How to Fit a New Door Frame Plumb and Square

There will come a time when you want o fit a new door frame in your home. This may be because your existing door frame is rotted or damaged (particularly external timber frames), or simply because you just want to update what you already have.

Internal door frames will nearly always be of timber construction but exterior frames may be either timber or UPVC. It is more common nowadays for exterior frames to be UPVC but there are still many homes that get fitted with timber.

After ripping the old frame out, the process is fairly straight forward when it comes to fitting the new frame and keeping the new frame nice and square prior to fitting will make for a much better job.

If you purchase a timber door frame it will more than likely be supplied braced with timber to you in order to keep it square and not distort. Bracing is simply a procedure or fixing timber members to the frame to keep it rigid. UPVC frames do not normally come with bracing as the strong steel framework inside the plastic is usually enough to keep square.

Fitting The New Frame

Now that you have the opening you will need to offer the frame up and check the fit. We will assume that you have all the prior measurements in order to get the frame in place. These measurements will normally cater for a 10mm gap to be left around the perimeter of the frame.

Have some packers or wedges on hand to 'jam' the frame in place when plumbing up before fixing. Don't try to plumb the whole frame right away. Instead, plumb up one side of the frame, fix it in place with your fixings and then plumb up the opposite side of the frame. Check for plumb on both the front and side planes of the new frame you are fixing in and ensure the head and sill are also level before final fixings. Use packers wherever required.

The whole process is actually straight forward providing you follow these guidelines. Once the frame is in place and plumbed and levelled up, assemble the door and locks ready for use.

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