The house you have now has doors that catch on the carpet and need a shoulder in damp weather, and the house you have after has doors that shut with one hand.
Key Takeaways From This Article
- The lining is the job, and clearance is two to three millimetres at the head and sides with the foot set to the floor covering.
- Older Elphinstone openings are imperial and stock leaves are metric, so some leaves are made to the opening.
- A fire door is an assembly, and the leaf, frame, strip, seal, hinges and closer carry the rating together.
- Hinge count follows leaf weight, so a solid core or glazed leaf takes three rather than two.
- Handle heights are set out from a rod so they match through the house.
George Herkes & Son Joinery has worked across East Lothian since 1989, holds East Lothian Trading Standards Trusted Trader accreditation and is rated 5.0 from 62 reviews, and the bathroom fitting service in Elphinstone is the same team hanging the doors.
Send George a count of the doors and a photo of one opening and he will come and measure them.
Door Fitting Services
The house you have now has doors that catch on the carpet, sit proud at the head and need a shoulder in damp weather. The house you have after has doors that shut with one hand and stay that way through a heating season. The leaf is rarely what separates the two.
The lining is the job. A leaf is scribed to the opening as found, hinges are let in by hand to a depth that leaves the leaf central in the reveal, and the stop is reset to the closed door rather than left where it was nailed. Clearance is two to three millimetres at the head and the sides, and enough at the foot to clear the floor covering that is going down. Those figures are the difference. A leaf hung with no allowance for a carpet that has not gone down yet will be trimmed on site by somebody with a plane, and the finish on the bottom edge will never be sealed again.
George Herkes & Son Joinery gives free quotes on Door Fitting throughout Elphinstone. Ask George what your job involves.
Door Supply and Installation in Elphinstone
Elphinstone’s stock runs from nineteenth century mining village housing through the 1958 and 1970 Duries Park streets to later private infill, and the door sizes change with each layer.
Imperial openings
The older village stock was built to imperial sizes and stock leaves are metric. A stock leaf can sometimes be trimmed within the manufacturer’s stated allowance, which is limited and printed on the door. Beyond that the leaf is made to the opening in the workshop.
Later stock
The Duries Park streets and the later infill generally take standard metric leaves, which shortens the job considerably. The survey establishes which of the two you have before anything is ordered, the same way it does on a loft conversion contractors across Elphinstone job.
Fire Doors and Compliance
A fire door is an assembly rather than a leaf, and the rating belongs to the whole assembly.
The components
Leaf, frame, intumescent strip, smoke seal, hinges and closer all carry the rating together. Hinges must be rated and there are usually three. Gaps are held to the tolerance the assembly was tested at, typically around three millimetres at head and sides.
Where they apply
Flats off a common stair and habitable rooms opening onto an escape route are the usual cases, and a loft conversion normally brings them in. The same specification is used on door fitting in Tranent. Swap one component for something outside the assembly and the rating is gone.
Internal and External Door Types
Weight and exposure are the two variables that decide specification, and they pull in different directions.
A hollow core internal leaf weighs little and takes two hinges. A solid core or a glazed leaf takes three, because two will let it drop within a year. External doors need a weather seal, a threshold that drains rather than only seals, and ironmongery rated for the exposure of the elevation. Composite and timber external doors both work; they fail differently, with timber wanting maintenance and composite wanting correct adjustment. Glazing in a door or a side panel within a defined distance of floor level has to be toughened or laminated. That applies to internal glazed doors as much as external ones and is checked against the leaf rather than assumed from its appearance.
Replacement Doors and Door Hanging for Elphinstone Homes
Replacing every internal door in a house is the least invasive joinery work available, and it changes how finished a house reads more than most decorating does.
Old leaves come off and new ones are hung, usually a floor at a time. Ironmongery is set out from a rod so handle heights match through the house, which is a dimension nobody mentions and everybody notices when it is wrong. Existing linings are checked for square and packed where needed rather than replaced by default, since a sound lining is worth keeping. Dust sheets go down and rooms are completed one at a time, so no room is without a door overnight and the waste leaves with us rather than stacking in the hall.
Materials and Door Styles
Style ties the new work to the age of the house, and the moulding profile does most of that work.
A four panel leaf suits the older village stock and can have its profile matched to the existing architrave. A flat slab leaf suits the later infill. Engineered cores are more stable than solid timber in a house with variable heating and are worth specifying where a leaf is wide. Finishes run from factory sprayed colour to clear lacquered veneer, and a factory finish will always be flatter than one applied in a hallway. Where a house is being decorated at the same time it is worth sequencing the doors before the walls, because the reverse means cutting in against a leaf that has not settled.
Get a free quote for Door Fitting in Elphinstone. You will be talking to George, not a call centre.
Door Fitting in Elphinstone FAQs
Will standard doors fit an older Elphinstone house?
Often not without work. The nineteenth century village stock was built to imperial sizes and stock leaves are metric. A stock leaf can sometimes be trimmed within the manufacturer's stated allowance, and beyond that the leaf is made to the opening in the workshop.
What about the Duries Park streets and the newer houses?
Those generally take standard metric leaves, which makes the job quicker and cheaper to supply. The survey establishes which of the two you have before anything is ordered.
How many doors can be hung in a day?
It depends entirely on whether the linings are sound and square. A house with good linings and standard openings runs quickly; one where every opening needs packing does not. You get the realistic figure at survey rather than an average.
Do I need fire doors?
It depends on the property and what is changing. Flats off a common stair and habitable rooms opening onto an escape route are the usual cases, and a loft conversion normally brings them in. Where they apply, every component carries the rating and the gaps are held to the tested tolerance.
