Should Doors Be Installed Before Flooring

Lay the pre hung doors on a flat suface at waist height for easier access to working on it.

Should doors be installed before flooring.

Theres one good reason to install the doors first and that is if your floor is not level across the threshold almost always off by some factor in my house. Lay a sheet of plywood on top of saw horses. 2 after the hardwood floor is installed. The floor coverers will pop the hinge pins and set the doors aside while installing their floor covering.

Got laminate floors installed in july and then decided i wanted new interior doors. I think builders opt for floors last to minimize damage from the various trades moving through the house. John spier owner of spier construction a building and remodeling company on block island r i responds. We built our own house a couple of years ago and we installed our hardwood and tile floors before installing the door frames and cabinets.

I love my doors which were installed today but since the floors were installed first i now have a gap or two where the new frame doesn t cover the flooring. To be able to slide or fit the hardwood flooring under these snuggly. I enjoyed john spier s article on installing pre hung doors what about when the floors will be carpeted. Not all of them do.

If your going with a hard surface i would do it after. Generally speaking door frames are installed and the doors are hung during the trim and finish phase before the flooring is installed but after the painting. Hopefully they will re swing the doors when they are done. 1 install the pre hung doors before the flooring.

This way you will not have to notch the flooring around or undercut the jamb or casing. Use a japanese flush cut saw and a scrap piece of the hardwood flooring to match the flooring thickness and cut the jamb and casing depths out. If you go with carpet that has a pile i don t think it matters either way.