How to install an interior door yourself. Installing interior doors with your own hands: how to do everything correctly and efficiently


During repair work New interior doors are often installed in the apartment. This process is not that complicated, so installation interior doors with your own hands - it’s doable. The main thing is to study the nuances and installation technology.

Do-it-yourself interior door installation

At self-installation There are many nuances and features of an interior door. The most common of them will be announced in the instructions.

Definition with dimensions

The main thing you need to do before installing an interior door is to determine its size. Mistakes are not allowed here.

It is best to measure the prepared doorway when the old panel and frame have already been removed. This is the only way it will work correct result. To measure, it is necessary to determine the narrowest place and measure the width and length of the opening along the wall. So, the dimensions on the outside of the door frame should be less than the value obtained from measurements. If, for example, the resulting value is 78 cm, then the block is installed with parameters of 70 cm, since a wider version will no longer fit into this opening. Usually, in apartments, builders immediately set standard dimensions, so choosing a door from the assortment presented in the store will not be difficult.

If it is necessary to install a door in a non-standard opening, an individual order will be required.

Preparation of tools

After you have purchased the desired door, you must immediately prepare the tools that you will need during the work:

  • or a drill with 3 and 4 mm drills;
  • drills for concrete wall by 4 and 6 mm;
  • wood screws;
  • saw or jigsaw;
  • building level and plumb line;
  • roulette;
  • pencil;
  • polyurethane foam.

Box assembly

The technology for installing an interior door involves initially cutting the posts to the length of the doorway. The evenness of the floor is measured by a level; if the characteristic is satisfactory, then the racks are made identical. When making calculations, it is important to understand that the racks are always 1–2 cm longer than the canvas itself, taking into account the cuts, and there is a gap of 1 cm under the door.

After determining the length of the racks, saw off the lintel part, which is longer than the width of the door leaf. Additionally, the length includes a gap of 7 - 8 mm, which is distributed:

  • 5 - 6 mm - on the hinge structure;
  • 2.5 – 3 mm – compensation type gaps.

Since the doors are made of wood that changes its original dimensions, the gaps will allow the door to open unhindered under any conditions. Then the box is assembled. Methods for connecting planks to each other:

  1. At an angle of 45°. This solution is the most correct and aesthetically correct, but it is also difficult to implement due to the high precision of the cut to avoid cracks. You can make such cuts using a carpenter's miter box. An unpleasant moment can be the occurrence of chips, so use only the sharpest tool possible. Next, drill three holes on each side. So, it turns out that 2 holes are located on top at a distance of 1 cm from the edge and 1 on the side in the middle. The screws are tightened perpendicular to the connection.
  2. At an angle of 90°. In this option it is more difficult to make a mistake, but you need to remove the protrusions at the junction of the lintel and the racks. To do this, place the lintel in the corner with a fairly large margin. Remove all excess with a chisel. Set an even angle. In a fixed position, drill holes with a diameter several millimeters smaller than the self-tapping screw. Strictly observing the angle and excluding the relief, connect this node.

If you mean setting a threshold, then the box turns out to look not like the letter P, but like a rectangle. For the threshold you need to correctly determine the location. This is done after collecting the U-shaped box and attaching the canvas to it. 2.5 mm are removed from it and a threshold is attached to this place.

Assemble parts on the floor.

Inserting hinges and installing fittings

Installing an interior door with your own hands involves inserting 2 hinges, but in some cases there may be 3. They are placed at a distance of 20 - 25 cm from the top and bottom of the door leaf.

The attachment point should not contain knots if the door is made of solid wood.

To begin with, the hinges are mounted on door leaf according to the following algorithm:

  1. Place the loops in the desired places, outlining their outline with a well-sharpened pencil or blade.
  2. Making a recess with a router or chisel along the contour.
  3. Install the loop into the recess evenly with the surface of the canvas.
  4. Fixing the hinge with self-tapping screws.

Afterwards, the canvas is placed in a box, the required gaps are set on the side of the hinge mechanisms - 6 mm, in the upper part and on the opposite side - 3 mm, and fixed with wedges. Mark the places on the box where the second part of each loop will be located. After this, a recess is created for the hinges on the door frame.

As a rule, interior doors are sold without handles. Therefore, in the process of installing an interior door with your own hands, you will have to think about this. The location of the handle is determined by the owner depending on his height and ease of use. As a standard, the handle and lock, if one is intended, are attached to the canvas at a distance of 0.9 to 1.2 m from the floor. This is the most comfortable spot for use by the average person.

Installation of the box

Before installing the door frame of the interior door, you need to knock out everything in the opening that could interfere with installation or fall off. In the case of problematic walls, they are pre-treated with deep penetration primers. In the presence of big holes they are sealed up plaster mixture. The prepared opening is a step towards the correct installation of the interior door.

After preparation, the door frame is installed and its verticality is checked not only by level, but also by plumb line. It is installed in such a way that the canvas subsequently creates a single plane with the wall. If the wall is not flat, then the door frame is not aligned along it, but vertically.

To avoid distortion, before installing the door, temporary spacers are installed on the floor in the door frame, giving it greater rigidity.

After the selected position of the door frame, it is secured with mounting wedges made of wood or plastic, which are placed on both sides of the lintel and above the racks. Check the verticality of the fixed door frame. At this stage, the canvas is inserted into the box and the door can be opened unhindered. If everything is satisfactory, then you can begin fastening.

There are several ways to attach a door frame to an opening:

  • right through to the wall;
  • mounting plates.

The first type is more reliable, but leaves behind visible fastener heads on the box. To fasten an interior door, it is quite enough to install two self-tapping screws in the recesses for the hinges in the frame and in the area for the lock on the other side. In this case, you need to ensure that the head of the screws is buried in the material and does not interfere with the installation of the hinges. Door frames with decorative strips that hide the fastening points are also now available.

To install an interior door in this way, you will need to drill holes for screws with a concrete drill. If desired, you can drill through-type holes in other areas of the box, and cover their locations with matching overlays.

The second method is to pre-attach mounting plates to the back of the frame, which help secure the door. This option allows you to avoid drilling the door frame and wall.

Hanging the canvas

Thus, after installing the box, you can begin to foam the gaps between it and the wall. Before this, the wall should be moistened with water for better polymerization of the polyurethane foam. You need an amount of material that fills the space by no more than 2/3. If you squeeze out more, the foam may blow the box inside.

To prevent deformation of the box during foaming, it is worth installing spacers.

The foam polymerization time is indicated on the packaging and may vary among specific manufacturers. Once the substance has completely hardened, the spacers are removed, the door leaf is hung and the work is checked new door.

Finishing the finished door

The doorway after installing the doors in the apartment requires additional finishing to make it more decorative. There are several options here:

  1. If the wall is thin, install platbands covering the foamed area. They are fastened with nails without heads or screws with special plugs.
  2. With a wide wall, install platbands and additional strips, which are cut to width and mounted on construction silicone. In this case, the platbands are installed in the same way as in the previous case.

Installing an interior door according to step-by-step instructions is a difficult process that requires some skill. But, if you take into account all the features during installation, then it is quite possible to do this without the need to contact specialists.

Video instructions for installing interior doors

In this article, we will step by step understand how to do it correctly. Today, not every person is able to independently install interior and entrance doors into doorways, or at least do it correctly. Turning to specialists will take up quite a bit of money if you need to install, say, 10 doors in your new house or an apartment. To save extra money, I advise everyone to read this step-by-step instructions. Special attention: we will talk about wooden doors for internal use. Installing doors yourself from scratch consists of 10 steps.

Step 1.

Do-it-yourself door installation.

We start by unpacking the purchased set of interior or front door, and the door frame from it. This should be done extremely carefully, since often at this stage the door receives the first injuries. When opening the package with a knife, sometimes the surface of the door itself is touched, and if the above-mentioned door has a varnish or laminated coating, the defect is very noticeable and is not easy to eliminate. Special attention: Initially, I advise you to unpack only the door frame. It is better to unpack the door itself before direct use, so as not to spoil its appearance even before use.

Step 2.

Do-it-yourself door installation.

The unpacked door frame should be assembled. In the unpacked kit you will find three main components and one additional one. An additional connecting wooden strip is provided for temporary fixation.

At the ends of the door frame panels there are plastic inserts hammered into special grooves.

These inserts must be knocked out, but this should be done extremely carefully so as not to damage the surface of the door frame. To do this, it is best to use a wooden peg rather than hitting the insert directly with a hammer.

Step 3.

Do-it-yourself door installation.

The parts are assembled into a U-shaped groove into a groove. At this stage it is important to maintain the correct geometry. Unevenness is not allowed here! The connected elements are secured with previously knocked out plastic inserts described in step 2. They are driven into the formed holes when connecting the door frame. this work made using an ordinary hammer. The plank should be finished using a peg, as before, so as not to spoil the wooden surface.

If the elements of the box have shifted when hammering in the insert, they can be aligned with the same hammer. The body should be hit on the wooden plank attached to it.

The final result at this stage should be the same as in the photo.

Step 4.

Do-it-yourself door installation.

At all subsequent stages we will need a special power tool, which includes:

  • screwdriver;
  • drill;
  • milling head.

Having completed all the steps described in step 3 and thus connecting the top of the door frame, we can move on to its bottom part. The same additional element of the kit is used for this - a fixing wooden strip.

Having measured the width along the bottom of the box, we fix it with a wooden plank. We fasten it with screws in places that will subsequently be sealed with mortar into the wall. In this case, you should start screwing in the screw not from the very edge of the plank, since at the fastening point you will only split the plank. We screw it in at an angle approximately as shown in the photo.

See the photo below for the final result of step 4.

Step 5.

Do-it-yourself door installation.

At this point you should measure the height of your doorway. It is necessary to take into account the height of the threshold or its absence. Having decided on the desired parameters, we cut off the bottom of the door frame. This is best done using a miter saw.

Step 6.

We insert the door into the door frame prepared for installation for fitting. Let me remind you that even at this stage it is not necessary to unpack it completely. It is enough to cut only the holes for the handles and the lock. How they are installed will be discussed later. If everything is fine, you can safely proceed to installing the door frame in the doorway.

Step 7

At this stage we proceed directly. To do this, we need to position the door frame perfectly level in the opening. This can be done using a level. After this, we screw the box to the opening. In our particular case, you can use ordinary wood screws, since in the opening made of plasterboard sheets wooden blocks are laid. In other cases, you will have to use a dowel-nail, etc. materials.

The fasteners are screwed in at an angle in those places that will subsequently be hidden under the mounting foam and finishing. Under no circumstances should you fasten your frame all the way through the front. This will greatly spoil the appearance and may also cause the door to not function properly, for example making it difficult to open or close.

The gap between the door frame and the opening is foamed with polyurethane foam. Afterwards, a slope is constructed in this place using dry construction finishing mixtures.

Step 8

While the mounting foam we used to seal the gap between the frame and the wall in the opening hardens, we will begin preparing the door leaf. We'll put a lock in it and install handles and hinges.

Using a measuring tool, we mark the location of the door lock at the end of the door. Based on the shape of the lock, we outline a contour along which it will be necessary to remove a layer of wood so that the front part of our lock is flush with the surface of the door leaf. A router saw should be used to remove wood.

In the photo below, there is a lock used in our particular case, as well as a cut layer of wood necessary for correct installation the above-mentioned castle.

The working part of the lock requires a deeper hole, which is best made with a drill with a drill of a suitable diameter.

The work on installing the lock does not end there, since it is necessary to make more holes for the handles on both sides of the door being installed. This is done with the same drill and drill bit. As I already said, it is important in both cases to take into account the required drill diameter.

At the same stage we install the door handles. We put the core into the hole in the canvas in which the lock is installed. We put handles on it on both sides. Next, tighten all the necessary fasteners and clamps. In the described case, three screws and a bolt, which is screwed in with a hexagon, act as clamps and fasteners.

The final step in this step is to install the hinges. In the designated places, by analogy with installing a lock, loops are attached to the ends. As with the lock, a layer of wood is removed with a router saw so that the attached surface of the hinge is flush with the door leaf.

Step 9

Having prepared the door, we return to the box. As on the door itself, on the frame we mark the places for screwing the hinges with a measuring tool. Just as in previous similar cases, it is necessary to use a milling saw.

