Andy, you gave the subject really good coverage. Just some additional points: a. Before using a nice Tracksaw blade to trim the bottom of the door - swipe the door with a magnet to identify any steel fastenings/staples - don’t ask😡 b. I cut my doors at a 3 degree angle on the leading edge as it opens into the room - just reduces the friction area on new carpet. c. You never mentioned rise and fall hinges.😉 Nice one Andy😀👍
Nice video. One tool I've been using the last few years dealing with doors going on and off frames is those small airbags. You can pump them up with your foot to just the right height for the mortises to line up, much easier than my old method of a bar and shims. They also work great for leveling bottom cabinets with adjustable legs I've found.
Hi Andy, very comprehensive tutorial 👍! I was fitting 12 Howdens pre-finished doors recently in quite a large property. They have a ridiculous 10mm max trim on the bottom and top. With heads out of level, the tops had to be cut angled to fit so no chance of taking much off the tops. That left the issue of removing around 20mm off the bottom of all the doors. This meant each had to have a replacement timber packed into each. Godsend of 5 minute glue but what a faff on - for £110 doors I’d expect better!
Andy, just wanted to say thanks for sharing your hard-won knowledge in this one. My mother-in-law needed some doors trimmed back after getting new carpet laid and I was able to do the job by following these instructions, in spite of it not being something I'd ever done in the past. Thanks again!
Great video Andy. I have used this method but using a 1.00m steel rule checking the carpet height over several points in the door swing area. That way you are able to take account of the floor level rising. I also add 1 mm to ensure the door doesn’t kiss the carpet. Kissing the carpet will leave a visible mark on it.
Track saw (or plunge saw as I call it 😁) all the way for trimming doors. Not trying to tell you how to suck eggs but a little tip…….an air wedge under the door when you are removing/refitting the door makes life much easier 😁 Great video mate 👏🏼
Track saw all the way for me too, exactly the method you used. Even though I trust the festool blade, I always masking tape right round the door at the cut point (before marking, obviously!) just as an extra belt and braces. Also, if the cut is thinner than the blade depth (like your extra 1mm) and you're in someone's house, be aware that the dust extraction will be largely ineffective and will make a mess. Last time, I super glued a bit of scrap along the length of the end of the door (flush with the face that you're cutting on), which nicely contained the dust. Was worth it. Five minutes extra to glue the scrap, five minutes less vacuuming!
It is good to see the extra care and time you put into doing this, rather than some of the quick jobs you see professional builders do. I do wonder though why in the UK, they put threshold strips at the doorways. In New Zealand we run the carpet all the way through the door., so you get a continuous carpet surface.
It's to make change outs of carpet easier. Eventually, one side or the other will have to be replaced. Without a saddle, you wind up replacing both sides to make it look good.
Imagine if every contractor in the world had a UA-cam channel. I think they should cuz they all comment on em! Did some of you really watch so you could tell him what he missed?! Good work Andy. I didn’t come here to see this, I just wanted a refresher on how to do larger rooms with multiple cuts but I’m actually remembering now anyway and I’ll need to pick up a stretcher as well…
Andy as always good informative vid with some top tips. One thing that think worth mentioning when trimming doors is to allow for impact painting it has , so if need take 4mm off due to door cat hing , perhaps take further 1-2mm off and impact of climate has especially when trimming external doors. I trimmed a garage door in winter then found that during summer it expanded and started sticking , so if you can trim in the summer , but not too much as in winter it may contract😂
Air wedges and door lifters make sense but as someone who buys too many one off tools I didn't buy any when I needed to do something similar as a once off. I bought "furniture sliders", disc shaped things, useful for this job but also extremely useful for moving heavy furniture and other objects between rooms etc, multi-purpose 👍🏼
I recently moved house and brought the wedges from my old place even though I didn't need them but they came in handy for the doors when they needed to be trimmed.
1.8mm blade is a thin kerf blade for a cordless saw. Standard AC mains TS55 blade is 2.2m. Screwfix stock both freud kerf widths plus an ultra thin 1.5mm. If your splinter guard was trimmed to the original blade, it won't be as tight with the narrower blade. Enjoying the project. Keep up the good work and start enjoying your new home!
Yes, basically, he’s just bought the wrong blade for that saw. I’m not sure how noticeable the splinter guard issue would be, given that the right edge of the kerf is referenced to the saw arbor, but using a saw blade with a kerf narrower than the riving knife is a really bad idea.
Apart from the price difference between the 1.8mm and 2.2mm versions of that blade at Screwfix, what's the benefit of the thinner kerf on a corded tool? I get that it will make the saw marginally more efficient which might help with full depth cuts in hardwood, but for breaking down sheet material (which is what most people use these for) I'm struggling to see any benefit that makes the riving knife issue worth putting up with. Genuinely interested, as I own the same saw.
The 2021 models onward of the corded TS55 (so TS55 FEQ and FEBQ) come with the 1.8mm kerf blade. The older corded TS55 REQ, REBQ came with the 2.2mm kerf blade. So the newer models seem to align with the cordless ones.
Fitted new doors 2 years ago for a customer. Painted the edges I had to trim, noted there was 'worm sign on the trimmed edges. Very glad I treated the cut edges before painting. Had to go back last week 'cause they were getting dust (frass) from the doors and exit holes. Also glad I did not supply the doors - customer is now talking to the supplier about the costs of treating the whole house! Moral - always treat any raw timber nowadays, especially if the timber is painted and you cut it. You just don't know if the timber is carrying worm.
If there is just a little spot that the door drags on, then I squeeze a thin mat with sandpaper on top under the problem area (at the point of the door's swing where it scrapes) and gently work the door back and forth. Fine for older properties with tatty flooring, but obviously not an option for over new flooring. Love the videos, can't wait to see the garden and studio! Any chance you could do a video on repairing and painting rusty metal fences or gates?? Ta if that's possible.
Hi Andy. I agree that the easiest way to trim a door is with a track saw. Having used many other methods during my DIY phases over the many many years, using my cheap MacAllister plunge saw (with a better quality high tooth count blade) and track makes the job so much easier. As you said, its the quality of the blade not the price of the saw that detrrmines the better finish.
To be honest carpet in the bathroom is up there with wool T cosy on the toilet roll 😂 Nice and warm on the floor but after a few months the damp, moist atmosphere, wayward wee and feet will make the carpet smell worse than an incontinent cats bedding
A lot of modern carpets are now made with polypropylene (mixes & 100%) & virtually indistinguishable from wool. As such they don’t absorb water thus eliminating the age old problem of mouldy, smelly carpets. Many prefer this new carpet finish to the alternative & often cold surface such as tiles, Lino, etc. I know underfloor heating will be mentioned, but it takes an age to warm up & not particularly energy efficient if you’re just taking a quick shower.
@@Korvintage64 A washable mat outside the shower is a good thing, but carpeting around a toilet, even non-absorbent, can be a cleaning problem. Any place where there may be spills (bathrooms and kitchens) are much easier to clean with a smooth, hard floor.
Great video as usual. I trim alot of doors, especially very old homes here on the left coast. I not longer remove the doors from the jamb, I lay the TS-55 right on the floor, and just trim the bottom of the door leting the saw lay on the flooring or carpet. Sometimes the hinge side of the jamb can be an issue, but most of time no problem, very little sanding if any, I keep my blades very clean, makes for simple and fast trim jobs...
Highly recommend some air wedges, used them for a number of things now where I need to do fine adjustment, very useful. Doors, gates, levelling new fridge/freezer.
Typically I have just trmmed 6 doors but with a router instead as I'm not confident with the circular saw. Just needed to mark with a guage, clamp a straight edge on and route with 2 flush cut router bits. First used flush cut wth bearing at top then flipped door and used flush cut with bearing at bottom. Thankfully a similar result. Good video.
Great video. I replaced all the internal doors in my house but still learnt so much. I noticed you used an acrylic primer for the doors. It'd be interesting to see a video on different types of paint. Eggshell, satin, vinyl matt etc.
Carpet in a bathroom? You've got to be joking! That 'knife' is blade dependent, New blade, new knife. Change the thickness of the blade, the knife has to be changed too.
Carpet is nice to have in the bathroom, but not great around the toilet or entry to shower. Often I see just a few tiles in those areas so the carpet doesn't get stained/wet.
@@GosforthHandyman it would the hygiene police more like.. LOL it must be a prank you're playing on us, otherwise why would there be a threshold between the 2 carpeted rooms, that makes no sense... hence the carpet in that bathroom must be temporary.
@@pascalbriand9987 I noticed in the US of A they do no threshold, but not so much in the UK. More expensive because of more carpet waste. Does look better though. I don't think he's joking btw. Each to their own I suppose. It's not for me though.
I did exactly this job two weeks ago. It wasn't until I had the door off its hinges and had to carry it down a very steep, narrow staircase, that I discovered that the bugger was solid oak!
When I did mine, I was planning to carry them all down and cut them outside. That idea went out the window as soon as I took the first one off its hinges! Spent an age hoovering instead but easier than fixing the inevitable smashed plasterboard. Never realised (fire) doors were so heavy.
@@GreatSpot8608 I hate fire doors. I sometimes had to install 400 lb stainless fire doors for lobbies in commercial buildings. No adjustment at all. No grinding, filing anything allowed.
I do a lot of doors after the carpets are fitted, as our local independent carpet shop tend to pass my name on. If the carpet is down and the door is on I use a 1mtr straight edge lying on top of the carpet to mark the door and check it with the door fully open and almost closed, amazing how much some floors slope. I don't have a track saw as Milwaukee haven't brought one out yet, so use a batten clamped to the door if there is too much to plane. The real pain are cheap hollow core doors where there is not enough material to cut off at the bottom of the door. I carry some various thicknesses of timber to glue and pin in the bottom of the door using 5 minute Polyurethane glue. I always warn my customers that this might happen with these doors. I tend to put lots of dust sheets down and use my plane or saw with the vacuum attachment rather than hump doors up and down. I don't like to have the carpets even "kissing" the door, as you can still end up with a semi-circular shadow in the carpet after a while. Otherwise I do it the same way as you do it.
my bedroom door has a darkened circle where the door is hard kissing the carpet ,but thats intentional since itas in the hallway of the flat and near the communal hallways ,the sound deadening to me is more important than saving a high traffic part of the carpet anyway ,which is always at the doorway
@@GosforthHandyman You are right there and as I'm almost claiming my pension I'm finding ot harder to do things that were easy when I was 30. The only good thing about getting older is my car insurance has gotten cheaper and I tend have seen things before. Not so many mistakes.
I just had one of those mini 85mm circ saw, so didn’t have the blade thickness to go through in one pass. But just flipped the door, went again and finished with a handsaw then. Coupled with some masking tape along the cut line(s) I think I got a good result. Only had to do one door - if I had more to do, I’d get a proper big boy saw..! Hard to get a good straight, square cut with a hand saw or hand plane. Hand plane in particular a bit of skill to it, and some doors nowadays are made of engineered stuff which planes will struggle with imo..!
Great video, as always. And you're right about UA-cam going crazy about the bathroom carpet...not what I would choose, but it isn't my house. so, you do you.
When using the plane, clamp -or strap- a piece of wood flush with the bottom of the door on the exit side of the plane with the grain against the cutting surface and any possible damage will be transfered to the end of that piece.
A particularly nasty job I have had in more than one house I have moved into is taking up the pee-stained bathroom carpet. If I live to be a million I will never understand carpet in a bathroom or toilet.
I've had to do this numerous times. Usually, I cover the bottom with painter's tape and use a straight edge against my circular saw to cut the bottom off. Wish I had a track saw!
We always aim for a 10mm gap under the door between the finished floor and the bottom of the door. Its listed as being very good for ventilation and air flow in rooms although you don't want this with fire doors :)
I always lay a plugesaw track next to the hand door and run a pencil at the track's height. If the floors are level this works a treat to mark the amount to be taken off.
Andy....so pleased that there's someone else that paints - including the gloss paint on mine - the top and bottom of the doors....helps with dusting et cetera.....I now know that I'm not on my own.
