Rules for dismantling and installing new interior doors

For those who have never done this before, it seems that there are no difficulties in such work; It’s not for nothing that they say that breaking is not building. However, hasty, careless dismantling of doors will cause a lot of trouble in the future. Not to mention the impossibility of reusing a sash or jamb with severe damage, you will have to deal with arranging the opening, restoring its geometry, strengthening and finishing. Especially when it comes to an interior partition (from gypsum plasterboard, plywood, cellular blocks).

Preparing for work

Before dismantling, the condition of the interior door is assessed and it is determined whether it can be reinstalled. In any case, the work will have to be carried out carefully so as not to damage the walls.

Dismantling is a dusty and dirty job, so all fragile objects, such as mirrors, are removed from the room, and the floor and remaining furniture are covered with thick plastic film.

The distance near the opening is cleared of furniture. Dismantling involves the use of power tools, and additional pieces of furniture will simply get in the way. It is better to carry out the work not alone, but with an assistant: the box or canvas can be heavy, and removing it alone will be problematic.

Features of dismantling the door block

Many people think that removing an old frame with a door is simple - just pick out the jamb from the wall, although in practice everything is more complicated. If dismantling is carried out incorrectly, there is a risk of damaging the frame or wall.

Quick box removal method

This situation often arises in Soviet-built premises, where gypsum slabs were used in the construction of walls. Old canvases have gone through many paintings over the course of their use and have become heavier and thicker. The paint has long hidden the places of the nails; we can only guess where they are. So, often a block of wood was placed between the wall and the frame, which was selected so that the racks were perpendicular to the floor. Large nails were driven in: two each into the posts and into the top crossbar. If the door block has not been changed for 30 years, then the fasteners have time to rust, and the structure cannot be easily removed. Use a pry bar, a nail puller, or a hacksaw.

How to dismantle - step by step instructions

There are universal step-by-step instructions for dismantling an interior door:

1. The door is opened and removed from its hinges. The canvas is placed on the floor, having previously spread rags. This will prevent damage to the floor covering and make it easier to transport the product itself.
2. The principle of removal depends on the type of loops. If they are open, just lift the canvas. If the product itself is heavy, place a crowbar under it and use it instead of a lever. If the hinges are closed, they will have to be twisted off the door frame first.
3. Next they move on to dismantling the door frame. The performance of the work depends on the method of its fastening. If the box was fastened with anchors, you can simply unscrew them from the wall. The mounting plates are usually hidden behind the slopes, so to dismantle them you will have to break the layer of plaster.

Much less often, the box is welded to pins embedded in the wall. In this case, you will have to knock down a large layer of plaster and cut off the pins with a grinder.

Removing trim and sash

After removing the canvas, it is necessary to begin dismantling the trim and sash. To do this you will need a sharp ax and milk. You need to place the tip of the ax on the door frame so that the blade goes under the casing. You need to hammer the ax with a hammer and pull the handle towards you. The casing should come off the box.

You don't have to worry about old parts. Most often, they are in poor condition and are not suitable for reuse. Such actions must be done with all platbands.

Differences in working with different types of structures

Certain differences in dismantling exist for a specific type of door:

• Sliding . Such doors operate on the principle of a compartment system. First, additional equipment is removed: automatic drive, closer or synchronizer. Then the stoppers located at the edges of the rail are removed. To do this, simply unscrew the bolts holding it. After removing the retaining elements, the canvas can be freely removed. All that remains is to remove the fasteners to remove the rail and dismantle the wooden beam, if it was installed.
• Swing . These are standard interior doors that can be dismantled in the usual way. First, the canvas is removed from the hinges, then the fittings or other elements holding the box are unscrewed. In some cases, you will have to knock down the plaster or use a grinder.
• Folding . A folding door is also called an accordion door or a book door. Dismantling such a structure is similar to working with a sliding structure. Therefore, first remove the fittings holding the canvas, and only after that remove the box.

If the door begins to sway, it means that the hardware holding the door leaf has become loose. Both dismantling and replacement must be carried out as soon as possible. During dismantling work, care must be taken to ensure that the swinging door does not accidentally fall on a worker.

Replacing doors in an apartment: what is worth considering

To install a new interior door, you need to remove the old structure. Replacement may take a little time if everything is done correctly and step by step. In the process of selection and work, it is worth considering some factors. Initially, you should decide on the choice of door design. It may be the same as the previously installed one, or it may be different. Now there is a large selection of interior doors. They differ in material and design, opening method, service life and price. It is necessary to decide on the material from which the door will be made, based on the budget. Doors made of MDF are high-quality and inexpensive. They come in different designs and designs.

In order to choose the right interior door, you need to take measurements.

The decisive point is taking measurements. The dimensions must be accurate. To take measurements, you should use a construction tape.

The following distances must be measured:

• Width of the door block;
• Distance from the top point to the threshold;
• Thickness of the canvas.

If the door will be installed independently, then it is worth purchasing it together with the frame. The finished disassembled structure will save time and effort during installation.

It is worth determining in advance the direction of opening the door. Depending on the direction in which the door will open, the location for hanging the hinges is determined.

When replacing the door, you need to ensure sound insulation and thermal insulation. To do this, it is worth foaming the empty space and installing platbands. If the old door frame was not insulated, then this is another reason to change the door.

Differences between dismantling without a box and with a box

The difficulty of dismantling an old door directly depends on whether the frame will also be removed.
If you only need to remove the canvas, there will be no serious difficulties: you just need to lift it and remove it from its hinges. If they are closed, you will first have to unscrew the screws securing the hinges to the box.

If you plan to dismantle not only the door leaf itself, but also the frame, the procedure will be more complicated. The canvas itself will first have to be removed from its hinges. Then they unscrew the screws or other fittings holding the box. In some cases, you will have to remove a layer of plaster or use a grinder to cut off the pin holding the box.

Balcony door and interior door made of PVC

Plastic structures are installed on the balconies. This is due to the fact that PVC best withstands exposure to moisture, direct sunlight, and temperature changes. For dismantling a PVC model, the method used when disassembling a wooden structure is not suitable. Procedure:

1. It is necessary to remove the protective caps from the hinges.
2. It is necessary to close the door without lowering the handle.
3. Using a hammer and screwdriver, carefully knock out the pin located in the top hinge. You need to knock it down. When the tip appears from below, you need to squeeze it with pliers and slowly pull it out of the loop.
4. Tilt the door leaf towards you. At this moment it must be held firmly to prevent it from falling.
5. Slowly lift the door up. The lower pin will pop out and the blade can be set aside.

If you need to perform reverse installation, you need to carry out the same sequence of actions, only in reverse order.

With a lock

Round handles with a lock are usually installed on interior doors.
They can be dismantled quite easily, and after dismantling, the fittings can be installed on a new canvas. Before starting work, you need to prepare the tools: a Phillips and slotted screwdriver, an awl, a knife and a screwdriver with a set of bits.

Step-by-step instructions for dismantling a door handle with a lock:

1. Use a screwdriver to pry up and remove the cover.
2. Press on the opened stopper with an awl or knife to remove the knob.
3. From the side where the handle was removed, unscrew the screws holding the fittings.
4. After this, the remaining parts of the structure are dismantled. These include the lock and the reverse side of the mechanism.

At the end of dismantling, unscrew the working latch and remove its contents from the canvas.

List of tools

If it is necessary to change the door block without carrying out repairs, then dismantling is carried out while maintaining the integrity of the wall finishing. The set of tools for the job depends on the method of removing the box and canvas. If you only need to replace the box, but plan to leave the panel with fittings and trim, then select devices that will allow you to perform all the actions without destruction.

To remove the box without damage, you must follow a certain technology. The first step is to prepare the following tools:

• axe;
• nail puller;
• hammer;
• screwdriver;
• screwdriver;
• hacksaw

Without lock

Dismantling a simple locking handle without a lock is not particularly difficult, because there is no locking mechanism inside the blade.
As a rule, all handles without a lock for interior doors have a similar design, so dismantling them is not particularly difficult. However, the installation diagram may differ depending on the type of structure.

The easiest way to remove standard round handles is to simply unscrew the two screws that secure the handle to the blade, after which the handle can be removed. Handles of other shapes are also unscrewed in a similar way.

Some designs include decorative overlays. In this case, first remove the decorative element, and then unscrew the screws holding the handle.

Removing door panels

Removing the door leaf is not difficult. It will take a crowbar and a little physical effort. You need to work in this order:

• Open the door leaf 90 degrees or a little wider. Support it so it doesn't close. You can use a wedge or folded cardboard for this. Place it on the non-loop edge.
• Place a crowbar under the door on the hinge side.
• Start lifting and swinging the door with a crowbar, holding it on both sides. The canopy halves should disengage.
• Remove the door panel.

If you don’t have a crowbar, you can use an ax blade or a car jack. If the hinges are rusty or the lubricant has dried out, then problems will arise with removing the blade. You must first treat the canopies with WD-40. After half an hour, you can begin dismantling the doors.

Installing new doors - instructions

Interior doors are dismantled for the subsequent installation of new ones.
You can do this yourself if you have the necessary tools and work skills. If dismantling was carried out for the purpose of subsequently installing a new product in the same place, all work is carried out extremely carefully. The platbands are removed with a sharp chisel and pliers. The chisel is inserted into the gap between the platband and the wall in the place where the nail holds the structure. It is carefully pushed out and removed with pliers. A similar procedure is carried out with all the nails that hold the box.

Next, the box is removed from the opening and the walls are cleaned of foam residues. After this, the opening will be ready for installing a new interior door.

After this, they proceed to the direct installation of the new door:

1. Assemble a wooden box. After this, they try it on the opening, determine the places of its attachment and mark them with a pencil or marker.
2. The most reliable way to secure the box is with anchors. To do this, drill holes in the wall, insert anchors into them, and attach the box to them. It is better to drill holes with a screwdriver, and they should be located not only on the sides, but also on top of the opening.
3. The box is attached to the fittings. After this, try on the canvas and mark the location of the loops.
4. After attaching the hinges, the door leaf is hung on them. It is first tried on: it is possible that the length of the canvas does not fit the height of the floor, and it will have to be slightly filed from below.

At the final stage of installation, a handle is attached to the installed door. If you do not have practical skills for carrying out such work, it is better to attach the simplest round handle without a lock or latch.

If you do not have practical skills in dismantling and installing new doors, it is better to entrust this work to professionals. Otherwise, there is a high risk of damage to the wall, which will significantly complicate further installation.

Removing a plastic door

Plastic and metal-plastic doors have long ceased to be a novelty, and it is much less common to see high-quality massive wood panels than the usual construction, shining with pristine whiteness. However, for proper operation, repair and adjustment, you need to know some secrets that not all owners of plastic doors know.

The most important thing is to understand the structure and functioning of the hinges on which the door is held. Then you will be able to use its full potential to the maximum, repair or remove the entire structure yourself. The hinge consists of several elements: a steel tab, a frame with fastening pins, and a spacer sleeve located between the tab and the frame.

Removing the door on the balcony

If you try to dismantle the plastic door according to the instructions described above, you will not succeed. The fact is that such structures have their own installation and, therefore, dismantling features, so they need to be removed in a special way.

Removing the balcony door:

1. Remove the protective caps covering the hinges.

2. Take a hammer and carefully knock out the axle mechanism, opening the door slightly.
3. When the edge of the axle mechanism appears from below, grab it with thin pliers and pull down until it comes out completely.
4. Tilt the door towards you, holding it firmly with your free hand (it is quite heavy), and lift it 5 cm to release the lower support pin. Since in such designs the hinges at the bottom are not fixed, the door can be easily removed by slightly lifting it and moving it to the side.

Removing the front door

The structure of a plastic entrance door differs from a balcony door, so dismantling occurs a little differently. The main difference is that the entrance doors have a reinforced structure and do not have double-glazed windows.

The structure of the hinges is also different - they are more powerful, reinforced and have an anti-burglary system. The plastic entrance door has three hinges, and the balcony door has two. This is explained by the fact that the door is quite heavy, and two hinges could not cope with such a load.

In principle, the dismantling procedure follows the same scenario as for a balcony door, the only difference being that you will need help - you will not be able to remove the front door alone. Once you lift the door off its hinges, it needs to be held firmly, which can only be done by two people.

How to replace an interior door: ideas for opening design

Redevelopment of the apartment may cause the door to be dismantled. To expand a room in a Khrushchev-era building, some owners remove walls and doors along with them.

You can replace swing doors with something new if you are tired of them, do not fit into the interior or take up a lot of space when opened. Ordinary doors can reduce the space of a small apartment, especially if it is a Khrushchev-era building. Therefore, there are ideas that can expand the living space and get rid of doors.

You can replace doors:

• Arches;
• Curtains;
• Blinds;
• Sliding structures.

The arch will fit perfectly into the interior of a one-room apartment or studio. Using it, you can separate the workspace from the relaxation area, the kitchen from the living room, and make a separate children's room.

The main thing: you need to place the arch in a convenient part of the apartment. Thereby making a small room comfortable and multifunctional.

Thick curtains are suitable for separating the kitchen from the living room or corridor. You won't need to open them every time. It is enough to attach it to decorative fittings during the daytime. Now there are plastic curtains that can visually increase the space. They are easy to care for, unlike fabric curtains, and dust settles on them much less. If necessary, you can change the curtains (while some are in the wash, hang others). And thread curtains are a popular design for doorways. They do not interfere with access to another room. Such curtains can give the interior lightness and weightlessness.

How to remove a metal front door from its hinges

The most difficult to dismantle are metal door blocks. This is due to their design, which is intended to provide maximum protection against penetration.

This is what metal door hinges look like

1. If they are collapsible steel, then the metal door is removed from the opening in the standard way.

2. If hidden awnings are installed, the uninstallation process can be complicated. In this case it is necessary:
   or carefully study the design;
3. unscrew all fixing elements;
4. if necessary, remove the axial hinge using a hammer and a punch;

5. and remove the front door.
6. Some hinge mechanisms have a screw at the end that secures the axial hinge. After unscrewing this screw from the metal, the front door is removed in the same way. To facilitate the process of dismantling a metal door, you can use:

• machine oil, which is used to pre-coat old hinge joints;

• pry bar to increase leverage when lifting a heavy door.

The process of removing a door from its hinge

Often, modern canopies on iron door blocks are decorated with removable plugs, which also need to be removed before starting work. Thus, almost any owner who has at his disposal a minimal set of tools and minimal experience in construction can dismantle the door leaf from its hinges in his own house or apartment. Knowledge of technology and accuracy will allow you to complete all work efficiently, without damaging the fittings and the door block itself.

Disassembling the box

If further reinstallation is necessary, the question arises - how to remove the interior door with your own hands without damaging the frame?

The most important thing is to find the fasteners and remove them correctly. In the case of old structures with nails, it is necessary to pry the door jamb at the place where it is attached to the wall with a crowbar or an ax with such force that the head of the nail appears. Then carefully take it out. In some cases, nails cannot be removed and require treatment with special lubricants or aerosols such as WD-40.

If self-tapping screws were used as fastening elements, then they are quite simply unscrewed, and the polyurethane foam is cut through using a hacksaw.

As soon as the box is freed, it is removed from the opening, cleaned and, if necessary, disassembled for further transportation and self-installation.

If there is no need to maintain the integrity of the box, then to make the work easier, you can make several cuts in the middle of the vertical posts. After this, using an ax and a crowbar, they simply break out of the opening.

Door for scrapping

This process, how to disassemble a door frame without saving it, will not take much time. The set of tools in this case is small:

• hammer;
• scrap;
• nail puller;
• axe;
• hacksaw.

• remove the door leaf, it is better to invite an assistant, the doors of Russian times are made of solid wood and have an impressive weight;
• to quickly remove the box, create a horizontal cut on one of the racks with a slope of 45 degrees;

• It is also better to cut the threshold in half and break it out using a nail puller;
• drive the ax with its sharp side between the lining and the block. Press the handle of the ax to create a gap into which a crowbar or nail puller is inserted.

Fundamentally! You need to work carefully so as not to destroy the gap into which the new system will later be installed.

Do-it-yourself door analysis

Entrance doors serve as the main protection of our home, in addition to providing sound insulation and thermal insulation of the room.
Situations arise when we need to replace, repair or upgrade some door parts. After all, technology does not stand still, and you always want to protect yourself with modern solutions. In most cases, to perform manipulations with the canvas, you have to disassemble the entire structure along with dismantling the fittings. Before disassembling the door, we recommend that you read this article and use the tips, instructions and useful tips described in it.