Putting up a door question

[NewJeffCT]

We have an open room in our house that I guess you could call an office or a den. My wife would love to put a door onto this room so we can have a bit more of a private office – or even call it an extra bedroom, if needed.

The problem is that the opening to this room is at an angle – two corners that make up about a 45 degree angle opening that is about 45 inches wide. Since I am not sure how to draw a picture here on DU, I guess I could say that it is almost like:

inside room|
inside room |_____
______
top wall |
side wall |

Forgive the crude drawing.

Is putting a door in that type of opening an easy task? Or, is it something where we would need to extend one of the walls out so we can put something straight in there? Or, am I way off base in my ideas?

Thanks

[DrDan]

1. put your question out on the

DIY, Home Improvement forum. Lots of knowledgeable folks there.

But, I not follow your picture. Where is the 45 degree angle?

[NewJeffCT]

4. Better description

It worked in preview, but after I hit post, I got a phone call...

but, here is a better description (I hope)

OK, the drawing is not too clear…

How about this for a description?

There is a 12’ x 12’ square room with no doors on it.

To start the process of making a door, you make a hole in one corner of the square so there is now an opening in the corner of the square. To get the opening, you take away an equal amount of the wall on both sides of that corner.

What is left is an opening in the corner, where the two back walls still measure 12’ long each, but the walls where the opening is now are each 10’ long – that means you have a diagonal opening that is the distance.

I can diagram it in Excel if you want to PM me your email address so I can attach the file.

[Rabrrrrrr]

2. I don't see anything at 45 degrees.

Try to describe the room and the opening better.

[NewJeffCT]

3. I fixed it a bit

The original "diagram" looked great in preview... then I got a phone call.

[Rabrrrrrr]

5. Is this what you mean?

Basically the room you want to put a door for is a rectangle
(or square), but the opening, instead of being parallel with
any of the walls, is basically like one of the corners of the
room has been cut out, leaving an angled opening of
approximately 45 inches?

Like this:

|-------|
|       |
|       |
|      
|-----

If that's it, then yes, of course, you can put a door in there
- no more difficult, really, than putting in one that's
parallel to the walls. Of course, it all depends on how much
plaster, drywall, etc. there is, and how the walls are made,
and whatnot, but in theory it's a rather trivial construction
job.

Or, you could just put up a curtain for a door, like in many
Asian households.

[NewJeffCT]

6. exactly

for some reason, it didn't work

Just want to figure out a quick/cheap way to put up a door there. If it's possible to do it quickly/cheaply I mean.

[Rabrrrrrr]

7. I amended my post, so go back and read.

[NewJeffCT]

8. Thanks

There is plaster on the walls that are already there, but nothing in the opening... just carpet on the floor and nothing going across the top... just two corners that go all the way up to the ceiling.

[necso]

9. You have several options.

You could use some sort of track (on top) doors. With track-doors, as long as it's open underneath and you can affix track, then you can hang track-doors -- even in the middle of your living room. (You could put a little header in above the doors to cut the required door height down to something reasonable. There are also top and bottom track doors.)

Or you could put in a real door. As I read your diagram, the door itself would run at a 45 degree angle and open in. Now, 45 inches is sort of big for a door, even with frame. But provided you could get a door of the exact right size, you could fill in on the sides with something like a 4x4 cut diagonally. (Sheetrock or whatever on top -- it'd take minimal framing.)

I might build a couple of small panels on either side (of the area to be filled) in order to cut the required run (space to fill) down to a (smaller) common size (with frame). You could leave a framed-out opening like they do in construction, and then just drop a door with frame in.

[NewJeffCT]

10. Thanks as well

Some good ideas.

[seemunkee]

11. Sounds like you will have to frame it out.

To make the door close properly I believe you would have to frame it so you have stub walls that are square to each other across the corner. Plus you will have to frame out a header since the door will not go all the way to the ceiling. Not that difficult really, unless you hate doing drywall as much as I do.

[NewJeffCT]

12. I wouldn't do the drywall

I'm not handy at all... so I'd have to pay somebody to do it.

[seemunkee]

15. An experienced carepent could knock it out pretty quick

The only problem may be finding someone to do a small job like that. