Help! My husband wants to replace our homes original (1913) doors with hollow core doors! Tips needed!?

Please don't replace the doors, or if you do, at least get new ones to match.

Your old doors should be adjustable, methods for doing this have been covered quite well already.

Start with some sanding, and check that the hinges are tight and not sagging.

If the top of the door is tight on one side and a large gap on the other, you may need to move the frame. Remove the casing and cut the nails with a sawsall. Slide the frame up or down, shim so that gaps are the same on all sides and renail with 3" finish nails. Be sure and shim and nail behind each hinge.

Some adjusting of the door hardware may be required also.

STOP!!!! Don't even think of replacing 1913 solid wood doors with hollow crap. You just need to shave the doors wherever they don't fit. You might be surprised how little needs to come off to make them close. I would recommend going to a finishing store or Home Depot and asking a professional for some advice and the right tools.

The problem of course aren't the doors, it's the settling that has knocked your plaster walls out of kilter. New doors and new frames won't work any better, and will most definitely look out of place.

Our house was built in 1880 and has experienced the same degree of settling. All that needs to be done is to sand the edges of the door so that they can be shut. If the doors are only slightly stuck, a sanding with a belt sander may be all that needed. More serious sticking issues may require some planing.

Whether you get new doors or plane down the old ones, the house will continue to settle and within 10 years or so, you'll have to sand the doors again. We have doors in one wing of our home that need to be sanded every 3-4 years.

lowes hollow core doors without frame are 19 t0 25 dollars apiece for the standard 24in. up to 36in. wide openings.if you know a good handyman he may charge between 30 and 60 a door.i do alot of these if i know the person and the existing door frame is not damaged i only charge then 25-30 bucks a door otherwise it is 50 to 75 bucks.

You will miss the old doors. The new one will stick out like a sore thumb in a old house, unless you get some high dollar replacements. The old doors are always able to be planed and the jambs tweeked, to get a better closure.

Or Don's option ain't bad either.

You should try to keep the doors. Hollow doors allow noise and temperature to pass. They also seem to not be as attractive as the older doors. You can observe where the doors are sticking and plane them with a hand tool or even a skill saw. Check all of the hinges to be sure they are in the best adjustment for your situation and the screws are holding. My opinion - work with the doors.

If the old doors and frames are still in good shape, just use a reciprocating saw with a long metal cutting blade to cut the frames loose and reset them in the opening.

The door frame may need some adjustment, but that doesn't have anything to do with the doors. At the very most the door hinges might need to be adjusted after that to compensate. He is mixing apples with oranges.

Just take the casing off on one side and use a long sawsall blade cut the nails off the jamb and either move up or down..........depending on what your level and door header is telling you.........it's actually quite easy. With a nail gun a good carpenter might do it in 2 days. Good luck, and have fun.

it;s like selling a rolls royce to buy a mini, get them trimmed or straightened