Adjust door frame to accomodate different wall thickness?

3630 Views 15 Replies 6 Participants Last post by ron45, Apr 25, 2020

eliotssc

Discussion Starter · Feb 20, 2020

I have removed the knotty pine interior wall covering in my den to add insulation. That included removing the trim around the door between my den and garage. The door is a steel door with a steel door frame that was installed last year by a contractor. Since I removed my knotty pine interior wall covering and the door trim, there is now a sizable gap between the surface of the closed door (and its steel door frame) on the den side and the wood framing behind it (about 2.5 inches). The gap is so much that I realized the bolt for the door never went into the wood door frame when it was locked - it only slid into a hole in the knotty pine wall covering. The door and frame are sticking out into the room too much so that even when I add 5/8" drywall, there will be a gap between the steel door frame and the wood frame doorway of almost 2 inches. The contractor previously addressed the (smaller) gap problem by using extra (deep) door trim to compensate. I'm not sure how to make this "right", but I suspect it will involve adjusting the door frame so that it doesn't stick out so much into the room, so the difference in distance between the steel and wood door frames is only about an inch, or maybe less. That may also allow the bolt to slide into a hole in the wood door frame. Any thoughts?

1 - 16 of 16 Posts

joecaption

· #2 · Feb 20, 2020

Please post some pictures so we can see what your seeing.

Reactions: 1

Old Thomas

· #3 · Feb 20, 2020

It has a steel frame because it is a fire rated garage door. Some are made to be adjustable, if it is it will have a slip joint where it adjusts for wall thickness. If not, field modification to a fire rated assembly renders its listing void. If it doesn’t adjust to fit properly, replace it with a fire rated unit that fits.

Reactions: 1

ront02769

· #4 · Feb 22, 2020

Hard without pix. You took off knotty pine which was 3/4” likely. If there is nothing on that wall except the door, just throw up two layers of 5/8 fire code and thicker trim and you should be good to go.

Reactions: 1

eliotssc

Discussion Starter · #5 · Feb 24, 2020

Correction, the distance between the surface of the door frame/steel door frame and the wood door frame behind it is 1.5 inches, not 2 inches (but same problem). Yes, the knotty pine covering that I removed was 3/4". I have attached some photos (note: I don't know why the photos seem to be rotated when I preview this message and I can't figure out how to fix it).

See less See more

2

eliotssc

Discussion Starter · #6 · Feb 24, 2020

Old Thomas said:
It has a steel frame because it is a fire rated garage door. Some are made to be adjustable, if it is it will have a slip joint where it adjusts for wall thickness. If not, field modification to a fire rated assembly renders its listing void. If it doesn’t adjust to fit properly, replace it with a fire rated unit that fits.

Thanks for the info, Old Thomas. The guys who sold the new door and installed it said it would be a fire rated door that met code. I don't see anything about the door frame to indicate it is adjustable, but the contractor took the existing doorway measurements before they ordered and sold me my current door... so I am not sure why it would not be the correct size (unless they ordered wrong?). This door was purchased new, measured for this specific doorway, and only installed about 7 months ago, so I don't want to have to spend more money to purchase a separate door and/or door frame. I am only changing the existing wall covering from 3/4" to 5/8", so I am surprised and skeptical that a 1/8" change in the wall covering thickness would warrant having to buy a new frame or door.

eliotssc

Discussion Starter · #7 · Feb 24, 2020

A few other things I noticed that may be relevant... on the garage side, it looks like the contractor installed wood filler strips in front of the existing door frame and behind the edges of the steel door frame in order to get the surface of the steel door frame level with the drywall in the garage. Nails are hammered into existing holes in the steel door frame. The nails to go through the wood filler strip and then into the wood door frame, to secure the steel door frame into the wooden door frame.

Also, I suspect the contractor's installation plan may have been adjusted during the installation, since there was an electrical wire going through a metal tube/conduit against the garage wall, just above the top of the door frame (and in front of the trim that was installed). The contractor probably had to limit the thickness of the trim above the door on the garage side, and how far the steel door frame would come out into the garage, so that the steel door frame and trim would fit under the metal tube/conduit. My guess is that maybe if that electrical wire wasn't in the way, they might have installed the metal door frame with more of the surface coming out on the garage side (and used slightly thicker wood filler strips between the wood door frame and the steel door frame to do so). That would have resulted in the den side of the door frame not protruding out so much into the room. Since the walls are opened up, I recently got rid of the metal tube/conduit and put the electrical wire in the interior of the wall, so it will no longer interfere with the trim on the garage side and allow me space to adjust the steel door frame and bring it out into the garage, if necessary.

See less See more

eliotssc

Discussion Starter · #8 · Feb 27, 2020

ront02769 said:
Hard without pix. You took off knotty pine which was 3/4” likely. If there is nothing on that wall except the door, just throw up two layers of 5/8 fire code and thicker trim and you should be good to go.

Yes, the knotty pine wall covering was 3/4". However, I am hesitant to do double drywall mainly because the door bolts would go directly into the drywall instead of holes in the wooden door frame. As a second concern, the 2nd layer of drywall may end up interfering with window trim around a window on a wall perpendicular to this wall.

Is the door bolt still effective if it isn't going through the wooden door frame, and only through the metal door frame?

eliotssc

Discussion Starter · #9 · Feb 27, 2020

joecaption said:
Please post some pictures so we can see what your seeing.

I have posted pictures below. Please let me know if you would like more.

Nealtw

· #10 · Feb 27, 2020

eliotssc said:
I have posted pictures below. Please let me know if you would like more.

So add a 2x4 around the door and 1 1/2 foam board over the rest of the wall.:wink2:

eliotssc

Discussion Starter · #11 · Apr 24, 2020

Nealtw said:
So add a 2x4 around the door and 1 1/2 foam board over the rest of the wall.:wink2:

Will that cause a problem if I have the vapor retarder below the foam board? I need to have the insulation inspected before I can proceed with the interior wall covering, so I will need to put up the vapor retarder over the mineral wool in order to have it inspected. Once the inspection passes, then I was planning on putting up the foam board/1st layer of drywall/furring strips, before the drywall that will be finished/painted.

Nealtw

· #12 · Apr 24, 2020

eliotssc said:
Will that cause a problem if I have the vapor retarder below the foam board? I need to have the insulation inspected before I can proceed with the interior wall covering, so I will need to put up the vapor retarder over the mineral wool in order to have it inspected. Once the inspection passes, then I was planning on putting up the foam board/1st layer of drywall/furring strips, before the drywall that will be finished/painted.

I would talk it over with the inspectors, they just want you to get it right.

Reactions: 1

eliotssc

Discussion Starter · #13 · Apr 24, 2020

Nealtw said:
I would talk it over with the inspectors, they just want you to get it right.

Thanks Nealtw, I will see what I can do... the coronavirus has really impacted things here in Massachusetts, as the state with the 3rd highest case count so far... for now, I heard the inspectors don't do site visits, but may perform some inspections based on photos, for the time being. Since the town offices are closed, I hope they are still checking their emails for questions.

P.S. I just gave an update on the status of my termite damaged wall in another post, with photos.

Reactions: 1

ron45

· #14 · Apr 24, 2020 (Edited)

It appears you took the nails out of the door flange
an removed the drywall.??

The side view shows where the drywall was and the gap it created.
It also shows the door is not attached.
The drywall would need to be replace and the door re-attached

See less See more

2

Reactions: 1

eliotssc

Discussion Starter · #15 · Apr 24, 2020

ron45 said:
It appears you took the nails out of the door flange
an removed the drywall.??

The side view shows where the drywall was and the gap it created.
It also shows the door is not attached.
The drywall would need to be replace and the door re-attached

The interior wall covering used to be 3/4 inch knotty pine tongue and groove. Yes, the nails around the door frame on this side of the door were directly nailed into the knotty pine that I removed. However, the new drywall wall covering I plan on installing is thinner than the 3/4 inch knotty pine that used to be there. The door is attached and the frame is nailed on the other side (my garage) that is not shown in the photos.

Since the drywall isn't going to be as thick, I think I am also considering installing some wood around the door frame and then hammer the nails through the wood and into the existing framing, to attach the door on this side and eliminate the gaps around the door frame. I think I can then conceal the difference in depth between the drywall and the door frame with the door trim (I hope).

See less See more

ron45

· #16 · Apr 25, 2020

If its just one wall.?

Why not install one layer of 1/4" drywall then go over it with 1/2" drywall.?
Only tape the outer drywall layer.

1 - 16 of 16 Posts

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.