Pretty sure Freud blades come with a variety of kerfs? Though it's not always possible to get the blade size/bore/tooth count and kerf combination bang on every time...
If house has forced hot air system, usually you take about an inch above the flooring so that return air can circulate out of the room even with the door closed.
@@GosforthHandyman Well you ordered it didn't you ? All underlay and carpet have thickness measurements. So if the carpet is 18mm thickness and underlay 10mm and your happy with the gap under the door (as it's fitted) then cut 28mm off the bottom.
Air wedges Andy. Parkside ones do a job for DIYer and are good value. Great for doors Edit: Festool’s answer is buy Festool blades….. 😉. No riving knife issues. Pulling your chain Andy 🤭
Air wedges are brilliant. Total game changer, particularly for solid heavy doors. So easy to adjust and get everything lined up without having to bend down and mess about with shims
I've successfully trimmed a door using a straight edge and a router with a long straight cutter. I screwed a batten to the edge of the door to stop blowout.
Is it typical to leave a separation where the carpets meet? I’ve never seen this done before. Usually (in the US) the carpets in all rooms and halls are butted up against each other so it looks like one continuous piece of carpet throughout the house. Is the gap between the carpets typical over there? Just interested. Great tip on cutting the bottom of doors! I like Freud blades, but can’t afford any tools in the Festool family. 😀
Hi Andy, thanks for the video. Can I ask, why did you use a hand screw driver when re hanging the door, as opposed to your drill? Is this better to do when re-hanging? Thanks, Claire
Thanks for a fairly comprehensive video on a job I had to do recently. Two thoughts : If your house has some mechanical ventilation system (typically extractors in humid rooms drawing air from the other usually dryer rooms), a 10mm air gap is required under the doors so that the system can work as designed and take moisture away from bedrooms for instance. As to saw kerf, with the 'old' TS55, it's best to stick with 2.2mm blades otherwise you may need to retrim the rail lips and experience problems with some jigs when switching between blades of differing kerf (the issue with the riving knife is also something to consider obviously).
I was just about to comment on needing a gap under the door for mechanical ventilation. Modern houses are full of mould an condensation because of poor ventilation. Might be a good idea for a video explaining the need for good air flow in your home.
@@GosforthHandyman The extractor in the bathroom is mechanical ventilation. It needs to draw air from a source to work efficiently (usually a 10mm gap under the door) if it doesn't have that gap then the motor will be working extra hard to pump the moist air out of the room.
@@GosforthHandyman Is it so really ? The 3 fairly recent flats I lived in in the South East (one "build" by Redraw, the others by the Berkley group) had extractors in the kitchen/laundry and bathroom, none of which had walls leading to outside... and the air to be extracted came from vents in the living room and bedrooms. It may be different for detached/semi detached houses though.
Reading interesting discussions on larger door gaps for air circulation/moisture control in air tights houses (think trickle vents/PIV) any thoughts on this ? I’m used to them from living in the USA where they’re needed for HVAC air flow, but felt weird to start with!
Which hinge jig did you use? I used to used the Trend one [including lock jigs], they are a tad expensive bur work really good, especially with the little corner cutter
I always allow 5mm, I'll measure off the sub floor and mark the door in situ allowing for thickness of carpet and underlay plus the 5mm, I'm pretty sure door's shouldn't be rubbing on the carpet
I've got a question, I don't know if anyone has come across this before and might be able to help. I need to trim the bottom of a door after laminate has been fitted in but when taking the door off, as you would expect the bottom/underneath isn't open to see inside (should be a standard hollow wooden door), but there's a small recess bit along the wood near the hinge-side corner with what seems to be a piece of metal inside and now I just don't know how to do it, has anyone seen this before? I cannot find anything anywhere! I asked the fitter to do it but he wouldn't on the basis that trying to cut through the piece of metal while cutting along the wood may damage his saw and end up very costly... You'd think a so-called professional floor fitter has been in this situation before and would have all the tools but clearly that's too much work for him... Thanks a bunch!
Are those not removable hinge pins, much easier, safer and more accurate to just pull the pins, then you don’t enlarge the screw holes and you know the door is going back exactly where it should.
I'm surprised there are no thresholds installed. It makes finishing carpet or other flooring simpler. Installing them is a thing in itself. There are some judgment calls when deciding on a size and exact placement. The brass strip looks terrible. A large bonus when installing saddles is the height of the door never changes after that. If the owner rips out the carpet on one side because they changed their mind, the door height still looks good. As a commercial carpenter, I used to install swing doors with in floor hydraulic closers. This means I always had a Rixon wrench or two with me. This was invaluable when jacking up doors. Always used with a fulcrum of some sort, mostly a hammer handle.
be careful if you ever need to trim ~1cm or more off a hollow core door - they often hold the frames together with metal brackets/staples so you might want to use a sacrificial blade! Can just bevel the edges with sandpaper if you get a little tearout.
@@GosforthHandyman Yes, hollow-core doors are held together with corrugated steel fasteners. I usually 'scan' for them with a strong magnet, or better still.. a metal detecting pin-pointer at the 'joints' of the internal frame, then handsaw up-to them, and cut through them with a hacksaw, then dig-out the remainders with long nosed pliers after 🙂⚠️
Dilema, need a new door but frame is not standard and all doors except solid wooden doors can only be planed by max 10mm and i need 12mm each side and dont want to spend extra on a solid door , so my only option is to reduce the door frame size. Need to plane across width any tips on how to avoid breakout? Or is there another solution?
Hi Andy I have a question - is it possible to renovate badly moulded walls? I was thinking to hammer the wall to the bare brick - disinfect and re-plaster but what about wood? Just disinfect first with bleach - solution and dry? When I mean mouldy I mean really badly - can't breath inside - house needs full renovation. Thanks Rene
The major thing you need to do is remove the moisture. Mould will keep returning whatever you do. Then treat with mould killer. Make sure it’s not structurally damaged.
