Replacing bathroom and toilet doors may not be that difficult. Having prepared all the necessary tools and following the instructions, even not the most experienced craftsman can handle this task. The main thing to remember is high humidity in the room, which must be taken into account during installation work.
The first thing you should do to ensure that the installation of doors with your own hands is successful is to prepare all the necessary tools and materials. If you don't have a drill or fasteners, installation may be delayed for a long time. To install you need to prepare:
- Screwdriver, hammer drill or drill.
- Hammer.
- Crowbar.
- Chisel.
- Construction knife.
- Polyurethane foam.
- Dowels.
- Anchors, screws.
- Level and plumb.
- Pencil, ruler.
- Putty knife.
- Gypsum solution.
- Wooden wedges.
- Soft cloth.
- Dust removal brush.
To install doors yourself correctly, you need to follow a few simple rules. They will make your work easier, and doors installed according to these rules will last much longer. For maximum quality installation, you should know five rules.
If you have chosen “compartment” type doors, and next to the bathroom there is another room with doors that open inappropriately, it is better to contact specialists and entrust the installation of doors to them. This will help you avoid problems in the future.
Since communication pipes run in the bathroom and toilet and water often runs, the humidity in these rooms is high. To avoid doors getting damp, mold and other negative consequences of contact with moisture, it is advisable to provide some ventilation. To do this, you can choose a door that already has a small ventilation grille at the bottom. If there is no such grille, carry out the installation in such a way that there is a small gap between the threshold and the door leaf itself. It will not spoil the appearance of the doors, but even such a gap will ensure air flow and ventilation in the bathroom.
If you want to save money, this should not apply to fasteners and door handles. They must be strong and reliable. Metal parts and fasteners must certainly be made of stainless steel so that high humidity in the bathroom does not damage them.
If the door leaf is made of natural wood, it also needs to be well protected from moisture. Otherwise, it may swell from moisture and stop closing. The best way is to laminate it yourself. This can be done both before installation and after. It is also possible to install an already laminated door leaf.
In order for the door frame to look beautiful and be convenient to use, its thickness must match the thickness of the wall. The door can be slightly thinner than the wall, but in no case thicker - not only its aesthetic appearance, but also reliability depends on this.
If you have prepared all the necessary tools, taken into account all the nuances and are fully prepared to install the door in the bathroom, you can begin installation work.
Preparation
The first stage of work is preparing the door frame. To do this, you need to remove the old canvas, remove the trim, remove the canvas and all metal fasteners. After this, you can remove the old opening, first its side parts, then the top. If you cannot completely remove it, use a hacksaw to cut the blade into several pieces and remove it gradually.
After removal, the opening must be cleaned. To do this, remove the old plaster with a spatula and a special brush. A layer of gypsum mortar should be applied to the cleaned opening. After the plaster has completely dried, it is checked with a building level and plumb line. If there are any unevenness, they should be corrected and sanded with sandpaper.
Installation
The next stage is installing a new box with your own hands. Using screws, anchors and mounting foam, install it in the updated opening and secure it. Pre-fix the box with wooden wedges to install it perfectly level and avoid deformation. At the same time, check the box with a plumb line and level so that it stands as level as possible. The ease of use of the future door depends on this. When the box is level, it can be secured with screws and anchors. Polyurethane foam is used after installing all parts of the box: top and side. When the foam has dried, excess foam must be removed, uneven areas should be plastered and painted over.
Then, with a pencil and a ruler, you need to mark the places for attaching the door hinges. Carefully check the accuracy of the markings, as it will be very difficult to correct this. If there is an error at this stage, the installation will have to start again. When you are sure, deepen the places for attaching the hinges with a chisel. Then attach the hinges to the doors with screws.
Use the same method to attach the hinges to the door itself. If everything is done correctly, the door will easily fit onto the hinges on the frame and lock into place. The door installation is complete and the door is ready for use.
To ensure that the door is used for a long time, does not creak and opens easily, drop a little machine oil into the hinges. By strictly following the installation procedure and carefully checking everything with a ruler, level and plumb line, you will be able to install the door in the bathroom with your own hands, even without much experience in repair and construction work. All you need is attention, thoroughness and proper preparation.
Correct installation of doors (2 videos)
Among the many models of interior doors produced by manufacturers in a wide range, it is not difficult to find an option for the bathroom. You can choose and install a door made of solid wood or MDF, as well as a laminated, glass or veneered model with a varnish coating.
When choosing a door for a bathroom, many buyers assume that the door will be exposed to moisture. However, in a well-ventilated bathroom this problem should not exist, so you don’t have to adhere to any restrictions when choosing a door frame and door leaf.
