How-to: Pre-Hung French Doors

Pre-hung doors are already secured to their casings (the border of wood immediately around the door that connects to the surrounding frame of the opening). This frees you from having to deal with hinges or hardware when you install it. Instead, you just set the whole casing in the opening. Pre-hung installation is especially useful for French doors, which are more complicated to hang yourself because there are two of them that have to work in conjunction with each other.

Pre-hung French doors with casing
Level
Wood shims
Screw gun
Wood screws, 2 1/2-inch
Utility knife

Instructions

- 1
  Stand the pre-hung French doors in the opening, with the casing lined up with the interior edge of the frame. The doors should be bound closed by plastic or small wood brackets.
- 2
  Hold a level vertically along an edge of the casing. Slide shims into the space between the casing and the surrounding frame. Shim both sides along the upper and lower edges until it's level and plumb (straight up and down).
- 3
  Remove the binding that holds the doors closed, and open them so you can access the casing around the edges.
- 4
  Shoot screws outward from the casing into the surrounding frame. Make sure the screw heads are buried. Put screws every 10 to 15 inches up and down the casing, along the interior and exterior edges.
- 5
  Cut off the overhanging shims with your utility knife.
- 6
  Use the screw gun to take out the middle screw from each hinge. Put a 2 1/2-inch screw in place of each one, so it goes through the casing and into the frame.

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