width of the passage, the thickness of the wall in all three sides (the right and left sidewalls, the top) are measured. It is also necessary to measure the diagonal, since this indicator acts as a control in the manufacture of the door frame. The thickness of the box depends on the walls. The second option involves taking dimensions from the door.
First, the sides are measured, and 5 cm is added to the results, and then the threshold, taking into account the allowances. It must be remembered that between the closed door and the door should remain a gap of 2-3 mm on both sides. The margin between the wall and the frame is ideally 1 cm on each side. This place will be filled with foam. Thus, the door frame is made 2 cm narrower than the opening.
Necessary tools
You will need tools such as a putty knife, hammer, chisel, drill, saw, level, tape measure. A spatula is necessary for applying and leveling the plaster when decorating the doorway. A hammer will be needed to fit the elements of the side of the frame and fix the platbands. A chisel is used to remove material when inserting door hinges. A drill is needed for drilling holes: in the wall for the subsequent installation of details of the design of the opening and in the canvas for accessories. A saw will be needed to cut parts of the box, platbands, and extensions. In the case of metal elements, it is replaced by a grinder. The correct position of the elements horizontally or vertically is determined using the level. Roulette is used as the main measuring device.In the process, you will also need a planer, a square, a screwdriver, a pencil, a construction knife.
Additional devices:
Box assembly options
There are few of them. Basically, only three are distinguished: using a tongue-and-groove connection on the crest-groove principle, using baguette fastening (at an angle of 45 °) and connecting elements at a right (90 °) angle. In the middle price range, door frames are usually sold disassembled; like semi-finished do-it-yourself products.
It consists of a box of 3 profiled wooden bars, covered with a film in the color of the door or veneer. Vertical bars usually have a length of 210-220 cm, horizontal - 100-110 cm. Preparedness for installation of goods from different manufacturers is different. In some of them, the boards are already trimmed at 45 °, taking into account the dimensions of the canvas and are fully ready for assembly. However, most door frames are sold unprepared.
Before proceeding with the assembly, it is necessary to carry out a number of preparatory measures:
Framing connection
Initially, two vertical beams are taken. If the door leaf has a length of 2000 mm and the finish is 30 mm high, then the length of the short side of the bar should summarize these figures (2030 mm), and with the clearance between the finish and the door, the final result will be 2040-2045 millimeters. On the inner surface of the bars, a mark is set for the desired length of the door. Then the excess is cut off at an angle.
On the inside, the cut angle should be 135 °, which is similar to -45 ° on the outside. Two vertical boards must match in length. The same actions are performed with a short bar for horizontal placement.In this case, you need to trim from two sides. It is necessary to monitor the correct size. Before directly performing work, you need to carefully double-check the measurements.
Stud connection
This option implies the presence of grooves in the vertical slats and spikes (ridges) in the horizontal. When folded, a self-tapping hole passes through these alternating elements. With sufficient experience, this spike groove system can be done independently. To do this, you need a building beam, MDF materials will not work. Regardless of whether semi-finished boards are purchased or made by oneself, measurements are first made for processing to the required length.
A doorway is measured in several places. As a basis, the result is less. You need to know the dimensions of the door itself and add gaps for its movement, 3 mm on both sides is enough, but you can bring the figure to 5 mm. At the top of the vertical slats, grooves are made for connecting with a horizontal bar. The length of the latter is calculated taking into account these recesses. From the width of the entire box, subtract the difference in the thickness of the beam and the size of the groove.
Right angle
This is the easiest option for DIY assembly. This method involves removing from the uprights of the assembled frame the vestibule of the box to the thickness of the vertical beam. The horizontal board is sawn less, taking into account the thickness of the vertical ones. All prepared items should be placed on the floor. All parts of the frame are connected by self-tapping screws. On each side, 2 pieces are required. Corner joints of the structure are connected by fasteners, 2 screws are needed for each of the corners.
In frames sawed at 90 degrees, they are screwed in at the same right angle (at 45 ° - at an angle also of 45 °). To maintain the parallelism of the uprights and the correspondence of the distance between them, the door should be placed on the incompletely assembled frame as it will stand, and fix the gaps with wedges. Narrow openings are also created so that the wood does not crack. Hats fasteners should be inserted inside the material.
Step-by-step workshop on installing a box without a threshold
You will need:
First of all, marking is drawn on the material for subsequent sawing. This is a very responsible step, because with a slight deviation, the workpieces can turn out to be unsuitable for use. In order for the door to serve the entire promised term, it is important to make the hinges correctly. If there is a manual router, then it is necessary to ideally set the width and depth of the sample, taking into account the parameters of the door hinge.
Before assembling the door frame, it is recommended to drill narrow holes in places for self-tapping screws. This technique significantly reduces the likelihood of violating the integrity of the product. Parts of the box are assembled very carefully: even minimal deviations are unacceptable. At the same time, considerable efforts are required to ensure the reliability of the result. Install the door frame should be in no hurry. In the process, small elements are used to pre-fix the frame. Lateral gaps are filled with polyurethane foam.
