Door stop trim removal


legenddc

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I need to remove the door stop trim removal for a lot of doors since I’m adding some thickness to the doors. Unfortunately my stop trim seems to be the kind rabbeted in so it’s not as simple as prying it off. 
 

Any thoughts on the best way to remove it? The multi-tool seems slow and a jigsaw didn’t work when I tried it. Maybe a longer blade and starting the cut would help.
 

I’m assuming at this point the trim will be unusable and I’ll have to make some out poplar instead of spending $1/linear foot on new trim. 

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Have you tried hard to pry it off. Rabbeted in place seems odd. The old house I lived in had so many coats of paint that it seemed integral but wasn't.

Do you have a strong neodymium magnet that you can run along the stop to try and find the nails?

If it is indeed a rabbet, I'm trying to think of a way that would be easier to remove it other than replacing all of the door jambs... I have a router with a plywood plate that is open on 1 side for flushing up plywood edging. That could probably work. You could also make cuts every 1.5" and then knock the waste out with a chisel and then do some additional work to flush the remainder up.

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It's definitely rabbeted. One side isn't and when I pried off the piece it was clear that it wasn't glued or nailed on half of the jamb. I suppose I could just break them off and flush them up with a router or route them until they're ready to fall off.

Maybe a hand power planer?

New jambs seems like a worst-case scenario right now as I'm sure that will lead to further project creep.

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https://www.woodworkersjournal.com/making-a-flush-trimming-router-jig/

This is how i flush trim edge banding on plywood. They used acrylic but I use plywood. You can make the base what ever shape will work best for your situation but the gist is part of the base is open and you set the router bit depth to the thickness of the router base.

Different example

https://www.canadianwoodworking.com/plans-projects/flush-trim-router-jig

 

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That could work. Make it bridge the gap of the door trim and just hack away. Loads of dust everywhere but that's bound to happen no matter what.

Kids might be gone tomorrow night so I may hack away at all of the doors and deal with the consequences later. If the router trick doesn't work I might go buy whatever hand planer is in stock at Home Depot and try that.

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I've seen rabbeted jambs on exterior doors before.  Always assumed it was just to add strength.  But on the ones I've seen, the "stop" runs all the way to the far edge of the jamb (away from the door) rather than the narrower 1-3/8" or so shown in the OP's picture.

I wonder if something like this might work (there would still be some clean-up with hand tools):

Dremel flush-cut

 

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I like big doors and I cannot lie...

I’m trying to turn flat panel doors into 3 panel. I already replaced our metal louvered closet doors with flat -> 3 panel and want these to match. Doing this instead of buying new ones is going to save us over $2k. 

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Replacing jambs is a pain but it might be less of a pain than the other options still... Just be careful prying the trim away and nail it back on exactly the way it came off.

I made some jambs from scratch at my old house in a short amount of time. Could probably buy the premade ones that would make things pretty easy as well.

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Thank you both. I'm going to try and remove the stop on the jamb as is and go from there. If it takes too long or becomes unstable a new jamb will be in order.

Just trying this on a door in the basement so not the end of the world if I have to redo it.

Itching to get back in the shop but unless I take some time off this may drag out for a while.

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On 3/18/2021 at 12:47 PM, legenddc said:

My knowledge of doors isn’t very strong. I’m assuming this is a split jamb door, not rabbeted in like I was finding online. 
 

If so, options would be to build a new jamb?

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The purpose of a split jamb door is the jamb is adjustable width wise to fit various wall widths.  I'm assuming you can widen the gap between the two jambs the width of the stop that will hide the gap.  

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Come on guys, don't confuse the issue.  He wants to put a thicker door in the same wall. 

The distance from the edge of the hinge side of the jamb, as it now sits, only needs to be enlarged from that edge to the stop.  The side of any stop, where it meets the door, needs to be moved over from where it is/was.  The outer edges of the jamb don't need to be changed.

There are a number of ways that can be addressed, but being a split jamb adds another complication.  It has nothing to do with the thickness of the wall, which the outside edges of the jamb now fit.

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14 hours ago, sjeff70 said:

The purpose of a split jamb door is the jamb is adjustable width wise to fit various wall widths.  I'm assuming you can widen the gap between the two jambs the width of the stop that will hide the gap.  

Yes, that's the reason for using split jambs, which I have never used.  It has already served that purpose here, but it was made for a different thickness door, than the one he wants to install.

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I could adjust the door jamb if I was making the wall thicker but I'm only making the door thicker.

Bought some new door trim for the one door I already started working on. Will finish cutting the last bit out today or tomorrow but for now it's mid-50s and I'm doing some lawn cleanup.

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On 3/20/2021 at 11:27 AM, Tpt life said:

Tom, your last two posts directly disagree with each other. Either split jambs have something to do with wall thickness or they do not. 

I don't think so - he recognizes that the purpose of a split jamb is to accommodate walls of different thickness, but that's not the OP's issue.  The OP is changing the thickness of his doors, not his walls.  The jambs are fine as-is, but the stop either needs to be narrowed or moved back to allow a proper fit for the new doors.

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