Is There An Easy Fix?

AGC

Should have been a simple trim job, door casing! Around a pre-hung door. The home owner framed out the walls and installed the door himself. The door is hung plumb and square. The walls don’t come close. For instance, the hinge jamb face is flush with the drywall top to bottom and the striker hinge jamb face sticks out past the drywall more than 1 inch at the top and tapers to the bottom then becomes flush with the drywall. On the other side of the door. The hinge side jamb face sticks out a ¼ inch at the bottom then sinks bellow the drywall ½ inch at the top. The striker side jamb face is sunken bellow the drywall 1 inch at the top and bottom. Any suggestion how to make this work without removing drywall and reframing the walls correctly? Drywall is finished an painted!!!

woodmagman

Yeh....You can do a real nice job and patch a bad job and still be the guy who patched a bad job. No matter what you do, your work will look like crap. Or take it down and do it right. $500 now or a life time of WTH.......

dougchips

Nothing will ever look perfect to another finish carpenter. I have tried running extension jambs at an angle with the worst being 2"-->0" over six feet. Sometimes if the door is at the end of a hallway you can run the same size ext jamb and fill in behind the trim. Sometimes caulking will work.

I like to bring a 6' level to see how plumb the walls are before I quote a job. I much rather not do a job than do a job and have the customer un-happy with the outcome.

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AGC

oh, gets better. carpets in and drop ceiling also.
doest sound like 500 anymore.

W.P. MYRICK

tearing down the wall and starting from scratch is the only way to be "perfect", if perfection in this imperfect world is your goal. But, if you want to "fix" the problem, the best way is to re-hang the door; remove the casing, use a nail-set to punch through the nails in the jamb, then rehang the door, "humoring" the wall. In other words, make sure the edge of the jamb is flush with the drywall. If the wall is out of plumb, then the door will be out of plumb. But, it will "look" right!

woodmagman

Then some trim carpenter needs a sparken too...that should have been o.k.ed by the HO first......double or nothing now....I know the home owner said "do what you can with what you got", and then said "WTH.....is this, could you not have fixed that before. I am sure I asked the boy who waters the the lawn and said you would".

AGC

this idea sounds like the quickist way, but the end result????
If i reset the door and hummor the wall
the door will be out of plumb about 1 inch on the stiker side jamb top to bottom.
this may look vary odd.
decisions,decisions..........

Jeremy E

I'd try to get as close as I could w/ extension jambs, then find a talented plasterer to float mud and feather it into the field of the wall to bridge the gaps where the jambs stand proud of the drywall...

tcleve4911

No way ... stop it!!!!!! feather this you lazy bastard...........

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tcleve4911

It really doesn't matter if things are out of plumb or level if they operate correctly and look okay to the casual observer...simple

The idea of floating this and cutting that is the lazy man's way. Knock that jamb around until it's flush to the wall, make the correct adjustments with striker, the latch & door stop. Those walls can't be that out of whack. Split the differences. Not rocket science here guys.................

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King of Crown

sounds like you are working in Arizona. I would just beat the $#!$ out of the dry wall. put the casing up and trace whare it is going, and beat the $#!$ out of it. I do it almost everyday.

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King of Crown

If you do that the door will not hit the stop propperly. If the door is plumb when it is opened and plumb when it is almost closed, the strike side will only work if it is plumb as well. If you are suggesting moving the door out of plumb to make up for the framers crap job, you've lost your marbles mate!

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hrscammisa

Hang some curtains there and call it good LOL

Teetorbilt

Get out of there! Don't you have something else to do? The HO got this far, let him finish it! I see anguish written all over this job.

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Bone Saw

couldn't agree any more

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Tom M

When wall is that out of level dont try and be the one to solve everyone elses work. Set the door even with wall so your trim sits correctly. Remove and reset the stop moulding so it closes. Then to stop the door from swing open or closed because its out of level bend the hinge pins a little to create friction. You cant be reframing walls here.

Same Old

why not?

If you're willing to come in and put casing on one door. aren't you exactly the type of contractor to take on projects like this and fix it right for the homeowner?

King of Crown

that works good on hollow core doors, or lighter doors, I wouldn't do it if they were solid.

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WNYcarpenter

How old is the house? We cut that much off the botoms of doors! We remodel 100+ year old homes...and short of a $100,000 remodel we do whatever we can. Worst case, we taper our extension jambs and reverse taper the opposite side.

Sometimes it feels like we're walking through a fun house, but historical value is what it is.

Tom M

I thought it was only a door install or casing. So why get involoved Baseboard trim, wall framing, drywall spackle and paint. When price new doors and trim for a remodel I dont go around leveling walls before estimates so you have to work these things out in the field. I never suggested to anyone to reframe a wall---only if the customer weas extremely anal and couldnt accept any other option. Just my thoughts.