What exactly you should be guided by is the size of the doorway. If the door you like does not fit into the existing opening, then it is widened. It is not particularly difficult to narrow the doorway to fit the dimensions of the purchased door. Typically, the width of doors made for bathrooms is 60 cm.
If ready-made versions of door panels do not suit the buyer, then you can always order the production of a structure of the required size and design in workshops specializing in this type of service. If the customer himself is not able to carry out the installation himself, then the craftsmen can do this too. At the same time, they do not have to explain to the customer how to install the door to the bathroom so that there are no further problems during the operation of the room.
If the walls are made of brick, then first begin by removing the nails connecting the old door frame to the wooden inserts fixed in the interior partition. If this is not done, a large fragment of plaster may fall off when the structure is pulled out of the opening.
To make it easier to pick up the nails with a nail puller or pliers, you need to cut out small depressions in the block around the heads with a chisel. After removing the nails, one of the vertical bars of the box is sawn in half. This operation makes it easier to dismantle the structure without damaging the plastered walls of the doorway.
The dismantling of the old wooden door frame is carried out with the utmost care, using nail pullers and other auxiliary tools.
When dismantling old metal door frames, found in houses with improved layouts, they follow a different algorithm. First, the pins are cut off, with the help of which the box is attached to the reinforcement in the reinforced concrete wall.
After this, the structure is removed with a small crowbar or nail puller inserted between the frame and the concrete opening. In this case, of course, you will have to make a considerable physical effort.
How to measure a doorway correctly?
To install doors in a bathroom or other room without much hassle, you need to accurately measure the height, width and depth of the doorway. For this:
- dismantle the old door frame;
- clean the side of the partition wall down to the bricks;
- remove construction waste from the floor;
- use a tape measure to measure the width of the opening between the bricks;
- take into account the thickness of the finish when measuring the depth of the opening;
- determine the height of the door, paying attention to the presence or absence of a threshold;
- lay 15 mm for free placement of the door frame in the opening;
- calculate the dimensions of the canvas taking into account the distance from the box equal to 3-5 mm.
If you have already purchased a bathroom door and its dimensions do not allow installation in an existing doorway, you will have to expand the space. In this case, they follow the reverse algorithm, starting with measurements of the door frame.
Standard measurements of the dimensions of the doorway provided for the entrance to the bathroom or other room in the apartment
Preparing the doorway for door installation
After dismantling the old door frame, it is necessary to prepare the concrete or brick opening for the installation of a new structure. To do this, the internal surfaces are leveled and excess concrete is removed with a hammer drill. Particular attention at this stage is paid to aligning the corners of the opening. According to the standard, the height of all door passages should be 2000 mm, and the width can vary from 600 to 900 mm.
When estimating the dimensions of the frame, they take into account the width/length of the door leaf, the double thickness of the vertical/horizontal beam, as well as setting the gap and adjusting the position of the door (20-30 mm).
Assembling the door frame for the bathroom is carried out using a lightweight version - without filing the edges of the vertical and horizontal bars at angles of 45 degrees
Required tools and supplies
To carry out installation work on installing the door frame and attaching the door leaf to it using awnings, you will need to stock up on a certain set of tools:
- drill;
- chisel;
- hacksaw;
- tape measure;
- level;
- screwdriver;
- pencil.
In addition to a set of tools for installing an interior door to a bathroom, you will need dowels, self-tapping screws, wooden wedges, and polyurethane foam.
Assembly and installation of the door frame
You can skip this stage of installing bathroom doors if you purchase a door leaf with a ready-made (assembled) frame. This option of purchasing a door will cost more for the consumer, but installation will be simplified and the time required for its implementation will be reduced.
Many apartment owners who have started cosmetic renovations in the bathroom buy a door leaf that matches the design of already installed interior doors, and assemble the frame themselves from pre-purchased bars. In this case, you have to saw off the parts of the required size from the block and fasten them together with self-tapping screws so that you get a rectangular frame. The sides of the frame must not be allowed to skew, otherwise the door leaf will fit into it unevenly, forming gaps of uneven size, which, in turn, will lead to difficult opening and closing of the door.
To get perfectly right angles for a door frame, when assembling its individual elements, you need to measure the diagonals of the resulting frame. From a school geometry course we know that a rectangle has equal diagonals. This simple method of obtaining right angles in practice without the use of special measuring instruments has long been used by carpenters, welders and representatives of other technical professions.
Another (more complex) option for connecting the vertical and horizontal bars of the door frame, which requires more skill from the installer
When assembling the box yourself, the craftsman is able to very accurately adjust its dimensions to the doorway. After all, individual parts are cut with a hacksaw until the structure fits perfectly into the space allocated for it. Although, by accurately measuring the dimensions of the opening, you can get the parts for the perfect assembly of the door frame the first time.
