look in the paper for a local handyman. Ask friends and neighbors for a recommendation of a local carpenter or handyman. sounds like a quick job.

Where are you?

mosquitogang201

im in arkansas

i am surprised lowes can not do it.. or recommend local tradesmen to do it ...

ken

How far off is the door? Would you be able to find a handyman through Lowes, or through someone in the neighborhood? If it's not off by very far, they can plane it pretty easily.

I once used a belt sander to grind off 1/4 inch from a 14"-long edge of wood, I don't know how it would do on a door, which is longer and has more veneer to worry about. And they'd need some way to hold it firmly on its edge, so someone w/ some basic woodworking setup might be able to help.

(sorry to hear about your break-in)

To find a handyman:

Ask everyone you know who owns a house--work, school, church, etc.

Look in the local penny-saver papers, or whatever local paper you have; check the classified ads section, bcs smaller contractors sometimes run ads there, since it's cheaper.

In larger cities, or near them, you can sometimes try Craigslist.

Try the Yellow Pages, and look for a contractor who seems to be a small-ish shop, or who says "no job too small."

Check the flyers on the bulletin board at the local truck stop or laundromat.
Push comes to shove, put up a flyer at the local truck stop: "Handyman needed."

Good luck! Sometimes I think finding the expert you need is the most daunting part of the whole thing. I sorta think every home should come with a handyman on retainer. (That's my pipe dream, actually--the Handy Housewife, who can caulk tubs, plane doors, cook dinner, be a caterer's assistant at a party, hem pants, repair drapes, supervise plumbers. Pay a monthly retainer; get a monthly 1 hour of time for small jobs or to plan larger ones; larger jobs cost extra.)

Your problem is that you usually can't just get a door and stick it into an opening and expect it to fit. If you don't know a lot about doors, it's entirely reasonable to assume that they are standardized and, say, a 36" X 80" door should be able to be interchanged with another one of the same size. Unfortunately, that is hardly ever the case. For one thing, the hinges on the new door will be off from what you have, and so will be the height of the lockset. It might be close to what you have, but never a perfect match. That is why doors are often bought pre-hung, with the matching jamb; but obviously you want to avoid taking off the trim all around the door and replacing the jamb if you can avoid it. Secondly, when a door is first installed, each one needs to be "tuned": the jamb needs to be plumbed to match the door, and fine adjustments need to be made to both the jamb and the edge of the door so that there are minimal gaps and the door works well and closes properly. When you replace a door, you have to deal with the fact that the jamb was customized to fit the previous door and it takes some skill to get everything fine-tuned.

I think your best bet is to get a solid core, slab door that has not been routed out for hinges or drilled for a lockset. Then hire a competent door installer who can do the routing and drilling so it matches your existing jamb and its hardware placement. I don't suggest you try this yourself. I've been doing home repairs and woodworking for over 30 years and I still approach door installation with trepidation...and replacement is even dicier.

Well said kudzu, and truthfully the place to be shopping for doors and looking for help is a real lumberyard, not a box store (HD, Lowes, etc). Box stores are a fountain of misinformation in my opinion!!!