How to Hang Replacement Interior Doors

There are basically two ways to install a new interior door to replace a previous one. The easiest way is to buy a pre-hung door, which is already hinged to its casing, and install the whole casing. This will work only if the old casing has been completely removed. If not, then you'll have to hang the door yourself, which involves insetting the hinges into the door and the door jamb.

Door
Three hinge sets (two flat rectangular plates each, connected by a pin)
Hinge screws
Pencil
Utility knife
Wood chisel (1 inch wide)
Hammer
Screwgun

Instructions

- 1
  Stand your interior door on its front edge. Place the first hinge set on the back edge (the edge that's facing up at you). Set the hinge so it's six or eight inches from the end of the door, with one hinge plate on the edge and the other hanging over the edge on the side of the door that will face into the room.
- 2
  Use your pencil to trace a line around the plate on the edge of the door. Take away the plate.
- 3
  Cut around the pencil line with a utility knife, about 1/8 inch deep. Carve out the cut area with a hammer and chisel, taking the whole area down by 1/8 inch.
- 4
  Set the hinge plate back in place, in the indented area, so the surface of the plate is at the same level as the surrounding wood. Drive hinge screws into the plate, through the holes, to set it.
- 5
  Install the two remaining hinges in the same way, one in the middle and one six or eight inches from the other end.
- 6
  Stand the door up in the opening, in the proper position to open and close. Set the loose parts of the hinge plates against the door jamb. Use your pencil to trace around them.
- 7
  Remove the door. Chisel out the marked areas as before. Stand the door back in the opening and hang it by shooting hinge screws through the hinge plates into the jamb through the screw holes.

An Easy Way to Miter a Hinge

Kwikset Instructions

Doors