"Why use a handsaw when you have a tracksaw". Because I don't have a tracksaw and it's not worth buying one for a couple of doors. Edit* after watching a few of these videos I picked up ideas from each and wrapped 2 inch wide double sided tape round the bottom to stop the grain tearing, stuck a carpet gripper strip to the tape as a guide for the handsaw then cut it by hand. It worked perfectly , lovely clean cut.
Only problem I see, is you need a half inch from the carpet to the bottom of the door for air flow. Air cannot enter through the register in the room, if it can’t get back out. It simply builds pressure in the room to the point where air will no longer flow into the room.
Like, yours it marginally more professionally done than mine, but it took you 2 days, or so. I did the same thing in 20 minutes (quick drying eggshell paint). It's really good, but if you took 2250 minutes to do a door !!! You must be rich lol!
You mentioned in a previous video that you added a piece of trim to the door frame, as the plaster came out further than the door frame itself which is a similar problem I have. Is it still safe to hang a 30kg door on these frames with that in mind? Just a bit concerned that the door frame will not be able to hold the weight and split/break
The door should not be supported by the buck. Generally, long screws or nails go through to the wood frame inside. The buck itself is mostly cosmetic, regardless of how sturdy it appears. That is if it's built properly. Some high end bucks are quite thick.
Once you've fitted the door hinges and catch, you are never going to raise the door to take up slack at the top without major issues with your rebates and catches.
12:02 If you always use a tracksaw with it's track(s), then the riving knife is redundant anyway. A neat feature would have been if a mechanism in the slot for the guide on the rail had prevented the riving knife from following the blade down when used with the track, and only come down when cutting free-hand. The splinter guard on the underside of the track is also the main reason why you don't get tear-out, not so much the blade (as long as it is sharp). I had to replace the splinter guard on my Bosch FSN 70/140 tracks at some point, but as the guard is no longer sold here in Denmark for this old model tracks, I had to find a replacement, and discovered that the one from Festool works perfectly. It is a bit harder (soft plastic instead of hard rubber), and it's semi-transparent instead of black, but I can live with that. :) 15:47 All the interior doors in my house from 1973 are so-called cell doors. They are made from thin sheets of solid wood, sandwiching a cardboard cell structure and a thin frame round the perimeter.
Thank you sir you are a genius. Been mulling through ideas on how to measure up my doors as I'm fitting a new hall carpet and looking at the pile I am definitely gonna need to take something off two doors. Your way of measuring up is gonna save me A TONNE of hassle. Merci-buckets. 😁
Andy, you gave the subject really good coverage. Just some additional points:
a. Before using a nice Tracksaw blade to trim the bottom of the door - swipe the door with a magnet to identify any steel fastenings/staples - don’t ask😡
b. I cut my doors at a 3 degree angle on the leading edge as it opens into the room - just reduces the friction area on new carpet.
c. You never mentioned rise and fall hinges.😉
Nice one Andy😀👍
Hats off for advising people of the risks of altering fire doors, could literally be life saving advice and is so often overlooked
Nice video. One tool I've been using the last few years dealing with doors going on and off frames is those small airbags. You can pump them up with your foot to just the right height for the mortises to line up, much easier than my old method of a bar and shims. They also work great for leveling bottom cabinets with adjustable legs I've found.
Hi Andy, very comprehensive tutorial 👍! I was fitting 12 Howdens pre-finished doors recently in quite a large property. They have a ridiculous 10mm max trim on the bottom and top. With heads out of level, the tops had to be cut angled to fit so no chance of taking much off the tops. That left the issue of removing around 20mm off the bottom of all the doors. This meant each had to have a replacement timber packed into each. Godsend of 5 minute glue but what a faff on - for £110 doors I’d expect better!
Andy, just wanted to say thanks for sharing your hard-won knowledge in this one. My mother-in-law needed some doors trimmed back after getting new carpet laid and I was able to do the job by following these instructions, in spite of it not being something I'd ever done in the past. Thanks again!
Great video Andy. I have used this method but using a 1.00m steel rule checking the carpet height over several points in the door swing area. That way you are able to take account of the floor level rising. I also add 1 mm to ensure the door doesn’t kiss the carpet. Kissing the carpet will leave a visible mark on it.
Hi I've just rehung 5 doors for my son this weekend using your method and it worked absolutely fine thanks so much for the tip.
Track saw (or plunge saw as I call it 😁) all the way for trimming doors.
Not trying to tell you how to suck eggs but a little tip…….an air wedge under the door when you are removing/refitting the door makes life much easier 😁
Great video mate 👏🏼
Track saw all the way for me too, exactly the method you used. Even though I trust the festool blade, I always masking tape right round the door at the cut point (before marking, obviously!) just as an extra belt and braces.
Also, if the cut is thinner than the blade depth (like your extra 1mm) and you're in someone's house, be aware that the dust extraction will be largely ineffective and will make a mess. Last time, I super glued a bit of scrap along the length of the end of the door (flush with the face that you're cutting on), which nicely contained the dust. Was worth it. Five minutes extra to glue the scrap, five minutes less vacuuming!
Yup - and good tip on the dust extraction! 👍
It is good to see the extra care and time you put into doing this, rather than some of the quick jobs you see professional builders do. I do wonder though why in the UK, they put threshold strips at the doorways. In New Zealand we run the carpet all the way through the door., so you get a continuous carpet surface.
It's to make change outs of carpet easier. Eventually, one side or the other will have to be replaced. Without a saddle, you wind up replacing both sides to make it look good.
Imagine if every contractor in the world had a UA-cam channel. I think they should cuz they all comment on em! Did some of you really watch so you could tell him what he missed?! Good work Andy. I didn’t come here to see this, I just wanted a refresher on how to do larger rooms with multiple cuts but I’m actually remembering now anyway and I’ll need to pick up a stretcher as well…
Andy as always good informative vid with some top tips. One thing that think worth mentioning when trimming doors is to allow for impact painting it has , so if need take 4mm off due to door cat hing , perhaps take further 1-2mm off and impact of climate has especially when trimming external doors. I trimmed a garage door in winter then found that during summer it expanded and started sticking , so if you can trim in the summer , but not too much as in winter it may contract😂
Air wedges and door lifters make sense but as someone who buys too many one off tools I didn't buy any when I needed to do something similar as a once off. I bought "furniture sliders", disc shaped things, useful for this job but also extremely useful for moving heavy furniture and other objects between rooms etc, multi-purpose 👍🏼
Great stuff! 👍
I recently moved house and brought the wedges from my old place even though I didn't need them but they came in handy for the doors when they needed to be trimmed.