Next, we outline the place where it should fit into the door frame body. In this place, using a chisel, we make a hole of the required depth and attach the plug, which comes complete with hinges, a lock and handles.

Step 10

We hang the door leaf on the hinges screwed to the door frame and, admiring the result, we can deservedly praise ourselves.
The end result is shown in the photo below.

It is better to unpack the door itself just before you start using it.

Generalization: At each stage where wood was sawed, drilled or cut, its exposed areas must be covered with plain paint. This will improve the appearance and also preserve and protect the surface of the wood. Installing doors with your own hands is real. It also adds to your experience in the repair industry.

I hope this article helped you gain the necessary knowledge and the right level of confidence to begin installing doors yourself. with my own hands. Good luck to you in all your endeavors.

Step-by-step video on how to install doors yourself

Have you bought a new home, or is it time to renovate your old one? You cannot do without restoration, replacement or installation of a new interior door. There is no talk of restoration today.

Let's talk about installing a new door. You can entrust this kind of work to specialists, but we do it ourselves. Installing an interior door with your own hands will save your budget and will give you pleasure if you are a real man.

The construction market is replete with offers. Interior doors are no exception. Choose whatever your heart desires, affordable for your pocket. But don't rush into buying. It is necessary to take into account the specific layout of rooms in a house or apartment, the size of the doorway, and the specifics of opening doors. Interior doors are:

  • swing single-door or double-door;
  • sliding compartments (built into the wall or on top of the wall);
  • harmonic;
  • secret.

Each has distinctive features and requires individual approach to installation, accessories. Handles can be installed on the surface of the canvas or recessed inside; rotary or push.

Loops for different types your own interior doors. Most often they consist of two parts: one is attached to the canvas, the other to the vertical post of the box.

Swing double door design.

A system of upper/lower guides is provided for compartment interior doors. Knowing the features of installing different types of doors, doing everything yourself will not be difficult. Now let's talk about everything in order.

Determining the size of the future door structure

Let's take a single-leaf swing door as a basis. Understanding the calculations overall dimensions With this design, it will not be difficult to figure out other options.

  1. We measure the interior opening in height and width. We take the size of the clean space without old door, if any. There should be no inaccuracies in the calculations - this will affect the quality of the installation of interior doors with your own hands.
  2. If available old design, dismantle it, level the surface.
  3. The width of standard interior doors varies from 700 mm. They may be smaller, but this is only for some utility rooms. Because it will be difficult to pass through such an opening, much less bring large objects.
  4. For a door 700 mm wide, the opening must be at least 790 mm. It is necessary to take into account the thickness of the frame, the door leaf and the technological gap for comfortable opening of the sash. Typically, a gap of 30 mm is left on the right and left sides inside the box.
  5. Let's move on to heights. The standard door leaf corresponds to a height of 2000 mm. Larger size made to order. We add to the height of the door leaf the thickness of the top strip of the frame and the opening gaps.
  6. The design can be with or without a threshold. This must be taken into account when purchasing a door. On average, the height of interior openings is 2100 mm. If the space is a little larger than the standard, don’t worry. During the installation process, the remaining space will be hidden by foam casing around the perimeter.

Dimensions of a standard door and frame.

What to buy at a hardware store to install interior doors yourself?

  • door leaf of the required size, type - 1 pc.;
  • timber for the frame, if not included with the door - 3–4 pcs. (depending on the type of box);
  • extras (if necessary);
  • cash, if not included;
  • hinges of a certain type (consult the salesperson in the store or read the information on choosing door hinges);
  • door knob;
  • screws for the box;
  • polyurethane foam;
  • masking tape;
  • tools, if you don’t have them in the household, or rent them.

What tools do you need to prepare:

  • drill;
  • screwdriver;
  • perforator;
  • hacksaw or miter saw;
  • level;
  • roulette;
  • hammer;
  • chisel;
  • miter box;
  • mallet;
  • spray foam gun;
  • wedges and bars for spacers.

All parts have been purchased and prepared. Let's move on to installing the interior door with our own hands.

Preparing the door leaf and frame with your own hands

Each master has his own methods for installing interior doors. You can mount the box and the panel separately in the opening, or you can assemble it into a single set and install it in the opening. The main thing is that the result is positive. Step-by-step instructions will help you avoid mistakes.

DIY box assembly

Let's consider a technology where the box is assembled on the floor and then installed in the opening.


Initially, it is important to install the door frame correctly.

Knowing the size of the product, we cut off the required length of the vertical strips. To do this, take a tape measure, take a measurement, mark a mark with a pencil, and saw off the excess length.

There are two ways to cut timber:

  • at an angle of 45 degrees;
  • at an angle of 90 degrees.

Assembly with the first option is not available to every craftsman. You need clarity of action, a steady hand and a miter saw. At an angle of 45 we cut out not only vertical strips, but also horizontal ones. We connect the elements with self-tapping screws, tightening them deeper.

There are no difficulties with the second option. We saw off the required length and connect the parts at an angle of 90 degrees. We make a small recess on the top of the vertical bar for the upper vertical part of the box, a kind of groove. It will help to connect the timber parts more tightly with self-tapping screws.

Before tightening the fasteners, make holes with a drill to avoid cracking the planks and damaging the workpiece.

Step-by-step video instructions in this article will help you understand the technique of assembling a box with your own hands.

We considered the option when the assembly interior box comes from special blanks for the door structure. They are recommended when an additional rigid frame is needed in the opening. For example, in wooden house the frame made of timber will act as a frame and will not allow the doorway to open when shrinking and to disturb the geometry of the door. The thickness and width of the timber is selected according to the type of door: solid wood, MDF, panel or other. Everyone has their own thickness. Choose the option you like for assembling the support frame and move on to assembling the canvas.

Assembling the canvas with your own hands, installing accessories

Assembling the door leaf involves attaching the necessary fasteners to the door leaf. Sometimes manufacturers make notches on the intended attachment points for hinges or handles. These are more exclusive and expensive models.


All fittings for the door leaf must be installed before the door hangs into the frame.

Often sash interior design universal, i.e. the product can be installed in the interior opening both on the right and on the left. Our instructional hint will help you understand this issue.

