Installing a Pre-hung door

Hanging a door is one of the main tasks of a trim carpenter. Trim carpentry is woodworking on tour. Like a band on the road, working outside the controlled environment of the studio (or your shop) presents new challenges. The main challenge being that trim carpentry is woodworking that’s attached to, or integrated with, something larger.

That larger thing in this case is a wall in your house. Trim carpentry is the art and craft of blending rough framing and precise woodworking. It can be a lot of fun when you know ahead of time the challenges that you’ll run into and how to tackle them. Let’s take a look at those challenges, starting with the anatomy of a pre-hung door.

A PRE-HUNG DOOR

The main drawing you see on the previous page lays out all the working parts of a pre-hung door. What you have is a wood slab or panel door that’s attached to a three-sided wood frame. The three frame parts are