Shed door - frame is not square

[MarkSmith]

Hi folks,

We have an old brick shed in the garden which we've recently re-reroofed and refitted. Tomorrow's job is to fit a new door and frame. Currently there is a hole in the bricks, no wooden parts left as they were all rotten.

The hole is not plumb at the sides, by about 2cm. (The top is new and horizontal.) Picture to show what I mean (exadgerated):

Untitled

• MarkSmith
• 10 May 2013
• 1

The door doesn't have to be a work of art - the rest of the shed is "quirky" (=wonky) but it does have to work properly. The hinges will be at the right as you look at the drawing. The door will open outwards.

If necessary I can shape the frame to some extent to compensate for the not-squareness of the hole, and there will be a bit of adjustment possible by positioning the hinges a little bit proud of the frame. (Planning to use gate-style hinges.)

How close to plumb do the sides need to be to give me a reasonably well functioning door? 1mm top to bottom? 10mm? 20mm?

I can live with an uneven gap top and bottom.

Thanks!
-Mark

 

[kbdiy]

Quite honestly I think you've answered your own question. It's a shed, so hang the door and swing it as best you can. It will just be a case of trial and error until it swings ok. How much it is out of plumb is really down to how wonky the whole structure is.

 

[Burnerman]

Save yourself a lot of future grief Mark by installing the new frame square and plumb in the opening - you can always pack out the frame top or bottom as required, and fill any gaps with silicone sealant or sand / cement.
This way the door hang will be easy, and there won't be awkward gaps top or bottom.
John

 

[MarkSmith]

Thanks for the replies.

The question I'm asking really is, perhaps from someone who has done a few of these, about how much out of plumb is OK?

I don't want to fit the frame wonky, fit the door and then find out it's no good. Neither do I want to spend ages cutting the frame to be perfectly plumb if 2cm off is not going to matter.

Thanks!
-Mark

 

[pinenot]

I've come across out of plumb door slaps many times, and it's better to be plumb, and what Burnerman is describing to you is this View media item 61165 a lot less grief as said...pinenot

 

[MarkSmith]

Thanks all. Went for the suggsetion by pinenot and burnerman in the end - got it pretty much exactly plumb by cutting along the length of the frame. It was out by 5cm so packing it out wasn't really going to work.

Fortunately both sides were exactly equally out-of-plumb so the offcut from one side was just right for the other.

Here's the result.

Untitled

• MarkSmith
• 13 May 2013
• 1

 

[skotl]

Result well done - looks a lot better that way then if you'd done anything else!