Of course, you can also remove a few extra millimeters from the door leaf by trimming its sides a little. But it is undesirable to do this, and in some cases it is simply impossible (for example, glass doors). That’s why experienced craftsmen assemble the door frame so carefully.
When fastening the box parts laid out on the floor with self-tapping screws, try to prevent the wood from cracking. To do this, small holes are drilled into one of the parts in the marked places using a wood drill, the diameter of which is 2-3 mm. Then insert self-tapping screws into the holes and tighten the parts together.
There are other ways to connect individual parts of a door frame:
- gluing, in which special grooves are cut out at the ends of the bars;
- the use of perforated metal corners produced specifically for these purposes.
The assembled box is inserted into the prepared opening, using dowel-nails with plastic spacers for fastening to brick or concrete, which significantly increases the density of the connection. But this is done after the hinges are inserted and the position of the box and the canvas is adjusted.
Installation of door leaf
After completing the assembly of the door frame, they move on to the next stage, during which the door or door leaf itself is installed. The door is attached to the frame using detachable hinges, which are:
Two hinges are usually installed on interior doors: on top and bottom at a distance of 200 mm from the corresponding boundaries of the door leaf. First, the hinges are applied to the end of the door and outlined with a simple pencil or marker. Using a chisel, select a layer of wood, the thickness of which depends on the thickness of the hinge plate. At the same time, they do not go beyond the drawn contours of the landing socket.
Then the door leaf is placed in a frame and the places where the metal hinges are attached are marked. Wood is also excavated along the intended contour to accommodate the hinge. Then the hinges are screwed to the frame and door leaf, adjusting their position experimentally. Afterwards, all that remains is to put the loops on top of each other, and the canvas hangs freely on the box, easily opening and closing. The doors that come with the frame already have holes for the hinges, so you don't have to use a chisel.
Marking the contour of the seat for the detachable hinge is carried out at the stage of fitting the door leaf to the frame, after which the part is fastened with self-tapping screws
Step-by-step installation of a door structure in an opening
We adhere to the following order:
- Install the finished frame into the doorway, leveling its position using a building level and wooden wedges.
- Drill 3-4 holes on each side of the box and mark their projections on the walls.
- Remove the box to make holes in the partition in the designated places using a concrete drill.
- Insert dowels into the drilled recesses.
- Place the door frame in place, securing its position with self-tapping screws, which you screw with a screwdriver into the sealing dowels installed in the walls. Instead of dowel-nails, you can use hangers for metal profiles to fasten the box, which are used when installing drywall.
- Fill the free space formed between the frame elements and the walls of the doorway with polyurethane foam, moving from bottom to top.
Advice - dose the foam supply so that the filling that increases in volume does not extend beyond the opening. After half an hour, cut off the excess hardened foam with a stationery knife.
Installation of the door frame in the opening is carried out using a plumb line, along which the vertical position of the structure is adjusted and its temporary fixation with wedges
Finishing the doorway with platbands
The doorway on both sides along the perimeter is decorated with platbands that cover the junction of the frame and the wall. Before this, the wedges used to level the position of the box are sawed off, and the mounting foam is also cut off, if this has not been done previously.
Filling the space with industrial polyurethane foam that does not increase much in volume when drying. This is important because the foam can push out the box, displacing its position
When exposing the casing, make sure that on the hinge side it does not touch the hinges, for which purpose maintain an indentation of 3-4 mm. The platband installed on the lock side must have a gap with the door leaf, otherwise it will prevent it from opening freely. There are two ways to attach trim to the frame and wall, based on use:
- liquid nails (gluing);
- finishing nails (nailing decorative parts to the frame bars).
Sometimes these methods are combined, which makes it possible to better secure the platbands on uneven walls, as well as eliminate the small gaps that form in this case between two non-contacting surfaces. In platbands made of MDF, holes are drilled with a thin drill for finishing nails. Otherwise, they may not be driven into this durable material.
Experienced craftsmen advise starting the installation of platbands with the top element, cut at both ends at an angle of 45 degrees. After this, it is more convenient to place the vertical trims one by one, lowering their lower edges to the floor level.
Installing additional strips and decorative trims allows you to beautifully finish a doorway with an inserted frame, hiding all the subtleties of installation
Extensions: what is it and how are they installed?
Extensions are special strips that are used for finishing wide doorways that are not completely covered by the frame. Most often, you have to use extensions when installing doors to a bathroom, separated from other rooms by an internal main wall.
Additional panels or strips are available in different sizes and colors, which allows you to choose the right decorative element for any opening.
