Before: a door that catches on the frame in February, sits proud of its lining and lets a draught under the foot. After: it closes with one hand, sits flush in the rebate and the latch finds the keep every time.
Key Takeaways From This Article
- The opening is measured at head, middle and foot, because an older frame is seldom the same width at all three.
- The frame is checked for wind, the twist across the two jambs, before the leaf is touched, since planing a door will not straighten a twisted lining.
- Hinge housings are cut to depth so the door sits in its rebate, rather than being pulled in by the screws.
- Ironmongery goes on after the door is hung and swinging true, which is what stops a latch missing the keep.
- On a fire doorset the rating belongs to the leaf, frame, intumescent seals and ironmongery together, and the fitting has to preserve it.
George Herkes & Son Joinery has worked across East Lothian since 1989, holds East Lothian Trading Standards Trusted Trader accreditation, a council-backed scheme that vets against rogue trading, and is rated 5.0 from 62 reviews under it, and the same family run team handles carpentry in East Lothian from a single door through to a whole house.
Send through the openings and what you want hung in them, and George will come out and measure them.
Door Fitting Services
A door is hung to the frame as built, not to the drawing. That distinction is the whole job in the county’s older housing, where an opening has moved since it was formed and no two stiles are the same length. The opening is measured at head, middle and foot before a door is cut.
The sequence is fixed. Check the opening for square and for wind, which is the twist across the two jambs. Trim the leaf to the opening, keeping the lock stile and the hanging stile in balance. Cut the hinge housings to depth so the door sits in its rebate rather than being pulled in by the screws. Hang it, check the swing, then fit the ironmongery. Fitting the handle before the door swings true is how a latch ends up missing the keep.
Thinking about Door Fitting in East Lothian? A free quote from George Herkes & Son Joinery costs you nothing but the phone call.
Fire Doors and Compliance
A fire door is not a door, it is a doorset. The rating belongs to the leaf, the frame, the intumescent seals and the ironmongery working together, and it is the doorset that carries the rating rather than anybody’s opinion of the fitting.
What the fitting has to do is preserve it. Gaps around the leaf are held to the tolerance the doorset specifies, which is a matter of millimetres at head and stiles. Intumescent strips go into a routed groove, unbroken. Hinges are the number and grade the doorset calls for, and cutting a housing deeper than specified to correct a gap is the common way a rated set stops being one. Where a doorset needs a lining made to suit an out-of-square opening, that is workshop work, the same as any bespoke joinery design in East Lothian.
Want a price for Door Fitting in East Lothian? Ask George Herkes & Son Joinery for a free quote.
Internal and External Door Types in East Lothian
The stock in this county sets the door before taste does.
Period and burgh property
Georgian and Victorian rooms in Haddington and the older coastal streets carry four and six panel doors in openings that are taller than a standard leaf. A stock door in one of those looks wrong at the head, so the leaf is made to the opening and the panel proportions are taken from a door already in the house.
Interwar and post-war housing
Through Tranent, Prestonpans and Musselburgh the openings are closer to standard and the problem moves to the frame. Linings have often been over-skimmed, so the rebate is shallow and a stock door stands proud of it.
External doors on the coast
Property towards North Berwick, Dunbar and the shore under Bass Rock takes wind off the Forth and salt with it. An external leaf there is sealed on all six faces before it is hung, including the top and bottom edges nobody sees, and the threshold is detailed to shed water. That is the same weather thinking behind window installation contractors in East Lothian work.
Replacement Doors and Door Hanging
Most replacements go into an existing lining, and the lining is what decides whether the job is straightforward. A lining that is out of wind will hold a new leaf out of wind too, and no amount of planing the leaf will fix a twisted frame.
So the frame is checked first with a straight edge across the diagonals. Where it is sound, the new leaf is trimmed to it and the existing hinge positions are reused where they suit. Where the lining is twisted or over-skimmed, it is taken out and a new one is set plumb before the door is hung. The old leaf and the old ironmongery go out with the rest of the waste. It is the same method a door installer across Tranent uses on the same housing stock.
Materials and Door Styles
Material follows position rather than preference, and the positions in a house are not equivalent.
Internal doors
Softwood and primed board suit painted internal work and stay stable in a heated room. Hardwood is used where the door is to be finished clear and the grain is the point. Solid core carries weight and deadens sound; hollow core does neither and is obvious the first time it is closed.
External and back doors
An external leaf takes weather on one face and heat on the other, which is what makes it move. Hardwood or an engineered core handles that better than solid softwood, and the finish matters as much as the timber: end grain sealed, edges sealed, then the faces.
Style and matching
In a house where some original doors remain, the panel layout and the moulding profile of what is already there is the specification. A profile no merchant stocks is scribed off an existing leaf and cut to match in the workshop, which is where a made door earns its cost over a bought one.
George Herkes & Son Joinery gives free quotes on Door Fitting throughout East Lothian. Ask George what your job involves.
Common Questions About Door Fitting in East Lothian
Do you supply the door or fit only?
Either. Where you have bought the leaf, it is checked against the opening before anything is cut, because a door bought to a nominal size rarely suits an older frame without trimming, and there is a limit to how much can come off a stile before the joints are affected. Where the opening will not take a stock size at all, which is common in the taller Georgian and Victorian rooms in this county, the leaf is made to it in the workshop.
Can you fit awkward or non-standard sized doors?
That is most of the work in the older stock here. Openings in Haddington's burgh centre and along the older coastal streets are frequently taller than a standard leaf, and a stock door in one of them looks wrong at the head before you even try it. A made leaf takes the opening as it is and the panel proportions are taken from a door already in the house.
Are fire doors compliant once you have fitted them?
The rating comes with the doorset rather than from the fitting, and it covers the leaf, the frame, the intumescent seals and the ironmongery together. What the fitting does is preserve it: gaps held to the tolerance the doorset specifies, intumescent strips into a routed groove unbroken, and hinges of the number and grade the set calls for. Cutting a housing deeper than specified to correct a gap is the usual way a rated set quietly stops being one.
My door sticks in winter. Does it need replacing?
Usually not. Timber moves with moisture, and a leaf that catches in February and clears in July is doing what timber does, which is a clearance problem rather than a failure. It is worth checking the lining for wind first, because a twisted frame will hold a new door out of true exactly as it holds the old one, and replacing the leaf then buys nothing.
Do external doors need anything different on the coast?
Yes, and it is a real specification difference in this county. Property towards North Berwick, Dunbar and the shore under Bass Rock takes wind off the Forth and salt with it. An external leaf is sealed on all six faces before it is hung, including the top and bottom edges that never get looked at, and the threshold is detailed to shed water rather than hold it against the foot of the door.
Do you take the old door away?
Yes, the old leaf and the old ironmongery go out with the rest of the waste rather than being left for you. Where a lining has to come out too, the opening is made good and left ready to decorate.