1.8mm blade is a thin kerf blade for a cordless saw. Standard AC mains TS55 blade is 2.2m. Screwfix stock both freud kerf widths plus an ultra thin 1.5mm. If your splinter guard was trimmed to the original blade, it won't be as tight with the narrower blade. Enjoying the project. Keep up the good work and start enjoying your new home!
Yes, basically, he’s just bought the wrong blade for that saw. I’m not sure how noticeable the splinter guard issue would be, given that the right edge of the kerf is referenced to the saw arbor, but using a saw blade with a kerf narrower than the riving knife is a really bad idea.
I wanted the thin kerf blade - all fine with the splinter guard. 👍
@@GosforthHandyman Could always see if the cordless splinter guard will fit your Ts55 to prevent the jamming.
Apart from the price difference between the 1.8mm and 2.2mm versions of that blade at Screwfix, what's the benefit of the thinner kerf on a corded tool? I get that it will make the saw marginally more efficient which might help with full depth cuts in hardwood, but for breaking down sheet material (which is what most people use these for) I'm struggling to see any benefit that makes the riving knife issue worth putting up with. Genuinely interested, as I own the same saw.
The 2021 models onward of the corded TS55 (so TS55 FEQ and FEBQ) come with the 1.8mm kerf blade. The older corded TS55 REQ, REBQ came with the 2.2mm kerf blade. So the newer models seem to align with the cordless ones.
Fitted new doors 2 years ago for a customer. Painted the edges I had to trim, noted there was 'worm sign on the trimmed edges. Very glad I treated the cut edges before painting. Had to go back last week 'cause they were getting dust (frass) from the doors and exit holes. Also glad I did not supply the doors - customer is now talking to the supplier about the costs of treating the whole house!
Moral - always treat any raw timber nowadays, especially if the timber is painted and you cut it. You just don't know if the timber is carrying worm.
If there is just a little spot that the door drags on, then I squeeze a thin mat with sandpaper on top under the problem area (at the point of the door's swing where it scrapes) and gently work the door back and forth. Fine for older properties with tatty flooring, but obviously not an option for over new flooring. Love the videos, can't wait to see the garden and studio! Any chance you could do a video on repairing and painting rusty metal fences or gates?? Ta if that's possible.
Great tip about marking the door frame. We're getting new floors soon so very well timed video. Thanks Mr Mac
Great stuff - good luck with your new floors!
Hi Andy. I agree that the easiest way to trim a door is with a track saw. Having used many other methods during my DIY phases over the many many years, using my cheap MacAllister plunge saw (with a better quality high tooth count blade) and track makes the job so much easier. As you said, its the quality of the blade not the price of the saw that detrrmines the better finish.
Defo Gaz! Perfect tool for the job. 👍
Like others, I will await your explanation of carpeting in a bathroom.
Cheers Bob! Will explain in the bedroom reveal. 😁
Indeed. What a strange ideas. I await the sheep skin on the toilet seat 🤣
To be honest carpet in the bathroom is up there with wool T cosy on the toilet roll 😂
Nice and warm on the floor but after a few months the damp, moist atmosphere, wayward wee and feet will make the carpet smell worse than an incontinent cats bedding
A lot of modern carpets are now made with polypropylene (mixes & 100%) & virtually indistinguishable from wool. As such they don’t absorb water thus eliminating the age old problem of mouldy, smelly carpets. Many prefer this new carpet finish to the alternative & often cold surface such as tiles, Lino, etc. I know underfloor heating will be mentioned, but it takes an age to warm up & not particularly energy efficient if you’re just taking a quick shower.
@@Korvintage64 A washable mat outside the shower is a good thing, but carpeting around a toilet, even non-absorbent, can be a cleaning problem. Any place where there may be spills (bathrooms and kitchens) are much easier to clean with a smooth, hard floor.
When trimming like this, I was wondering if you had a reason for not just removing the hinge pins instead of unscrewing the hinges?
I had the same question
Uk hinges don't usually have removable hinge pins.
Great video as usual. I trim alot of doors, especially very old homes here on the left coast. I not longer remove the doors from the jamb, I lay the TS-55 right on the floor, and just trim the bottom of the door leting the saw lay on the flooring or carpet. Sometimes the hinge side of the jamb can be an issue, but most of time no problem, very little sanding if any, I keep my blades very clean, makes for simple and fast trim jobs...
Great tip marking on the frame....thanks
Cheers bud! 👍
Highly recommend some air wedges, used them for a number of things now where I need to do fine adjustment, very useful. Doors, gates, levelling new fridge/freezer.
Great tutorial with some nice tips. Never considered raising the door before. I have much to learn if I want to become an independent woman!
Typically I have just trmmed 6 doors but with a router instead as I'm not confident with the circular saw.
Just needed to mark with a guage, clamp a straight edge on and route with 2 flush cut router bits. First used flush cut wth bearing at top then flipped door and used flush cut with bearing at bottom. Thankfully a similar result.
Good video.
Great video. I replaced all the internal doors in my house but still learnt so much.
I noticed you used an acrylic primer for the doors. It'd be interesting to see a video on different types of paint. Eggshell, satin, vinyl matt etc.
Cheers! I try to just use water-based for white where possible, just to avoid yellowing. 👍
Carpet in a bathroom? You've got to be joking!
That 'knife' is blade dependent, New blade, new knife. Change the thickness of the blade, the knife has to be changed too.
Did you even watch the full video? Lol
Carpet police!! RUN!!! 😂😂
Carpet is nice to have in the bathroom, but not great around the toilet or entry to shower. Often I see just a few tiles in those areas so the carpet doesn't get stained/wet.
@@GosforthHandyman it would the hygiene police more like.. LOL it must be a prank you're playing on us, otherwise why would there be a threshold between the 2 carpeted rooms, that makes no sense... hence the carpet in that bathroom must be temporary.
@@pascalbriand9987 I noticed in the US of A they do no threshold, but not so much in the UK. More expensive because of more carpet waste. Does look better though. I don't think he's joking btw. Each to their own I suppose. It's not for me though.
I did exactly this job two weeks ago.
It wasn't until I had the door off its hinges and had to carry it down a very steep, narrow staircase, that I discovered that the bugger was solid oak!
They can be heavy! Fire doors in 3 storey houses aren't fun. 😬
When I did mine, I was planning to carry them all down and cut them outside. That idea went out the window as soon as I took the first one off its hinges! Spent an age hoovering instead but easier than fixing the inevitable smashed plasterboard. Never realised (fire) doors were so heavy.
@@GosforthHandyman I'll leave the fire doors to you young people. I'm an OAP!
:-)
@@GreatSpot8608 I hate fire doors. I sometimes had to install 400 lb stainless fire doors for lobbies in commercial buildings.
No adjustment at all. No grinding, filing anything allowed.
I do a lot of doors after the carpets are fitted, as our local independent carpet shop tend to pass my name on. If the carpet is down and the door is on I use a 1mtr straight edge lying on top of the carpet to mark the door and check it with the door fully open and almost closed, amazing how much some floors slope. I don't have a track saw as Milwaukee haven't brought one out yet, so use a batten clamped to the door if there is too much to plane. The real pain are cheap hollow core doors where there is not enough material to cut off at the bottom of the door. I carry some various thicknesses of timber to glue and pin in the bottom of the door using 5 minute Polyurethane glue. I always warn my customers that this might happen with these doors.
I tend to put lots of dust sheets down and use my plane or saw with the vacuum attachment rather than hump doors up and down. I don't like to have the carpets even "kissing" the door, as you can still end up with a semi-circular shadow in the carpet after a while. Otherwise I do it the same way as you do it.
my bedroom door has a darkened circle where the door is hard kissing the carpet ,but thats intentional since itas in the hallway of the flat and near the communal hallways ,the sound deadening to me is more important than saving a high traffic part of the carpet anyway ,which is always at the doorway
Especially if they're fire doors! Not fun to move.
@@GosforthHandyman You are right there and as I'm almost claiming my pension I'm finding ot harder to do things that were easy when I was 30. The only good thing about getting older is my car insurance has gotten cheaper and I tend have seen things before. Not so many mistakes.
Technical stuff , bet the house smells great with all that new carpet 🤩🧱👍🏼
Cheers Steve! Yes, gotta love new carpet smell!! 😍 Sorry I missed you guys at the Build with A&E show - was away that weekend!
@@GosforthHandyman . Shame , it was a great day 🧱🧱🤙🏾👍🏽
Great advice on measuring for cuts. Since I use forced air heating/AC, I need a wider gap at the bottom for proper airflow.
👍👍
on the other hand, not having the gap is a good way to zone off areas to save energy if you have forced air.
I just had one of those mini 85mm circ saw, so didn’t have the blade thickness to go through in one pass. But just flipped the door, went again and finished with a handsaw then. Coupled with some masking tape along the cut line(s) I think I got a good result. Only had to do one door - if I had more to do, I’d get a proper big boy saw..! Hard to get a good straight, square cut with a hand saw or hand plane. Hand plane in particular a bit of skill to it, and some doors nowadays are made of engineered stuff which planes will struggle with imo..!
Great video, as always. And you're right about UA-cam going crazy about the bathroom carpet...not what I would choose, but it isn't my house. so, you do you.
When using the plane, clamp -or strap- a piece of wood flush with the bottom of the door on the exit side of the plane with the grain against the cutting surface and any possible damage will be transfered to the end of that piece.
OMG - carpet in the bathroom, I thought that died out in the 80s :)
Bizarre. Kinda weird adding a threshold when both rooms are fitted with carpet tae.
I'm sure some of the carpet from back then still has stuff living in it
A particularly nasty job I have had in more than one house I have moved into is taking up the pee-stained bathroom carpet. If I live to be a million I will never understand carpet in a bathroom or toilet.
Ensuite carpets are back! 👍 The threshold is there since the alternative would be a join. There are rules for carpeted bathrooms though. 😁
@@GosforthHandyman but why??
I've had to do this numerous times. Usually, I cover the bottom with painter's tape and use a straight edge against my circular saw to cut the bottom off. Wish I had a track saw!
Titan saw & 60 point blade, and no riving knife to worry about! Bless.
We always aim for a 10mm gap under the door between the finished floor and the bottom of the door. Its listed as being very good for ventilation and air flow in rooms although you don't want this with fire doors :)
100% on board with carpet in the bathroom. I find those smaller bath mats get soaked in piss much too quickly 🤣
🤣🤣
Yeah but they wash, unlike the big one 🤣
@@pureplay7071 ahaha that's where I've been going wrong
I always lay a plugesaw track next to the hand door and run a pencil at the track's height. If the floors are level this works a treat to mark the amount to be taken off.
Clever idea with the two pencil marks. 👍👍👍
Andy....so pleased that there's someone else that paints - including the gloss paint on mine - the top and bottom of the doors....helps with dusting et cetera.....I now know that I'm not on my own.
Defo! Just seems unfinished otherwise. 👍
Some door suppliers require it for warranty. Sealed top, bottom and hinge checkouts.
The instructions that come with doors always specify sealing cut edges.
Great stuff Andy. I have three of those Stanley screwdrivers that you were using on the hinge screws. Best tool I ever bought!
They're great! Only problem is the end cap always unscrews itself. Might superglue it on. 👍
@@GosforthHandyman The two older ones that I have don't have the removable cap. Superglue would do it I think!
Pretty sure Freud blades come with a variety of kerfs? Though it's not always possible to get the blade size/bore/tooth count and kerf combination bang on every time...
Great timing on this as I'm planning on doing this for my bathroom door. The wonkeyness at the bottom has been bothering me for ages.
What about the undercut for the mechanical extraction, Andy?
