Yep, that’s right…I’ve installed my very first door, so now I think I’m a pro and have decided to teach y’all how to install a prehung door. 
Well, okay…not quite. But I did just install my very first prehung door all by myself, and I learned some tips along the way that I want to pass on to you.
Before I installed my door, I went to YouTube and watched several “how to” videos on the topic. Then when I went to Home Depot, I asked the man there what tips he would give this first-timer. All of them had pretty much the same things to say.
I ended up doing the opposite.
So, here are my tips-from-a-novice on how to install a prehung door. I’m sure if a contractor read this info, he’d be rolling his eyes at me, but as a determined DIYer who does all of my projects alone, these are the things that I found worked best for me.
1. Keep the door in the frame when installing the door.
This is absolutely the biggest point on which I disagree with the pros. Every single one of them said to remove the door before installing the frame. Okay, I tried that. With the door removed, the frame becomes the flippity floppity thing that I couldn’t keep upright by myself, so I certainly couldn’t keep it plumb, or level, or square, or any of those other important things. It was a mess.
As soon as I put the door back in, the frame remained rigid and perfectly square. And best of all, I KNEW that the door would fit after it was installed, because it was never removed during installation!
2. Shove the frame all the way against one side of the opening.
This is something else that the “pros” didn’t do. They all got the door nice and centered in the opening, using shims on each side to center the door.
Well, I found that nearly impossible to do by myself. So I ended up shoving the door frame all the way to the right and nailing that side first. I did have to use one shim at the bottom just to get it perfectly level, but that was so much easier than using shims all up and down that side to try to center the frame in the opening. That left me with a very wide space on the other side, but I just used shims in about four different places to fill it in and nail it into the 2″ x 4″.
And that leads me to tip #3…
3. Don’t freak out about big gaps.
I’ll admit, when I was left with this big, massive space on the left side of the door frame (which was bigger than it looks in this picture), I initially had my doubts that this door would end up looking decent. But there was nothing to worry about! The trim covered it all up, and made the finished product look great! And if your gap is even bigger, then just buy wider trim!
Seriously, it’s no big deal at all. I had to stack six shims to get enough thickness to fill this space, and I did that in about four different places on this side of the door. That’s a lot of shims! But it all worked out, and with the trim on, nobody would be able to tell.
So have you ever installed a prehung door? What tips would you give? And did you do it the “pro” way, by removing the door first? Or did you do it my way by keeping the door in the frame?
Share your door installation secrets!
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I'm an interior decorator-turned-blogger, and a DIY fanatic. My blog is where I share 
Great job! So glad you left the door in place, I am still trying to figure out why in the world someone would take the door out. I have helped hang doors before and never once did we remove the door from the frame. …
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Oh good, so it’s not just me! I don’t know why they would do it that way either. I certainly couldn’t manage that frame without the door holding it all together and square.
Makes perfect sense! Door looks great..Men at Home Depot kill me with the bull they give out…most of the time, I wind up having ot take a different path to make something work correctly…occasionally, they can be helpful..but usually not..
Wow! You did a great job!
I’ve only installed one pre-hung door, and used this kit:
http://www.thequickdoorhanger.com/
and my husband and I worked on it together. I thought it was fairly easy, but have never installed one the traditional way, so I don’t have anything to compare it to.
You installed the door alone- you rock!
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We used the quick hang door tool listed above and absolutely loved it. Would not consider hanging another door without it!
Looks great! But I’m wondering how five-foot Kristi got that door inside and in place all by herself to begin with. I am amazed at some of the things you accomplish with no help.
I’m wondering this too!!! You’ll have to share how you got it home and wrestled it in place. Maybe we need Matt to take a photo or two of you “on the job.”
Diane | An Extraordinary Day’s Latest Post..A Rustic Door & An Emerson Quote
I have a lot of determination and a very strong will.
Oh, and those doors really aren’t heavy at all. They’re hollow. 
Great job. My only comment would be that I would have shoved it up against the wall on the hinge side and shimmed the heck out of the doorknob side. I worry a bit about it going wonky later with the shims on the hinge side. In any case, you won’t be around for that, so no worries!