Advice: on technique fire safety any door should open outward in the direction of travel. Neither the handle nor the blade should touch other objects so that there is no rebound from the blow back. It can be traumatic.

Try to ensure that adjacent doors do not interfere with each other when opening. Sometimes the corridor space is narrow, but separates several rooms that need to be isolated with interior doors. If you choose the wrong opening option, there will be a problem with one door hitting another or one of the doors may block the other. Architects do not always think through this point, especially in small apartments. Therefore, consider all the nuances so that the use of a useful piece of furniture is not deplorable. A sliding door would be a good solution.

Installing hinges yourself

We figured out the opening direction. Let's move on to installing interior door hinges with our own hands.

Let's apply markings on the canvas and the vertical bar of the supporting frame. According to the standard, two loops are secured. If the door is heavy, for example solid, a third hinge will be required.

The hinges are attached to the door exactly according to the given pattern, observing the dimensions.

From the top and bottom we retreat 150–200 mm from the edge and make the first notch. This is one edge of the hinge strip. We mark the second mark - this is the other edge of the bar. We find out the size by measuring the length of the loop with a tape measure or applying the loop itself to the first mark. We perform the same actions on the vertical stand of the box.

Modern hinges may fit tightly to the ends of the product or require additional recess into the edge. To do this, take a chisel and select the required gap from the canvas and timber. Thus, the seats for the upper and lower loops have been outlined.

We secure the fittings with self-tapping screws, having previously drilled holes for them with a drill.

Some experts recommend securing the hinge to the canvas and box before installation. Other craftsmen advise placing the box and then screwing the canvas together with the hinges in a standing position. What to choose is up to you. It’s easier to immediately attach the hinges to the frame and the sash in a lying position, and then install it in the opening. But adjustment difficulties may arise if the door connection is not symmetrical around the perimeter of the opening.

Installation and assembly of the handle

Let's move on to the handles. Step-by-step instructions for installing handles will help you do everything correctly. Despite the fact that door handles are presented in a wide range, their installation is carried out according to a certain algorithm. Latch handles are often used, which contain a locking element in the design that allows you to close the door with a key or latch:

  • we measure the height where we will attach the handle and lock, according to the standard 90–120 mm from the floor;
  • At the end of the blade, a hole for the locking strip is drilled with a large drill;
  • insert the bar into the hole, mark its contours at the end of the canvas;
  • we take out the lock and make a recess with a chisel so that the lock plate is flush with the surface;
  • on the surface of the product we mark the place where the handle is attached, applying the lock plate from the outside;
  • drill a hole for the handle;
  • insert the lock back into the end and secure it with a handle;
  • We will install the counter plate on the frame after hanging the door in the opening.

You can figure out how to fix the handles on the door with your own hands by watching the video instructions:

Installing a door in an interior opening

We move on to the next stage - installing the product in the interior opening. Let's make a small digression. If the door is installed in a new apartment, then it is enough to check the evenness of the opening and correct unevenness using plaster and a trowel. Sand the surface, prime it and begin installation. door design. But if the renovation is carried out in an old room, then it is necessary to dismantle the old door or interior frame. This requires time, effort, and skill.


The entire space around the box is foamed with polyurethane foam.

Do the dismantling in advance so as not to spray and prolong the installation period of the door. We are doing this with our own hands and for the first time. Finishing work walls and floors must be completed before the doors are installed, so that later there are no inconsistencies. This requirement applies both to the installation of a U-shaped box and along the entire perimeter with a threshold. It is difficult to push linoleum or tiles under the door and maintain the ability to open correctly.

Correct installation of the door with your own hands requires the presence of an assistant. There are two options for installation in the opening, but in each of them it is difficult to do all the manipulations alone.

First way. Installing the box separately from the canvas

After checking the evenness of the frame with a level, we install it in the prepared interior opening. Accompanying each action with a level and plumb line, we set the frame level. It should not have even the slightest slope. This will affect the opening of the sash.


Installing the door frame separately from the door leaf.

We install wedges or bars to pre-fix the box. Don't forget about the gap between the jamb and the slats.

We drill holes in the vertical strip and screw self-tapping screws into the holes. They must pull the box towards the door frame. If the house is wooden, a long self-tapping screw will easily fit into the log. If the house is made of brick, you need to make a preliminary hole in the opening and insert a plastic dowel under the screw. The fasteners must be recessed into the bar so as not to interfere with the opening/closing of the sash.

We check all surfaces with a level.

There are situations when the box cannot completely cover the joint. Decorative additions help hide the opening. They are attached directly to the jamb or attached to the frame before installation. Select right size add extras or cut them in place. Such extensions are secured into the groove using foam.

The box is fixed. Let's move on to hanging the canvas. If the hinges are collapsible, then hanging the sash is not very difficult. The hinges are installed symmetrically on both parts of the product. We insert one part of the loop into the other and check all the gaps. They should be the same around the entire perimeter.

Second way. Installation of the complete product

Before installing the kit in the interior opening, we place cardboard spacers between the canvas and the box. This will maintain the gaps and symmetry of the kit.

  • Carefully lift the product and install it in the opening.
  • Align along the perimeter using a level and plumb line.
  • We install wedges or bars around the perimeter to maintain gaps and space for foam.
  • We move on to foaming the space around the perimeter. This process is similar in both the first and second installation methods.
  • Before applying foam in the gaps, cover the front sides of the box with masking tape to prevent foam from getting on the product. It is quite difficult to clean it. Use a foam gun. The gun will reduce material consumption and the work will be done accurately. Take your time. Apply layer by layer from top to bottom.

After foaming the space, it is advisable to leave the door closed for a day. There will be no deformation at rest, and the cardboard placed between the box and the canvas will maintain gaps and will not allow the beam to bend when the foam expands.


The door leaf can be installed separately from the frame or together.

After drying, cut off the excess foam and remove the masking tape.

All that remains is to secure the lock strike plate at the end of the box and install the decorative parts - trims.

installing an interior door with your own hands is the final process

At closed door We apply a notch to the place where the lock strike plate is attached. Use a chisel to select a hole for the plank. It should be recessed flush into the timber. We fix it with self-tapping screws. We check the operation of the lock and handle.


The final work is finishing.