Not a thing over here. 👍
If house has forced hot air system, usually you take about an inch above the flooring so that return air can circulate out of the room even with the door closed.
Interesting!
I thought it was 6 to 10 mm.
25 mm seem excessive. 🤔
I didn't know about different height cuts with circular saw, I'll try that next time.thanks for the tip!
👍👍
If the door is already fitted, there is a much easier way, just add the underlay and carpet MM together and cut it off the door.
How do you get the underlay and carpet mm after the carpet is fitted? 🤔
@@GosforthHandyman Well you ordered it didn't you ? All underlay and carpet have thickness measurements. So if the carpet is 18mm thickness and underlay 10mm and your happy with the gap under the door (as it's fitted) then cut 28mm off the bottom.
Another great video, thanks Andy.
Air wedges Andy. Parkside ones do a job for DIYer and are good value. Great for doors
Edit: Festool’s answer is buy Festool blades….. 😉. No riving knife issues. Pulling your chain Andy 🤭
Air wedges are brilliant. Total game changer, particularly for solid heavy doors. So easy to adjust and get everything lined up without having to bend down and mess about with shims
Agreed, air wedges all day every day. Now I have them I’ll never look back.
Cheers! Run out of room for even more tools. 😂👍
@@GosforthHandyman - you need to build another workshop then. You *always* need space for more tools. 😀
@@GosforthHandyman no! Andy, always room for more tools! 😁
I've successfully trimmed a door using a straight edge and a router with a long straight cutter. I screwed a batten to the edge of the door to stop blowout.
Is it typical to leave a separation where the carpets meet? I’ve never seen this done before. Usually (in the US) the carpets in all rooms and halls are butted up against each other so it looks like one continuous piece of carpet throughout the house. Is the gap between the carpets typical over there? Just interested. Great tip on cutting the bottom of doors!
I like Freud blades, but can’t afford any tools in the Festool family. 😀
Quicker for the carpet layers, we've just got used to them...
Hi Andy, thanks for the video.
Can I ask, why did you use a hand screw driver when re hanging the door, as opposed to your drill? Is this better to do when re-hanging?
Thanks,
Claire
The carpet color very match with the wall color, look so classic and luxury.
If it's a kitchen door then make sure that the top and bottom edges of the door are painted to stop the door absorbing moisture.
Use one of those balloon things to lift the door! Much easier!
I love my track saw for this use. It's ideal and so easy.
Defo Rob - perfect tool for the job! 👍
Thanks for a fairly comprehensive video on a job I had to do recently. Two thoughts : If your house has some mechanical ventilation system (typically extractors in humid rooms drawing air from the other usually dryer rooms), a 10mm air gap is required under the doors so that the system can work as designed and take moisture away from bedrooms for instance. As to saw kerf, with the 'old' TS55, it's best to stick with 2.2mm blades otherwise you may need to retrim the rail lips and experience problems with some jigs when switching between blades of differing kerf (the issue with the riving knife is also something to consider obviously).
I was just about to comment on needing a gap under the door for mechanical ventilation. Modern houses are full of mould an condensation because of poor ventilation. Might be a good idea for a video explaining the need for good air flow in your home.
We don't generally have mechanical ventilation over here but valid point for countries who do!
@@GosforthHandyman The extractor in the bathroom is mechanical ventilation. It needs to draw air from a source to work efficiently (usually a 10mm gap under the door) if it doesn't have that gap then the motor will be working extra hard to pump the moist air out of the room.
@@GosforthHandyman Is it so really ? The 3 fairly recent flats I lived in in the South East (one "build" by Redraw, the others by the Berkley group) had extractors in the kitchen/laundry and bathroom, none of which had walls leading to outside... and the air to be extracted came from vents in the living room and bedrooms. It may be different for detached/semi detached houses though.
Was looking if someone made this comment, spot on, the extractor will struggle unless windows left open
A bit overkill I know but the best tool I have for this job and another option is the router I bought for when I did the kitchen worktops.
Reading interesting discussions on larger door gaps for air circulation/moisture control in air tights houses (think trickle vents/PIV) any thoughts on this ? I’m used to them from living in the USA where they’re needed for HVAC air flow, but felt weird to start with!
Which hinge jig did you use? I used to used the Trend one [including lock jigs], they are a tad expensive bur work really good, especially with the little corner cutter
I always allow 5mm, I'll measure off the sub floor and mark the door in situ allowing for thickness of carpet and underlay plus the 5mm, I'm pretty sure door's shouldn't be rubbing on the carpet
I've got a question, I don't know if anyone has come across this before and might be able to help.
I need to trim the bottom of a door after laminate has been fitted in but when taking the door off, as you would expect the bottom/underneath isn't open to see inside (should be a standard hollow wooden door), but there's a small recess bit along the wood near the hinge-side corner with what seems to be a piece of metal inside and now I just don't know how to do it, has anyone seen this before?
I cannot find anything anywhere!
I asked the fitter to do it but he wouldn't on the basis that trying to cut through the piece of metal while cutting along the wood may damage his saw and end up very costly... You'd think a so-called professional floor fitter has been in this situation before and would have all the tools but clearly that's too much work for him...
Thanks a bunch!
Are those not removable hinge pins, much easier, safer and more accurate to just pull the pins, then you don’t enlarge the screw holes and you know the door is going back exactly where it should.
Ball bearing hinges. Very rare to see hinge pins still over here. 👍
I'm surprised there are no thresholds installed. It makes finishing carpet or other flooring simpler. Installing them is a thing in itself. There are some judgment calls when deciding on a size and exact placement.
The brass strip looks terrible. A large bonus when installing saddles is the height of the door never changes after that. If the owner rips out the carpet on one side because they changed their mind, the door height still looks good.
As a commercial carpenter, I used to install swing doors with in floor hydraulic closers. This means I always had a Rixon wrench or two with me. This was invaluable when jacking up doors. Always used with a fulcrum of some sort, mostly a hammer handle.
Hi Andy, what paint colour do you have on your walls here? Thanks
Cool tips Andy. Thanks.
