Trimming metal door frames - help please?

We are prepping to lay floating floors and have the fiddly task of having metal door frames with about three zig-zagged edges on either side of the door (hope i explained this ok??) to which we need to lay the flooring around.

I have seen wooden door frames trimmed to be able to slide the flooring under without having to cut the floorboards to suit.

Can anyone advise or if anyone has done this before please let me know the best way to tackle this.

As this will be DIY, the flooring people advised to trim the door frames rather than cut into the boards, but this is the first time we have had metal door frames..

Any advice would be appreciated. :rolleyes:

Speaking professionally - I would refuse to hack the jambs. There's a good possibility some of their strength comes from being engaged with the floor. It's also going to be noisy, messy and a one-way trip. Rectifying botched jambs would cost a whole lot more than neatly coping the flooring to fit.

Regards, Adam.

I deal with metal door frames all the time, but they are usually in the garage.

If you need to trim them to slide the flooring underneath them you will need an angle grinder with a cutting disc on it,

Cut off the bottom 5 or 6 mm to suit.

It wont affect the frame as there is/should be ties built into the brickwork to keep the frame in place.

thats true, but its still not that difficult to cut the boards in, to be honest.

use one of those shape forming things with like a 100 pins, pen it to the board, and then a jigsaw to cut the bits out.

any small gaps use color-seal caulk in a similar colour to your flooring, you will be suprised how well it would finish off.

Thanks all for the advice.

The stability part was what I was concerned about, not to mention if the cut is made wrong, then there's no going back.

The only reason for the question was that I was a little worried about the boards actually 'chipping' when small areas were being cut.

Guess we have to weigh up which would be the 'easier fix' out of the two if something went wrong.

Renovating the WHOLE HOUSE is bringing out many, many, many hidden problems. So this is why I don't feel confident about the 'stability' side of things....

Cheers :happyb:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by madrat

Thanks all for the advice.

The stability part was what I was concerned about, not to mention if the cut is made wrong, then there's no going back.

The only reason for the question was that I was a little worried about the boards actually 'chipping' when small areas were being cut.

Guess we have to weigh up which would be the 'easier fix' out of the two if something went wrong.

Renovating the WHOLE HOUSE is bringing out many, many, many hidden problems. So this is why I don't feel confident about the 'stability' side of things....

Cheers :happyb:

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A steel door frame with no ties in it just wont stay where its supposed to stay, no ifs, no buts, it would just peel away from the brickwork.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Brickie

A steel door frame with no ties in it just wont stay where its supposed to stay, no ifs, no buts, it would just peel away from the brickwork.

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You have definitely helped me make the decision now!!
We won't be touching the door frames.
Thanks heaps
:U

I'm not disputing whether it has ties (because it will for sure), but have also seen some which are "pinned" into the floor with two pins about 3/8 diameter either side.

Besides, that, the floor is a cosmetic element, whereas a steel jamb is sort of structural. I definitely oppose the idea of a structural element yielding to a cosmetic detail. :wink:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by addo

Speaking professionally - I would refuse to hack the jambs.

Regards, Adam.

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I'd agree. I had to install floating-floor on my mother's house (after she purchase them without advice,) and they are the worse choice of all. Don't ruin the important items of the house's integrety. Floating floors are disposible, the door jambs are less thereof. Floating-floors may only last 10 years before they are scratched and broken up to a state of a eye-sore.

Bewarned, floating floor are nightmare to install and if you are pushed to do it, then use a router when cutting non hidden areas as the laminate on top splinter and flake otherwise with a jigsaw. Also vacuum all the time as dirt in connection slots is enough to break the connection tounge and lip that allows the floating tile to ride high and catch on feet and other items, etc. Must be layed on solid straight floor. No nails or items causing lumps (hammer down nails, clean up floor). The foam layer isn't enough to stop tiles being forced up and breaking their socket joints.

Don't make way for floating floor, let the floating floor work around what's in the house.

Also consider a door jamb need to somewhat weight bear, so cutting at the base is like cutting into a tree trunk and hoping the tree will stand.

Don't make way for floating floor, let the floating floor work around what's in the house.[/quote]


We are taking your advice :U!

It will definitely be a case of making the floor fit around the door, not the other way around.

With this particular house, I couldn't be confident that 'ties' even existed, as when my husband pulled the kitchen out, he found that where the builder had drilled a hole for a plumbing connection, he had drilled it in the wrong spot, and filled it with a 'sink plug' and then painted over it :rolleyes: hmmmm.

My husband then found that where there was a gap that needed to be filled between the bottom of the window skirting and the benchtop, the materials that were used to fill this gap was 'date roll and silicon paper mache'. NICE :hmm::!

It also looks like they had run out of tiles to do the ensuite (I am assuming this would have been by the previous owner??). Instead of getting more of the same tile, they decided to use 'leftovers'. The colour is only slight in difference, but the pattern definitely doesn't match.

Does this add 'character'?

We'll tackle that one later..

So who knows how the door frames are anchored??!!! And we definitely don't want to find out! There has been enough surprises with this house as it is.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by madrat

It will definitely be a case of making the floor fit around the door, not the other way around.

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You can buy a contour-gauge to map out the areas that need routing or finely cut, in the floating floor tiles/pieces. see ;
http://images.google.com.au/images?h...our%20gauge%22

or

http://www.starshipmodeler.com/tech/jw_vfws7.JPG

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 3Days

You can buy a contour-gauge to map out the areas that need routing or finely cut, in the floating floor tiles/pieces. see ;
http://images.google.com.au/images?h...8&um=1&ie=UTF-

or

8&sa=N&tab=wihttp://www.starshipmodeler.com/tech/jw_vfws7.JPG

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Thanks so much!
:wink:
Appreciate it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 3Days

You can buy a contour-gauge to map out the areas that need routing or finely cut, in the floating floor tiles/pieces. see ;
http://images.google.com.au/images?h...our%20gauge%22

or

http://www.starshipmodeler.com/tech/jw_vfws7.JPG

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Would anyone happen to know who would stock this type of thing in Perth?

Madrat

Try here http://www.stanbridges.com/index.cfm/shop.p5396

...or bunnings?

or the local hardware, or the local tile shop.....

everyone sells them, cost about 12 bucks....

Thanks Barry and Memphis.... :wink: