Three days to fix a door frame that should have taken three hours

I had a job last month in a downtown Denver condo where the door frame was out of square by almost half an inch. The prehung door they ordered was for a standard opening and it just would not fit. I figured no big deal I will just plane the jamb and shim it out. But then I found out the drywall was already finished and painted on the other side. So every time I tried to adjust the frame I cracked the mud on the wall. Plus the floor was uneven which threw the whole thing off again. I ended up having to pull the baseboard and cut the drywall back just to get the shims right. What should have been a simple swap turned into three days of shimming, patching, and repainting because of some rookie framing work underneath. Has anyone else had a simple job turn into a nightmare over something stupid like a crooked rough opening?

2 comments

2 Comments

wright.michael4d ago

I used to think you could fix anything with enough shims and patience but that job you described changed my mind. The finished drywall on the other side is the killer, once you crack that mud it turns a quick trim job into a whole restoration project. Three days for a door is brutal but I get it, especially when the floor is throwing a curveball on top of everything else. A crooked rough opening really does snowball into something way bigger than it should be.

ruby_foster933d ago

Three days for a door though? I've done plenty of trim work in old houses where nothing was square and never had that kind of time sink. Sounds like there might have been some overthinking going on or maybe a few too many coffee breaks. Are we sure it was really that bad or just a messy job site?

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