Previously, this issue was resolved by plastering the surface of the opening with further painting or wallpapering. The additions not only made the process of finishing doorways easier, but also significantly increased the attractiveness of the apartment’s interior.
The additional strips are attached to the walls using self-tapping screws, screwed into holes made with special tools. The space created when leveling the position of the additional planks between them and the wall is filled point-by-point with polyurethane foam.
Installation of a door threshold in the bathroom is necessary, since in this room a lower floor position must be provided in case of emergency flooding of the bathroom
Final touches - setting the threshold
The door frame in the opening leading to the bathroom must be mounted with a threshold (bottom bar). This is a mandatory requirement for bathrooms and balconies. It is better to install other interior doors without thresholds, so as not to create unnecessary interference when moving from one room to another.
When installing such doors, the threshold is a temporary block, which is removed after the door installation process is completed. But this does not apply to the bathroom door.
As you can see, installing a door to a bathroom has many nuances, without knowing which you can damage the product or make its operation unbearable. Creaking doors, self-closing, jamming, poorly fitting...
The list of defects associated with improper installation may be extended. Therefore, it is still necessary for people who are confident in their abilities to install the door themselves. If there is even the slightest doubt about the success of the upcoming installation, then it is better not to start work, but to entrust it to professionals.
There are two approaches to choosing a door block for the bathroom. The first of them assumes that the door is purchased for a wet room, and therefore must be made of waterproof material. Adherents of the second approach believe that if the ventilation works normally and the installation of the door block is done correctly, ordinary good quality interior doors - made of solid wood, veneered, MDF, etc. - can be installed in the bathroom and toilet. Whichever approach you choose, the selection and installation of doors in a typical bathroom should be carried out taking into account the specifics and features of the room.
How to choose suitable bathroom doors
Choosing a bathroom door is not a trivial task. When solving it, it is necessary to take into account the influence of a large number of factors. The main ones:
- size and layout of the room;
- intensity of use of the room;
- presence and functionality of exhaust ventilation.
It is clear that if the entrance to the bathroom is located in such a way that water constantly gets on the door, the ventilation leaves much to be desired, the room itself is small, and even several people use it, then it is better not to install a door made of natural wood. In this situation, frosted glass or plastic would be the ideal option. And on the contrary: if the bathroom has sufficient area to freely accommodate a closed shower stall, a corner bathtub with partitions, plus a powerful exhaust hood is installed in the room, then you can safely install a door made of solid wood or with veneer finishing. But even in this case, the wooden structure must be impregnated with an antiseptic and coated with a special waterproof varnish.
On a note! As for the color, design and decor of the door, there is a design rule: if several doors open into one hall or corridor, they should all have the same design. Only the finishing is allowed to vary.
Installation Features
So, the problem of choice is solved. It remains to solve the question of how to install a door in the bathroom with your own hands. Installing bathroom doors has a number of features:
- Bathroom doors must have a ventilation gap between the threshold and the door leaf. The gap is approximately 10 cm. An exception is special doors for bathrooms with a grille located at the bottom of the door leaf.
- If the doors are made of solid wood, the entrance to the bathroom should be located as far as possible from sources of steam and water. If this requirement cannot be met, choose another option. For example, doors with laminated coating are almost as aesthetically pleasing as solid solid structures, but at the same time they are much more practical than natural wood.
- Handles and latches must be reliable, since during operation they will be subject to increased loads.
- The width of the box should correspond to the thickness of the walls. If the walls are too thin or the frame is too wide, you will have to increase the thickness of the bathroom wall, thereby reducing the usable area of the room, or cut off extra centimeters from the frame, which will not have the best effect on the appearance of the door block.
Advice: if a kitchen or room is adjacent to the bathroom, and they are located in such a way that it is impossible to open the doors in both rooms at the same time, it is recommended to install a sliding door in the bathroom.
Self-installation
Tools and materials
You will need:
- electric drill;
- screwdriver;
- spirit level (building level);
- roulette;
- wood hacksaw;
- chisel;
- crowbar;
- polyurethane foam;
- self-tapping screws;
- anchor;
- plastic dowels;
- wooden wedges;
- gypsum plaster;
- pencil.
Preparing the doorway
Do-it-yourself installation of doors in the bathroom and toilet begins with dismantling the old door block. Dismantling is carried out in the following order:
- remove platbands;
- remove the door leaf;
- make two cross cuts on the box;
- break out the vertical parts of the old box piece by piece using a chisel or crowbar;
- break out the top beam of the box.
Main stage of work
Before direct installation, check whether the frame matches the size of the doorway, and then do the following:
As you can see, installing a door to a toilet and bathroom is a labor-intensive process, but quite doable. All work is carried out using the simplest available tools.
And finally - video:
