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I am building a diagonal door under a stairway in a finished basement. The angle for the stairs is about 40 degrees. How do you guys usually go about this without having a door with no top rail?
Sorry- I would like to use a six panel masonite stile and rail door 32" wide with 3/4 jam stock. But maybe a flush slab would make my life a lot easier. Thanks for the info on which side to hinge it to. That could have been a lesson learned the hard way.
If you use regular butt hinges on the long stile, the door won't close without radical backplane butchery to the top door rail and the tops of the stiles. If the top door rail is sized to match existing paneling, there may not be any rail left on the back side to hold the panel in.
Clampman, In my minds' eye...... I can't picture the need to back plane the door at all. If you have a long jamb & a short jamb, with a header connecting them.... & the everything is PLS (except, of course, for the rake angle), why wouldn't the door close as would a regular door? Don't you have a level sweep of the door?
On second thought, don't answer that, it will just make me feel more stupid. I guess I'll have to do one to see what you mean.
If the door swings in, and it is a 1 3/8" door, I would guesstimate that your head stop would have to be at least 1 5/8 inches thick to hide the butchery at the top of the door facing the room.
The door should swing out if you hinge the long side. For the top rail to clear, you have to severely back plane to have the top inside for it to miss the head jamb as it swings. I wouldn't inswing because it will kill a lot of space in an under stair closet. SteveC
Clampman, Not to beat a dead horse, but are you talking about a door under the width of the stairs, or under the length (the rake)? If you're talking about it being under the width, I can see it , although , opening to the inside, would cause the throw of the door to hit the bottom of the stairs before fully opening. If, however, you are talking about the rake, it's still not clear to me, the need to back plane the door, as you would have a level sweep of the door & should hit the head stop at a level (albeit, angled) plane. The door could swing in or out, short or long stile, with no difference in how it hits the stops. Hinging the long stile, would give a full throw of the door, if you swing it in... although, I agree with Steve C. about swinging it out to save space.
Al, don't assume anybody's arguing. They say, a picture paints a thousand words... but I ain't seen any pictures yet & we haven't reached a thousand words either, so my "picture" is not complete.
Sorry if I'm appearing stupid, I'm really not, just a little unclear.
Watch the hinge side style enter the jam as you close it, you'll see the distance of the style is approx 1 3/4" from the jam....which left without "radical backplane butcher" will hit on the angled jam.
Install the door frame with the top of the door frame parallel to the stairs, cut the top of the door parallel to the top of the door frame.
Cut a 45 degree bevel along the top of the door. Attach the offcut to the door frame. (the offcut will be short, not the correct width, and the gap may not be correct but ...)
Certainly, a better appearing job would have the offcut and framing be a single piece and the framing on the inside of the door would be lower but, the job would appear good from both sides.
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