The final step is to install the trim on the sides and top of the interior door. Platbands can be connected to each other at an angle of 45 degrees or at a right angle. It depends on the design of the product. Sometimes parts are sold ready-made or need to be filed. The cut is made with a miter saw. The elements are connected in place, secured with liquid nails or nails without heads, driven into the drilled holes.

Proper assembly and installation of interior swing doors with your own hands is a very serious and responsible matter. Therefore, in this article, in order to independently assemble, install and save money, we will analyze step by step instructions on the topic of proper assembly and installation of interior swing doors with your own hands. After all, not everyone can assemble and install the frame and doors correctly on their own. Calling a specialist will cost you a pretty penny, and if the house is new and you need to install more than, say, 10 doors, you could end up going bankrupt.

The most common on the market among ready-made interior doors are doors made from natural wood, MDF and fiberboard.

Doors made of fiberboard consist of wooden frame covered with laminated fiberboard sheets. This is one of the cheapest types of doors and also the lightest. But the strength of such doors leaves much to be desired, and besides, they are afraid of humidity, due to which it can be “twisted” a little. So if you want to put such a door in the bathroom, you should think carefully first.

Interior doors made of MDF are more durable, resistant to moisture and have better sound insulation compared to doors made of fiberboard; accordingly, their price is slightly higher. Well, as they say, “you have to pay for quality.”

Interior doors made of natural wood, as you probably already guessed, are among the most durable and expensive types of interior doors. And their prices depend on what wood they are made of.

They are also divided into types according to.

Types of door frames for interior doors.

Fiberboard frames, like doors, are not particularly durable, and therefore their price is also low. Due to their fragility, heavy doors such as MDF and wood cannot be hung on such boxes. Since the boxes are made of fiberboard, the doors should be made of the same material.

A door frame made of dry, untreated profiled timber is correspondingly much stronger than the previous ones, and the price is higher, although it needs finishing with your own hands.

A door frame made of laminated wood is similar to the previous one, except that it no longer requires processing. However, when purchasing such a box, you need to pay attention to the quality of the lamination; if the layer is too thin, then it is more susceptible to physical impacts, and this means the appearance of scratches and abrasions, cracks may appear and subsequently fly off.

Preparation before assembling and installing swing interior doors with your own hands.

First you need to dismantle the old interior door, remove the old door frame and remove the poorly fitting cement. If there is such a need, then level the doorway with various dry mixtures, of which there are a huge number on the market, for example “Teplon”.

If, after removing the old door frame, too large chips remain at the doorway, then to level them, you can fasten the board to the slope that needs to be leveled; it will act as a formwork, and fill the potholes along it and along the walls with the prepared solution. After the solution has hardened, you can carefully remove the board. You can secure it using the same dowel nails or using spacers. After leveling, you can proceed to putty, if there is such a need.

Proper assembly and installation of interior swing doors with your own hands, the main steps step by step.

Proper installation of interior doors with your own hands usually begins with assembling the frame, installing hinges, and after that we install the frame in the doorway, anchor it and foam it. We install the door leaf, additional element if necessary, and finally install the trim. If the door frame has a threshold, then the door should be folded to it.

Tools and consumables for assembling a door frame and installing interior doors with your own hands.

Building level
tape measure, square
saw, hammer, hacksaw
milling cutter, chisel
hammer drill
screwdriver
miter box
drills 3-4 mm and drills 4-6 mm
wood screws
dowel-nails
polyurethane foam
wooden blocks, wedges
drills for concrete and wood.

Correct assembly of the door frame of an interior swing door with your own hands.

1. First thing you need to do is choose flat surface, this can be either the floor or a couple of tables moved towards each other, and lay something soft, a cardboard package from the door will do. We place vertical bars (stays, hinges and rebate) from the door frame with the rebate to the top and put the door leaf into them. Now we need to “adjust” both pillars so that there is a gap of 2-3 mm between them and the door leaf. To make it simpler, you can use pieces of cardboard to maintain the gap, inserting them between the canvas and the pillars.

2. Now we need to cut the lintel, top crossbar to size. To do this, we place a crossbar on top of our lying posts and canvas, align it “flush” with one of the posts and mark the length. All that remains is to saw off the block along the mark. If you have a laminated door frame, then you need to start sawing from the laminated side. If you do the opposite, you can chip the laminate and ruin the look.

3. Again we apply the crossbar to the posts and the canvas, and mark the dimensions of the protrusions of the edges for sawing on the top crossbar or on the posts. A hacksaw for metal is best suited for sawing, as it has smaller teeth and a thinner blade, so the laminated surface will not chip. It is best to cut not along the mark, but next to it. When sawing, be careful not to touch the laminated surface below. When the cuts are ready, excess protrusions are carefully removed with a chisel.

4. We apply a lintel to the pillars and fasten them with self-tapping screws, two on each side. Typically, the upper lintel crossbar is attached to the pillars using wood screws measuring 4*75 and 4*50. Of course, initially it is advisable to drill holes slightly smaller than the diameter of the screws, especially for boxes made of fiberboard. Now we also need to maintain a 3mm gap between the lintel and the top of the canvas; again, you can use pieces of cardboard.

5. Just in case, let’s check the diagonal and if everything is fine, then we’ll start sawing off the pillars. They need to be sawed off so that there is a gap of approximately 10 mm between the floor and the sheet, and there should also be a gap of 1-2 mm between the floor and the studs, to ensure thermal expansion of the floor covering. In general, for interior doors without a threshold, it is customary to leave a gap between the floor and the leaf of 5-10 mm, this is necessary to ensure air exchange, and for kitchen doors a gap of 10-15 mm is left. Here it is needed for a sudden gas leak, since the gas is heavier, it falls to the floor, and with the door closed with a small gap, the kitchen will quickly fill with gas, and for it to explode, it is enough to turn on the light, and with a normal gap it will spread throughout the entire apartment, due to which The leak can be detected by smell even before the critical volume.

If you have a door frame with semicircular cross-sections of the rebates, then a rectangular connection will not work, since the joints will be very noticeable; in such cases, the connections are made at an angle of 45°. To make these connections you will need a miter box.

