How to Make a Door-Moving Dolly

Doors, and especially metal doors and doors with glass inserts, are heavy, difficult and often dangerous to move by yourself. A hand-truck won't protect them and positioning them so they won't tip or fall off is practically impossible. Take a page from piano movers, lumber carts at home improvement warehouses and glazier's dollies and carts. A basic frame with wheels and an attached upright superstructure make a basic dolly and carpet scraps protect the door surface.

2 - 8-foot sections of 2-inch by 4-inch lumber
Measuring tape
Circular saw
4 - Square-base, 4-inch rubber swivel casters
Power drill
3/32-inch wood bit
16 - 3-inch pan-head Phillips No. 8 wood screws
No. 2 Phillips bit
1/4-inch spade bit
7/16-inch spade bit
8 3/8-inch by 6-inch lag screws with washers
Socket wrench set
2 square feet carpet scrap
Utility shears
Hand stapler with 3/8-inch staples

Instructions

- 1
  Cut eight 2-foot sections of lumber with the circular saw. Lay two sections on the floor in parallel. Lay two sections on top of the first two at right angles, so that they make a square with 4 square inches of overlap at each corner.
- 2
  Lay casters upside-down on each joint. Use the caster flange mount holes to mark screw positions. Remove the casters and drill pilot holes with the 3/32-inch wood bit in the wood.
- 3
  Drive 3-inch screws through caster holes and both 2-inch by 4-inch lumber sections. Turn the dolly over.
- 4
  Set two lumber sections on end at the center of a lower cross-section of the dolly. Align them edge to edge with 2-1/2 inches of space between them. These will form the uprights to hold the door in place. Trace pencil lines around their bases. Repeat at the other end of the dolly. Remove the uprights for now.
- 5
  At the center of each tracing and 2 inches apart, drill holes with the 7/16-inch spade bit. Stand the dolly on end. One by one, hold an upright in position within each tracing and use the holes you just drilled as guides to mark center points on the upright ends.
- 6
  Drill pilot holes into the upright ends at the marks, using the 1/4-inch spade bit. Insert each lag screw through a washer, upward through the bottom of the dolly holes and into their respective uprights. Tighten with a wrench.
- 7
  Cut carpet scraps large enough to wrap around the dolly between the uprights and staple at the bottom of the dolly. Wrap the tips of all the uprights with carpet scraps and staple at the outside edges. Slide a door onto the dolly between the gap in-between the uprights.

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