The project involves moving four of the original doors to new locations or replacing them with new doors that are made to the original specifications. The doors are 6 foot 8 inches tall and have six horizontal raised panels. They are 32", 34" and 36" wide. The doors will be painted, to match other doors and trim.

I'll include a photo. There is a sixth panel at the bottom of the door that is not completely shown.

I am paying someone else to do the door and trim work, not having much experience myself with moving doors. The cost of new solid wood doors, pre-hung and made by an Amish shop in Ohio is about $400 per door including shipping (based on three different price quotes). My carpenter charges $75 per hour total for himself and his helper.

My carpenter has observed that to move the existing doors and to get the locks and latches lined up, and most especially to true up the doors in a house where few joints are square would take a good deal of time. He believes that it will be cheaper to buy the new pre-hung doors. New doors of course will require installation labor.

My question is: does that sound about right? Meaning, does it sound right that at $75 per hour, the labor involved in moving and truing an existing door will likely be near or more than the $400 plus installation for a new door?

Thank you for your help.

Jay

But after a door or 2, he should have it figured out. It seems hard to believe that new doors + their installation will end up being cheaper than just moving the originals. Sounds to me like hanging a door that is not pre hung is taking your guy out of his comfort zone.

When it came to the exterior and interior doors and windows for the addition he built us he insisted on non pre-hung windows and doors. He insisted that they were a huge waste of money, the manufacturer was just charge for a very simple frame that was way easier to build in place and adjust slightly as needed. He also did move one interior door for us from the upstairs of the main house to the addition.

Clarion is right, he is obviously out of his comfort zone. I watched and helped my brother and law hang the two exterior doors in my kitchen and my hubby and I will have no problem trying to tackle the bedroom doors that we will be installing in the addition upstairs ourselves. I think your contractor can handle it. It seems a shame to order new doors when you have perfectly good doors ready to use. Of course I am not paying myself $75 an hour so I will not be worried about how long it takes me to accomplish the task.

In an old house, doors were often custom-fit to the spot, compensating for any out-of-true framing by removing some of the wood on the door.

There's where the problem is ... check your doors by measuring the bottom to lower hinge, distance between hinges, top of door to top of top hinge, and bottom of door to bottom of latch. Check corner angles and heights of doors.

You will probably find that no two doors are identical, which might mean a lot of tedious custom futzing and fixing.

When I had a door replaced in my 1890s adobe, the handyman specified "undrilled with no hinge mortises". That way he could drill the doorknob hole to match the existing catch position, and didn't have to make a mortise for the door half of the hinges.

If you are using half-mortise hinges and rim-mounted locks and latches, it's a lot easier. But if the corners have been adjusted for a wonky door frame, it's too hard to un-wonk it.

Adding wood back can be a PITA (but can be done on painted doors).