When assembling and installing door frames and interior doors with a threshold, such as entrance doors or bathroom doors, the threshold is installed in the same way as the lintel. The only difference is that after installing the top crossbar, the pillars are sawn off 3 mm longer than the door leaf to maintain the gap.

Installation of hinges, canopies, frames and swing interior doors.

Before installing hinges (hinges), you must first decide where the doors will open, outward or inward, and in which direction, left or right. Accordingly, we select left and right loops. If you turn on imaginative thinking and imagine that the door opens towards you to the left, then you need “left” hinges, if in right side, then “right”. The hinges consist of two parts, cards, one of which is screwed to the door leaf, and the second to the frame.

Where the door will open, into the room or out, depends on the rooms where the doors are installed. If the installation of interior doors is carried out in small rooms (pantry, bathrooms, balcony, loggia), then the doors should open outward, in large rooms doors usually open inwards.

1. Now we mark the hinges on the frame and door leaf. Typically, there should be 200 mm from the top of the top loop to the edge of the fabric and from the bottom of the bottom loop to the edge. We take out the pieces of cardboard from the vertical slots between the canvas and the uprights (we do not touch the cardboard between the top crossbar and the door), and move the canvas to the side where the lock will be. We insert loops into the enlarged gap, measure, and mark their locations with a pencil. For ease of work from below, the pillars can be carefully secured with a wooden plank or block.

2. After marking, take the canvas out of the box, place it carefully on the edge, apply the loops to the marked places and trace them along the contour with a pencil.

3. Then you need to make a sample for the hinges with a depth of one card of the hinge, well sharpened with a chisel or cutter. Since the selection for the hinges cannot be corrected in the future, you need to work carefully. When working with a chisel, you first need to walk along the contour of the future loop, retreating 1-2 mm inward and try not to cut deeper than the thickness of the loop card. When sampling wood for sheds, you need to regularly test the sample map to control the boundaries and depth of the sample.

4. We attach the hinge cards to the selected places and screw them to the door, initially drilling holes for the screws so that the leaf does not crack. The caps of the screws must be flush.

5. Now you need to embed the hinges into the pillars; to do this, we put the canvas back on the box and check the markings on the box, we also make a selection and screw the second card (part) of the hinge. You just need to be careful when inserting into the door frame due to the fragility of the structure, so you need to hold it well, it is not advisable to lift it. You can cut the hinges into the frame before assembling the frame, having made all the necessary measurements and markings, or after installing the door frame in the doorway.

Many people advise installing three hinges on the door, the third is placed either in the middle or between the middle and the top hinge (hinge) about 50 cm from the top of the door leaf to reduce the load on the top hinge. Because over time, under the weight of the door leaf, the screws screwed into the top hinge begin to break their seats and the door sags, and various attempts to strengthen the top hinge do not help. That's why experienced craftsmen They recommend installing three attachments at once, and it will be difficult to find the same one later.

If you want to simplify your work or are afraid of damaging the door with the frame, then you can install overhead “butterfly” hinges, which do not require insertion, but there is one thing, it is not advisable to install them on doors weighing more than 40 kg, but for budget (laminated, veneered) they are perfect.

Installing a door frame into an opening with your own hands.

Before starting installation, you need to make sure that the doorway is clean and there is nothing unnecessary in it. If the opening is very wide, then it can be reduced by installing one or two beams in the places where the pillars are installed, the width required to the missing size.

When installing the door frame, you need to make sure that the top crossbar is horizontal and the pillars are vertical.

We fasten the upper part of the frame using wedges at the junction of the pillars and the crossbar; if the opening is much wider than the door frame, then bars can be installed.

To secure the lower part, you will need a block 6 mm larger than the width of the door leaf to maintain the gap; it will act as a temporary lower crossbar to wedge the lower part of the door frame. We set the pillars strictly vertically, check them with a level, install the lower spacer and spread them apart with wedges. You can check the box diagonally.

The first thing we fasten (dowels, screws, anchors) in the opening is the door frame post with hinges strictly vertically, not forgetting to insert wedges at the fastening points so that the post is not wavy but straight. It is better to check the vertical with a plumb line; the level can lie.

Then we set the top crossbar horizontally and wedge it too. Lastly, we position the second rack vertically.

When the door frame is exposed and leveled, we secure it.

We secure the door frame using dowels or anchors. If the walls are brick or concrete, then first in the pillars you need to drill holes with a wood drill in the places where the hinges are attached, and on the opposite pillar, to attach the box, drill holes in the place of the narthex. Just in case, we check the door frame again with a level and if everything is as it should be, we put a concrete drill with a diameter of 4 mm and carefully through the pillars we outline the location of future holes for the dowels. After this, the door frame can be removed, use a concrete drill of a larger diameter - 6 mm, drill holes for dowels or anchors, insert them, and then put the door frame in place.

We place screws and dowels into the resulting holes, but they only need to be driven in halfway. It is recommended to double-check the correct installation using a level and, if necessary, adjust it correctly. If everything is as it should be, you can safely drive the screws or dowels all the way. But be careful, if you tighten the screws too hard, the box may bend; to prevent this from happening, you can use wooden wedges. Just in case, we check the door frame again with a level and if everything is fine, then we can install the door in place. We check for opening and closing, and also check the gaps between the door leaf and the frame.

There is another way to attach the door frame. We will need fastening plates, direct hangers for attaching the profile to the wall, used when working with drywall. They can also be used in conjunction with the method described above. You just need to apply them before finishing walls or make holes for them, secure the door frame, cut off the excess from the plates and finish the fastening points.

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Instead of hangers, you can use metal mounting angles.

And if beauty and aesthetics are not important to you or you are in a hurry, then you can secure the door frame by simply drilling the pillars in two or three places on each side and recessing the screw heads.

A little advice. Try not to anchor into masonry seams; dowels and anchors barely hold in them.

Now, using polyurethane foam, we finally fix the door frame, having previously covered it with tape. To increase the adhesion of the foam to the wall, it must be moistened with water. Since the foam increases in volume when it dries, you need to fill about a third of the empty space between the doorway and the frame. Vertical seams should be filled from the bottom. After foaming, the door must be closed, pieces of cardboard must be inserted between the frame and the door so that the foam does not squeeze the door frame, otherwise the door may not open, or the door frame must be spread apart with spacers. For the foam to dry completely, you need to wait one day, and then it will securely fix the box.

