Door Casing - Help, Ideas and what to do?

[Bryan Hagan]

Hey all,

Great forum here, I've lurked for quite awhile and gotten plenty of good tips.

I decided to re-do my Kitchen paint, baseboard etc, and in the process tore out (3) existing door jambs (25 year old house) was a lot of doorways with actual doors, one even was a double swinging door like the old West lol.

So I framed them all out with 1x6 (primed FJ board) ripped down etc. I liked the look of the fluted casing with a plinth block and a rosette. I didn't even think about it but did 2 of them and they turned out great, then...... I got to the 3rd one and the opposite sides of the 2 I did and realized that because of how the are close to adjoining walls etc, something will have to be done, or re-done.

What do you think I should do? Still use the rosettes just move them over and then rip the casing on one side? Go a different route and get rid of the rosette/plinth idea all together? I really like the way it dressed things up, and its very nice to get rid of the door jambs and not look at existing door hinge marks etc.

I attached some pics. Let me know what you think! Any input is greatly appreciated! Thank you.


1.jpg

[Judson Green]

I'd lose the rosette but still use the plinth. Off setting the rosette (I think) would look funny, so to would cutting it to fit.

Good luck.

PS: Welcome to the creek

[Kent A Bathurst]

Whack off enough of that one rosette to get the remainder lined up.

It will look like what it looks like: The house was framed such that the entire rosette would not fit. An intriguing eccentricity. I've always lived in 20's era A+C bungalows, and there is always something.

The only person that will fixate on it is you.

[john bateman]

My old house had two door openings like that, with the rosettes and casing half buried in the plaster of the adjoining wall. Really tacky.
I reframed the openings for narrower doors, allowing the full trim to be installed correctly.

[Mark Wooden]

Move the jamb leg into the opening enough to use a full width rosette and casing if you don't have to size it for a commercially made door.

[Bryan Hagan]

Hey thanks for all the input guys! Mark what do you mean by move the Jamb leg in to the opening enough? Are you meaning move the entire side of the jamb over so essentially it will make the door opening 2-3" smaller? I didn't think about that, but then I guess on the backside where I don't have a space issue I will have to re-do it... correct?

[Peter Quinn]

Well, short of reframing (and that doesn't even look like a viable option for all those openings) you have to make a compromise. The fluted casing needs to land on a plinth and rosette, the rosette doesn't really want to be cut, the house is framed to accept a 2 3/8" clam shell and not much more. Can you find a smaller rosette that will actually fit, perhaps a scalled down version? the fluted casing could be ripped without any major aesthetic issues. The victorian casings (rosette, plinth and flutes) does look nice, might be strange to have some openings with one casing and some with another, but if the rosettes were slightly smaller few would notice, or for that matter if you left out the rosette and just put in a square block same thickness but cut to fit your available opening that might work well too, yo don't interupt the rosette but still have the basic look intact.

[Bryan Hagan]

I stopped a Lowes that has a larger selection and found 2 1/4" casing and matching plinth blocks and rosettes. How do you think it would look leaving the wider stuff I have up already, but on the back sides where I have wall issues, using the narrower stuff? Probably ok right? One side is a laundry room and the other is just a hallway, on the kitchen side it would all be the wider stuff.