Andy - did you revamp the original doors in the house??
be careful if you ever need to trim ~1cm or more off a hollow core door - they often hold the frames together with metal brackets/staples so you might want to use a sacrificial blade! Can just bevel the edges with sandpaper if you get a little tearout.
Never seen a hollow core door with metal brackets inside but something to look out for!
@@GosforthHandyman Yes, hollow-core doors are held together with corrugated steel fasteners. I usually 'scan' for them with a strong magnet, or better still.. a metal detecting pin-pointer at the 'joints' of the internal frame, then handsaw up-to them, and cut through them with a hacksaw, then dig-out the remainders with long nosed pliers after 🙂⚠️
There should be a gap between door and carpet, for ventilation. Some say 5/8 inch.
Dilema, need a new door but frame is not standard and all doors except solid wooden doors can only be planed by max 10mm and i need 12mm each side and dont want to spend extra on a solid door , so my only option is to reduce the door frame size. Need to plane across width any tips on how to avoid breakout? Or is there another solution?
use wider door stops, call it a day
Question - why did you take all the hinges off rather than just remove the hinge pins?
Hinge with pins are popular in the USA, etc, but generally in the UK most (not all) have fixed pins, so you have to unscrew them to get the door off.
Great Job. Carpet in the bathroom....ohh noooo!
😂 Don't knock it 'til you've tried it!
@@GosforthHandyman LOL I already have
I'm surprised you didn't fit some nice wood thresholds under the door instead of that metal strip. Any reason why not?
Or why have a strip at all, as it could have been continuous. Also it is sometimes where they will put a glued join instead.
Just to match the other rooms. It's original brass hardware on all the doors. 👍
Hi Andy I have a question - is it possible to renovate badly moulded walls? I was thinking to hammer the wall to the bare brick - disinfect and re-plaster but what about wood? Just disinfect first with bleach - solution and dry? When I mean mouldy I mean really badly - can't breath inside - house needs full renovation. Thanks Rene
The major thing you need to do is remove the moisture. Mould will keep returning whatever you do. Then treat with mould killer. Make sure it’s not structurally damaged.
"Why use a handsaw when you have a tracksaw". Because I don't have a tracksaw and it's not worth buying one for a couple of doors.
Edit* after watching a few of these videos I picked up ideas from each and wrapped 2 inch wide double sided tape round the bottom to stop the grain tearing, stuck a carpet gripper strip to the tape as a guide for the handsaw then cut it by hand. It worked perfectly , lovely clean cut.
@15:32 Plane works great on solid wood doors but on crap core doors, it'll chew into the composite and leave uneven divets and chipping.
Yeah, can only really be used on the lipping since that's solid wood. 👍
Here’s a tip from a carpet fitter, never trim a door until you’ve had the carpets fitted.
Only problem I see, is you need a half inch from the carpet to the bottom of the door for air flow. Air cannot enter through the register in the room, if it can’t get back out. It simply builds pressure in the room to the point where air will no longer flow into the room.
that door at 8:40 looked like chipboard :O
ah, bit later on, all newer doors are made of shite :\
So thats a door on a bathroom with no air gap underneath for you extractor to pull any fresh air through?
mad ting
Like, yours it marginally more professionally done than mine, but it took you 2 days, or so. I did the same thing in 20 minutes (quick drying eggshell paint). It's really good, but if you took 2250 minutes to do a door !!! You must be rich lol!
Nice work Mr mac
Cheers Glyn!
You mentioned in a previous video that you added a piece of trim to the door frame, as the plaster came out further than the door frame itself which is a similar problem I have. Is it still safe to hang a 30kg door on these frames with that in mind? Just a bit concerned that the door frame will not be able to hold the weight and split/break
The door should not be supported by the buck. Generally, long screws or nails go through to the wood frame inside. The buck itself is mostly cosmetic, regardless of how sturdy it appears. That is if it's built properly. Some high end bucks are quite thick.
Have you got a video on how to hang a door?
Don't think I do actually! 🤔
Hi, bit of a random question, what colour are the walls behind you? Been loving the extension videos. Cheers!
Think it's called Pressed Putty from Dulux. 👍
Thank you! Will have to convince Mrs p now.
Once you've fitted the door hinges and catch, you are never going to raise the door to take up slack at the top without major issues with your rebates and catches.
Carpet in the bathroom? Do you have a fever?
Called it! 😂😎
How about removing and refitting a door with an concealed door closure? It looks a right fiddle of a job!
Can be fiddly!
Long nose vice grips and a long bit in your driver of choice.
Great video thanks 😊
You do you, but no carpet in the bathroom for me! (Yes, I added to the cocophony of similar comments.)
😁
I always leave at least a 3 mm gap just for air flow
What steel ruler is that?
The painting looked a bit dodgy when you placed that rule on the carpet
12:02 If you always use a tracksaw with it's track(s), then the riving knife is redundant anyway. A neat feature would have been if a mechanism in the slot for the guide on the rail had prevented the riving knife from following the blade down when used with the track, and only come down when cutting free-hand.
The splinter guard on the underside of the track is also the main reason why you don't get tear-out, not so much the blade (as long as it is sharp). I had to replace the splinter guard on my Bosch FSN 70/140 tracks at some point, but as the guard is no longer sold here in Denmark for this old model tracks, I had to find a replacement, and discovered that the one from Festool works perfectly. It is a bit harder (soft plastic instead of hard rubber), and it's semi-transparent instead of black, but I can live with that. :)
15:47 All the interior doors in my house from 1973 are so-called cell doors. They are made from thin sheets of solid wood, sandwiching a cardboard cell structure and a thin frame round the perimeter.
Paintwork looks rough don’t you use fine sandpaper .
Thought the same myself, lack of preparation there, needed sanding between coats!
Thank you sir you are a genius. Been mulling through ideas on how to measure up my doors as I'm fitting a new hall carpet and looking at the pile I am definitely gonna need to take something off two doors. Your way of measuring up is gonna save me A TONNE of hassle. Merci-buckets. 😁
Great tips. Thank you
👍👍
If you are committed to that blade you can thin down the riving knife with an electric sander