Afterwards, you can remove everything unnecessary and proceed to installing the platbands.

Doorway decoration

Door trim

The seam with foam between the frame and the wall is closed with platbands. In the corners, the platbands are connected at a “mustache”; using a crayons or miter box, they are cut at an angle of 45 degrees. Platbands are attached to the door frame finishing nails or screws with special plugs, initially drilling holes approximately 50-75 cm from each other. The platbands should retreat from the edge of the door frame by 10-15mm. on the thickness of the hinge connection.

Access to the doorway.

Since sometimes the thickness of the doorway is greater than the thickness of the door frame, the opening is finished using an additional strip. You can attach the plank to the opening with construction silicone.

If the doorway is wider than the door frame and you do not want to install extensions, then you can plaster the “excess” of the opening. You can read how to do this in the article. If the door frame is made of fiberboard, then you cannot use such a finish, since fiberboard is afraid of moisture and can swell.

As you can see, assembling and installing interior doors with your own hands does not require much time or effort from many people. Doors can be installed by one person, the main thing is to do everything correctly, take your time, measure everything accurately and you will succeed no worse than professional installers.

The decision to replace an old interior door can be put off by the owner of the house for a long time until “tomorrow”, since, having the desire to carry out this procedure on his own, he does not have knowledge of the nuances of installation and the confidence that he will be satisfied with the result. For high-quality and trouble-free door installation, a newly minted master must follow the advice of professionals with extensive experience in this field. This article contains all the important subtleties of choosing and installing an interior door and includes detailed photos and video instructions.

The market for interior doors is replete with variety, quality and nobility appearance doors often correspond to the price. Most cheap doors differ from, first of all, expensive materials from which they are made. The door leaf exists in the following types:

  • From fiberboard. These are paintings that represent wooden frame, covered with laminated fibreboard. The advantages of such doors include light weight and the lowest cost on the market, but this affects their low suitability for everyday use: such doors have high sound permeability, they can be deformed from humidity, and a careless push from a hard object can leave an unsightly hole.
  • Made from MDF (finely dispersed fraction). These are doors made from medium density fiberboard. They are the most popular on the market today due to their average cost coupled with good quality: such doors do not swell from moisture, are wear-resistant to scratches and rubbing, have good sound insulation and will last a very long time.
  • Made of wood. These are the heaviest and most expensive doors, but they are the most environmentally friendly and beautiful, thanks to the rich decorative possibilities. They also have durability and excellent sound insulation. The choice of the type of wood from which doors are made is very wide; it can be oak, ash, or even exotic polysandra.

Door frames are made in pairs with leaves from the same materials and also have their own characteristics. For example, a fiberboard box, although it looks quite reliable, is very inconvenient and flexible to install, and from frequent opening and closing of the door, the colored film peels off from it in places where it touches the canvas. Wooden boxes are sold without any exterior finishing, you will have to paint them yourself, but you can decorate them with wood carvings and varnish them.

The market for interior doors is so wide that, despite strictly defined standards from manufacturers, you will certainly be able to choose a door to fit your existing opening without any problems. Russian swing doors are manufactured in widths from 600 mm in increments of 100 mm. At the same time, doors imported, for example, from France will have lengths and widths of 690 mm with a pitch of 100 mm.

As can be seen from the table above, when choosing the width of the door leaf, it is necessary to take into account the width of the frame, which should fit freely into the opening, as well as the evenness of the bare opening: if it is uneven, then it is necessary to choose the width of the door leaf based on the width of the opening width itself. If this minimum width is, for example, 89 cm, then the most suitable door for installation will have a width of 80 cm. It will be impossible to insert a wider one into such an opening, and a narrower one will not stand securely.

If the standard for the height of doors in a residential area is obvious and stable: 2 meters from the floor, then the width of not all doors in the house must be the same size. In accordance with common standards, the width of the door varies depending on the purpose of the room to which it leads:

  • a door from 60 to 120 cm should lead into the living room.
  • the door leading to the bathroom should be no narrower than 60 cm.
  • kitchen door should be no narrower than 70 cm.

If the owner of a residential premises wants to increase or decrease the door opening, he can do this without obtaining additional permits, but without compromising the strength and stability of the wall.

In stores, sellers offer several types of door configurations to choose from. The maximum of them is a door block, that is, doors ready for installation; they come with an assembled frame with hinges attached. The craftsman will only have to cut the sidewalls to the height, align them evenly and secure them. And vice versa, the minimum configuration includes only the door leaf, the frame and cladding will have to be purchased separately, as well as hanging hinges and filing corners and connecting it together.

If you are installing an interior door with your own hands for the first time or do not have a carpenter’s miter box to properly cut the corner, consider the first option. Despite the highest price, you will save nerves and time.

Step-by-step installation of interior doors

There are many subtleties in installing an interior door, the consideration of which will determine how long the door will last to the delight of the owner-master. The most important nuances will be presented in step by step diagram in photos and videos.


One of the most crucial moments, affecting the quality of the result is the assembly of the door frame. It consists of two long racks located on the sides doorway and one of the shortest crossbars at the top, called the lintel.

Connection methods.

You can choose from at least two ways to connect the racks and lintels to each other:

  • At an angle of 45°. This is the most aesthetic option, but also the most difficult. It is necessary to cut the beams so correctly at the required angle that no gaps arise when joining the beams. To achieve such high precision, you can use a special tool in your work: a carpenter's miter box. An important nuance is that when sawing laminated material with a hacksaw, the blade leaves small but noticeable chips on it. To avoid this, use only well-sharpened tools.
  • Butt joint at 90°. This option is much simpler, but will not look good in delicate and classic interiors.

Before installation in the opening, it is necessary to dock the door frame on the floor to check the correctness of the connection. If there are noticeable shortcomings in the connection somewhere, you can eliminate them using sandpaper, fixed on a block.

Determining the dimensions of the box.

Another important nuance is that racks can often be different sizes. This has the right to happen due to the unevenness of the floor in the opening. You can determine whether there are differences between the right and left sides of the opening using a building level. If the floor is perfectly level, then the racks will be the same. If there is a deviation, then it must be taken into account: make one of the racks shorter. Despite the fact that the deviation can reach only a few millimeters, this is enough for the future door to warp.