Marking and cutting blanks
The marking of the upper part of the door frame is done as follows: a bar is placed on top and marks are applied with a gap of 2-3 mm. For the template, you can use packaging cardboard. Its thickness is perfect for this. Marks can also be made with a sharp-pointed pencil. As for the width of the door leaf, then 6 mm is added to it. Boards of the door frame are cut on the machine according to the marks made. If they are veneered with natural material, then there may be problems with washing.
Natural veneer reaches a thickness of 1 mm, which means that when cutting, the board will fit into this guide with such a bias. A pointed chisel at the places of washing down removes a strip of wrapped veneer. This ensures perfect washing and tight fit of parts of the box. Next, the transverse blank and two sidewalls are sawed.Dimensions should be checked several times, so that the box is not too short, if this happens, you will need to start all over again with new materials.
Loop milling
A properly seated hole ensures the correct positioning of the hinge on the door. Accordingly, the door will function properly and will serve no less than originally calculated. When drilling a loop, it is necessary to observe the required depth, maintain a distance from the horizontal and vertical edges, adhere to the perpendicularity of the drill relative to the part, work carefully next to the rounded edges - they can easily get damaged.
It is good if there is a manual milling cutter. It is useful in many cases. On the tool, you need to set the sample width taking into account the corresponding loop parameter, as well as the depth, based on its thickness. The machine must be placed on the board box for milling the seat jack according to the marks. Roundness is removed from the corners using a chisel. During work, extreme caution is important. Cracking of the workpieces must not be allowed.
Box assembly
Before attaching the loops, it is better to drill holes in these places with a diameter smaller than that of self-tapping screws. Thus, the likelihood of cracking the board will be reduced to a minimum. Now you can start assembling the box. Self-tapping screws must be inserted at right angles to the surface of the slices. It will be necessary to ensure that the technological grooves do not overlap with self-tapping screws. Elements must be precisely combined, avoiding general displacement, since it is very difficult to correct such a defect.
To facilitate connection at the very beginning, it is better to make narrow holes. When assembling, you need to neatly, but at the same time connect the parts as much as possible. Otherwise, the self-tapping screw can even turn in the first before starting to screw into the second element - as a result, a gap will appear.Assembly is carried out on a horizontal surface, preferably on the floor.
Installing the box in the doorway
The frame is carefully placed in the opening and for some time attached with pieces of cardboard or polystyrene. Then the building level checks the correct position of the box on the hinge side. Adjust the gaps and strengthen the structure with wedges. They can be made from the remnants of the bars. Wedges are set under the loops. One more hammer in both upper corners.
The verticality of the frame is checked by level. The box is mounted through the holes for the screws. When setting the sidewalls, the horizontalness of the upper bridge is checked. If the floor is not perfectly smooth, this must be taken into account in advance, and then everything will be installed correctly. During the installation of the box, for the stability of the elements, you need to slightly foam them. Shortly before this, it is necessary to clean the surfaces of dirt and dust and spray them with water, because the coefficient of adhesion of the mounting foam to wet surfaces is much higher.
Features of installing a threshold box
Such a frame is required for bathrooms and toilets and to a lesser extent for other rooms. The floor level in bathrooms is often higher than that of an adjacent room, so installing a box with a threshold is necessary, among other things, to protect against water entering the parquet, linoleum or other coating. Fastening parts of the box with a threshold should be made with galvanized screws. The clearance for opening the door leaf is additionally 4 mm larger than that of the version without the lower bar.
Door frames with a threshold are more durable, so they can be installed in places where there is a high level of vibration, for example, next to railway tracks. Installing a frame with a lower bracket may be required in rooms with a high level of noise pollution. In addition to the soundproofing function, the threshold is able to play the role of a sealant: to prevent the outflow of air and, as a result, heat loss.
Advantages of door frames with a threshold:
Useful tips and mistakes to avoid
Due attention should be paid to the fastening of the door frame from the side of the hanging web. Do not increase the number of screws or dowels more than two, because all the load will be transmitted through the loops. No matter how many screws are attached between them, they will not change anything. There will be only extra holes in the box, sometimes very noticeable. Hardware fasteners can be hidden. It is only necessary that they be securely installed. Even the most insignificant vacillations need to be eliminated right away.
The fact is that the foam holds the lateral load well, but is practically useless when compressed. Not a problem if some fasteners were longer than necessary, and slightly came out on the other side. This will not affect the strength of the mount. If there are no cracks on the frame, then everything is in order, it remains only to slightly mask the defect if it catches your eye. However, it may not be visible at all.
Conclusion
To assemble the door frame, you must be able to use tools and take measurements. In this matter accuracy is of great importance. Material should be selected strong, for example, oak, despite the fact that it is denser and, accordingly, heavier than many other species. One of the key stages of the work is sizing.
It is very important to make clearances correctly. If the strips are not initially ready for assembly, you will need to process them, giving the desired size and shape. The second most important moment after measurements is milling for loops. The ability of the frame to withstand the load created by the sash for a long period of time depends on this simple-looking process.
After creating all the necessary holes, assembly begins. It is not recommended to rush at this stage.Installing the box in the doorway completes the cycle of work. Throughout this period, you will need to regularly measure the correct position of the product and its parts.