Door
Also called: panelled door, ledged and braced door, flush door, framed door, batten door, glazed door
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A door is a hinged or sliding panel that closes an opening in a wall, hung in a frame that is made to fit both the opening and the door with small, deliberate clearances.
The frame and the door itself
An inside door frame must be made wider than the wall's own thickness, by an amount equal to the thickness of the plaster, so the frame's face finishes flush with the plastered wall. The frame is rebated, meaning a rectangular step is cut along its edge, to receive the door; that rebate is usually cut about half an inch deep, its width always matching the door's own thickness exactly, and the frame is also beaded all round, meaning a small rounded moulding is worked along its edge. Where a door's tenons will be machine-sawn, both tenons on a rail must be cut to exactly the same length, which machine sawing achieves naturally, because the rail end always sits on the saw table the same way for every cut. A third layer of thickness may be built into a door, especially a larger one, to help it keep its shape. The plainest door type, the ledged-and-braced door, built from boards held together by horizontal ledges and diagonal braces rather than a jointed frame, is typically used for sheds.
Hanging and fitting
When hanging an interior door, the hinge stile, the vertical edge of the door that will carry the hinges, is the first part fitted. The door is held up in its opening to check how well it fits; any overhang past the opening is measured, then equal amounts are planed off both sides to correct it. If a trial fit is still not quite right, the tight spots are marked, the door taken down, and the stiles planed where necessary. A door rail is planed working toward the door's centre, which keeps the stile's end grain, the surface left where the wood's fibres are cut across rather than along their length, from splintering. A try square's blade is slid under the frame's jamb head, the horizontal top member of the frame, into the door's joint, then used to mark across the edge. Fitting a door into its frame leaves a scant gap, meaning a gap slightly under the standard measurement, at the top and at each side, and hanging it usually takes two workers, one holding it in place while the other drills and drives the screws. A cabinet door's fitting clearance is roughly the thickness of one sheet of brown paper, varying somewhat with the door's size. Packing two thicknesses of cartridge paper, a heavy drawing paper used here as a thin shim, under the bottom edge while planing the top gives clearance that stops the door rasping, catching or dragging as it swings.
Hinges, closers and hardware
A rising butt hinge, which lifts the door slightly as it swings so it clears the floor and closes under its own weight, can be fitted with an added coiled spring to make a rising spring hinge, which snaps the door shut quickly; rising spring hinges are generally used on room doors. Vulcanised rubber springs do the same closing job by a different means: the door's opening stretches them, and their spring-back pulls the door shut when it is let go. A broad-suite hinge, a hinge made in a range of widths to suit different fittings, suits a door sitting slightly outset, meaning slightly proud of its frame, because a narrow-suite hinge there would set its screws too near the edge of the carcase. Recessing one hinge leaf in the door, with its twin recessed in the carcase or the jamb, the vertical side member of a door frame, spreads some of the door's weight off the screws. Once the hinge's height on the door is decided, it is held on the stile edge and each end marked with a pointed steel marker; the gauge point is then set to the middle of the hinge knuckle, the cylindrical part a hinge pin passes through, and that mark transferred to the stile edge; a gauge is also set from a mark taken at the hinge's front edge and run along the door's edge. A hydraulic door check and holder, paired with spring hinges or with separate door closers, helps govern the last stretch of the door's swing shut, stops the door slamming, and keeps it shut against strong wind. Brett (2005) gives placement guidance for UK work: a letter plate is usually centred across the width of the door, with its centre line usually sitting between 760 mm and 1450 mm up from the door's bottom.
Curved, pivoted and sliding doors
A curved door's jamb joint is usually cut slightly tighter than the door's own swing, so it clears the frame yet closes tight on both sides. A pivoted door's front-edge joint is instead set out with an arc centred on the pivot, with a radius equal to the door's own width. A sliding door can run in a slot built into the middle of the wall's own thickness, along the wall's outer face, or against the inner face of the wall, whichever suits the job. Where a threshold, the raised or flush strip at the bottom of a doorway, is fitted, the door's bottom edge is scribed to it, meaning cut to match its exact profile, leaving a small clearance gap. A groove about 3/16 in (5 mm) deep can be cut into a cabinet's carcass sides to seat each closed door, though this seating groove is often left out on cheaper work. Matching one door's width to the opening beside it forces the other door to be wider, which narrows the cupboard's own opening.