Very good point, David! I remember wondering which side should be flush against the opening, and for some reason, I decided upon the door handle side. Now I can’t remember my reasoning, but your reasoning most certainly makes more sense!! I’ll keep that in mind for the next one. I have two more to install.
Yay!! Great job! I wish my husband had taken your advice. Haha! Or had thought about that when he installed a couple of doors in my ‘office’ in our first home.
Diane | An Extraordinary Day’s Latest Post..A Rustic Door & An Emerson Quote
Wow! You go girl! It looks great and thinks for the tips! Have a great weekend.
Leslie
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Ha ha, my hubby is a “pro” and would have a fit if I tried to leave the door in (yep, I can hang a door, I come from a long line of tradesmen!) but I say go with what works because at the end of the day, your door looks GREAT and ‘guidelines’ are really only suggestions
But then I feel that way about almost any project I take on, lol…
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Please don’t show your hubby my post.
Or maybe you SHOULD show him just so he can have a good laugh. 
I say whatever works, and whatever works the easiest is the way to go! I have to do some projects when hubby isn’t home to avoid those differences of opinion. I’ll trace something to cut out a piece of wood- he wants to measure and measure and then measure again. I already have it painted and installed while he’s putting the tape measure away!
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Ha! I hear you on the “differences of opinion.” Matt and I simply CANNOT work on projects together. It’s the only time we ever fight.
Wow lady, your really are a helpful blogger. I will be installing some sort of pre-hung door in my kitchen pantry and i will definitely refer to your tips. Keep up the good work.
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Just out of curiousity… was this a door as in your front door to your home? Or was this like an indoor (bathroom, bedroom) door?
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This is an interior door…our bedroom door. I’d never trust myself to install an exterior door. Some things are best left to the pros.
Hahah okay I’m glad I asked!! We need a new front door BAD and I was thinking, “that’s a really big gap for an extrerior door! Even if you cover it, what about the draft?!” Good to know. Thanks!
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I think for exterior doors, you have to fill in the gaps with that spray foam stuff first. Not sure though.
I’m sure there are plenty of YouTube videos about it. Although, I watched YouTube videos on how to install interior doors, and then did just the opposite! 
Sometimes I think these projects are all about doing what feels right and what works for your home…as long as building codes are being observed.
That’s marvelous. I love it when women develop their own systems for what works well. You absolutely did all the right things. One concern: I notice you have what looks like continuous flooring, but if someone has a threshold, it would be centered in the opening, and a door shimmed to one side might not look centered over the threshold. No one wants to move a threshold!
Along these lines, I blogged about the girls’ way to paint a front door.
http://diyhomestagingtips.blogspot.com/2010/11/girls-guide-to-painting-your-front-door.html
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Aahhh, a very good point, indeed! I’m sure there are a few other circumstances where a person would definitely want to center the door. One other I though about was if a door was located on a very narrow wall, like a pantry door in a kitchen. A door like that being off center by a couple of inches might be noticeable.
There is an even easier way to install a prehung door. If you can get split jamb doors with preinstalled casing trim (jamb comes apart at the stop), Lowes sells them in certain parts of the country, that has the casing (trim) already installed, all you have to do is remove the split jamb up to the stop and hang the door by only nailing through the casing. No shimming required!- It makes the whole process go about 3 times faster. Let alone you don’t have to cut any trim at 45 degrees etc. Here is a link to how to do it and what they look like:
http://www.finehomebuilding.com/how-to/departments/building-skills/hang-a-split-jamb-door.aspx
I laughed out loud at the part “if the gap is bigger use bigger trim” that is my kind of DIY
Haha! Yep, my kind too, along with “make it up as you go along.”
Hello,
Ladies, there is a very easy way to hang an interior door that I found after doing some research of my own when redecorating my condo. You should be able to pick these up from any Home Depot, which is where I got mine. They are called E-Z-Hang and they can be found in the door section of Home Depot. This is the link that will show a video tutorial of how to use them to install the door. They are about $4.99 per set and you need one set for each door.
http://www.ezhangdoor.com/home
Great article, some great information and advice.