Also, when calculating the height of the racks, it is necessary to take into account that the racks should be 1–2 cm higher than the door leaf (including cuts). A gap of 1 cm is made if there is no rug under the door. Accordingly, if there is a carpet under the open door, then the gap should be increased. Gaps are also necessary for normal ventilation in the room. Please note once again: the height of the stand is measured along its inner part - from the lower edge of the cut. The prepared rack must be used in doorway.

Next we work on the lintel. It must be cut to length and filed on both sides (if the 45° joining option is selected). It is important that the length of the lintel is of sufficient length to ensure the difference in the width of the frame and door leaf, between which a certain gap must remain. The minimum gap is 7 mm, but it can be larger. This minimum gap is required for installing hinges - 2 mm, and 2.5–3 mm are considered compensation gaps, since any interior door, regardless of its constituent material, can change its dimensions. In wet areas there is a high risk of the door swelling and large quantities, in such cases the gap must be increased to avoid troubles with the operation of the door in the future.

Conclusion on minimum gaps when installing interior doors:

  • for hinges - 2 mm;
  • at the top, bottom and sides - 3 mm;
  • bottom - 1–2 cm.

Assembling the box.

Regardless of what material the box is made of and how it is connected, holes for fasteners are pre-drilled in the opening. This is done in advance so that the material does not rupture during fastening. The diameter of the drill should be 1 mm less than the diameter of the screw.

The box folds and angles are set to 90°. Using a drill, holes are drilled in the racks and ceiling. An assistant will be very helpful here. If the work is carried out by one person, a correctly aligned box can be temporarily secured with two cross bars at the top and bottom. This will save the technician from correcting errors.

If the connection is made at an angle of 45°, three holes are made on each side. Two are located on top, a centimeter from the edge, and one on the side - in the center. The connection is made with self-tapping screws, the direction of their installation is perpendicular to the connection line.

If the connection is made at an angle of 90°, then simply drill two holes from the top, the drill is directed exactly downwards.


Often the door leaf is hung on 2 hinges, but more can be used, depending on the weight of the door and the reliability of the hinges themselves. They are installed at a height of 200–250 mm from the edge of the door leaf. If you use a wooden frame and door, you need to choose a place so that the hinge does not get caught in a knot.

First of all, the hinges are attached to the door leaf according to the following instructions:

  • The loops are applied to the location selected on the canvas and outlined either with a finely sharpened pencil or, as experts advise, with a knife blade. The knife allows you to outline the hinge more accurately; accordingly, the gaps between the suspended door and the frame will be smaller.
  • If the door is not fiberboard, then inside the outlined space part of the material is removed strictly to the thickness of the hinge.
  • Next, the loop is installed in the prepared recess. The plane of the hinge should not protrude from the plane of the door leaf.
  • The inserted loop is fixed with self-tapping screws.
  • IN assembled box the door leaf with fixed hinges is laid, the necessary gaps are set: 5–6 mm on the side of the hinges, 3 mm on the side opposite the hinges and between the leaf and the lintel. When the gaps are set so that they do not get lost, the door leaf is fixed with wedges. At the same time, the canvas is aligned exactly in the vertical and horizontal planes.
  • Next, mark the places on the racks in which the counter parts of the loops will be located. Perhaps for this procedure, in certain circumstances, it is convenient to remove the loop already installed on the canvas and then install it back. In the racks, a recess is also made inside the marked area, quite deep, so that the loop does not extend beyond the plane of the rack.

More details on how to hang a door with your own hands are described in the video.


The door frame is installed in the opening in an assembled state. This task is extremely responsible. Before placing the box in the opening, it is necessary to knock off the falling plaster and trim off the protrusions. If the surface of the wall crumbles easily when touched, it is treated with a deep penetration primer with an astringent effect. Big holes the opening is sealed with plaster. There will be no complications when installing the door into the prepared opening.

The frame is displayed without the door leaf. It must be oriented strictly vertically. For this reason, during the installation process, not only a building level is required, but also a plumb line, since it has no errors.

To avoid skewing of the box, temporary spacers are installed on the floor, and slopes are placed in the corners, giving high degree rigidity. In order for the door to be able to swing open completely, it is installed flush with the wall.

After precise definition position of the box, it is fixed. This is done using mounting wedges. First they are placed on both sides of the lintel, then above the racks. This allows the position of the box relative to the doorway to be fixed. Next, the verticality of the racks in two planes is re-checked; they should not be tilted either forward or backward.

Then the wedges are installed at the bottom, and then after 50–60 cm, while it is still necessary to check the accuracy of the location of the box. An additional transverse strip is wedged in the middle. It is important to check whether the box elements are bent in some places and adjust if necessary. Next the box is secured.


There are two ways to attach the box. You can mount it directly to the wall, or use mounting plates. The first method may not look aesthetically pleasing due to the presence of screw heads on the plane of the stand, but this method is the most reliable.

For an interior door, two screws screwed into the cutouts for the hinges and two screws on the other side - under the plate of the lock mate - are sufficient. Additional holes are drilled in the cut out plates. They are made so that they do not coincide with the holes for attaching the hinges or mating part. It is necessary to ensure that the head of the screws is recessed deep into the surface, otherwise it will interfere with the installation of the hinges and lining.

The video shows the installation of an interior door according to this diagram. It also outlines several subtleties associated with installing the door frame.

It happens that such a quantity of fasteners seems insufficient in terms of reliability, then the holes are drilled through and closed on top with decorative washers matched to match. For convenience, there is a special MDF molding with removable slats. It is distinguished by the installation of fasteners: it is installed in a prepared groove and closed with a bar.

You can install the fasteners in another way - secretly, so that the fasteners are not visible. To do this, mounting plates are initially attached to the back of the box. To install an interior door reliably, the plates used for...


The gaps formed between the fixed frame and the wall are filled with polyurethane foam. The wall is moistened with water from a spray bottle for better polymerization of the foam. The foam is squeezed out in such an amount that 1/3 of the gap space remains free; it will be filled after the foam hardens. If you overdo it with foam, it can deform the fragile door frame. To prevent this from happening, you can install temporary spacers in the opening of the box.

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