How to Hang a Door Like a Pro in 11 Steps

If you’ve already removed your old door, you can skip to step two. But if your door is still hanging around, place door stoppers underneath it to help stabilize it. Then, take a screwdriver and remove the hinges and the hinge pins, starting from the bottom. If you plan on reusing your hinges, set them to the side. You’ll also remove your doorknob, latch, and strike plate. Once your existing door is bare and off its hinges, place it to the side. 

Place your new door in your existing door’s opening. Line it up against your door frame, and with a pencil, mark where you’ll need to shave your door down, if necessary, to have a perfect fit. Also, if your door doesn’t have clearance at the bottom to help it open and close properly, mark off 3/4 to 1/2 of an inch. Once you’ve marked off how much to remove, place your door on a flat surface and use a straightedge to draw a straight line across its length or width.   

If you need to remove more than five inches from your door so it can fit, put on your safety goggles and ear protection and use your circular saw to cut it. To remove a few inches, use your electric planer. Either way, take your time and slowly go through this step so the final product is even. 

After shaving it down, place your door back in its opening and see how it fits. If it still needs adjusting, repeat the previous steps. Once you have the perfect fit, lay it back on a flat surface to sand down any rough edges. 

Before you can install your door hinges, use your measuring tape to see where they’ll go. The rule of thumb is to place the top hinge five inches from the top of your door, the bottom hinge 10 inches from the bottom, and the middle hinge in the middle of your top and bottom. Once you know where to place them, trace their length, width, and thickness for every hinge on your door. 

Use your flat-edge chisel and wooden mallet to carve out the area you marked off.  You’ll start along the outline and then chisel out the middle. Make sure to get as close to the hinge thickness as possible. After, put your hinge back in its recess to ensure it’s flush against your door.  

If everything checks out, use your cordless drill and a drill bit, that’s thinner and slightly shorter than your screw, to drill a pilot hole. If your pilot hole is too large, you risk giving your screw nothing to grip onto. 

Take this time to finish the areas of your door that you cut down with paint or stain. Allow the paint to dry before moving to the next step.

If your door didn’t come with a doorknob cut out, use the templates provided by your doorknob’s manufacturer, and your hole saw, to drill its hole. You’ll also need to chisel out your door latch carefully. 

Put all of your hardware—hinges, latch, and doorknob—on your new door into its rightful place. 

Use your door stoppers to help keep your door steady while you hang it up. Line up your hinges on the door jamb side of your door and screw them in place, starting with the top hinge.