Door Easing / Shortening - DIY?

Circular saw along the bottom, being cautious of any breakout. For £70 you can't go wrong tbh. It's not one of those jobs that can really go horribly wrong but for £70 I'd rather have an hour or two to do something else and not have to worry.

Though if I already had a circular saw I'd be doing it myself. Had to do a few in my house when I had the floor retiled.
 
I think you can get a cheap electric planer for like £25. I'd get that and pocket the £45. You could even sell the planer on ebay for £15 after you're done :D.

Lots of passes, taking off 0.5mm at a time. make sure to keep the planer steady as you make the passes and keep checking with a square every now and again to make sure its not putting and angle on it. As you get to the ends go very slowly so that it doesn't tear the end grain, but on the cheap doors the faces of the door are glued to the timber, so it tends to hold it in place. Easy.
 
If your unsure about doing it hire a guy to do it who is, not worth the hassle and could end up worse off.
 
BennyC said:
Circular saw along the bottom, being cautious of any breakout.
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That's the best way I found.

I tried all sorts of tools on mine including a fence-guided jigsaw and router, but the circular was the best, finished off with a planer and belt sander to suit the less-than-straight door frames, and to put a bevel on the leading edge of the door.

The hardest one was in my kitchen, which needed quite a considerable amount taking off the bottom. Being a half glazed hollow door it wasn't straightforward so I ended up splitting the skins so I could take the bottom frame section out. I moved this up inside the door cavity to where it needed to be then cut the skins to size with a router and flush trim bit.
 
Turns out all my doors were fire doors. Guy came, sorted it out without fuss for £70, even tidied up all his mess. ne of the better and friendlier contractors. Would definitely hire him again if we need any wood work done.

NW Joinery LTD (Pontefract) In case anyone is looking for one.
 
Mr Jones said:
Turns out all my doors were fire doors. Guy came, sorted it out without fuss for £70, even tidied up all his mess. one of the better and friendlier contractors. Would definitely hire him again if we need any wood work done.

NW Joinery LTD (Pontefract) In case anyone is looking for one.
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Good to see you have it sorted now.

Shame we can't make a list of good/recommend contractors around the country.
 
Score your marking out lines with a stanley knife to stop the wood from splitting, and also make sure you plane from the outside edges towards the door centre each time so you don't split the hardwood edges. If the door happens to be one of those hollow cardboardy types, just cut/plane a peice of softwood and glue it in to the hollow bottom of the door.

Easy.



Before you ask, yes I have done hundreds, if not thousands of the bloody things :D
 
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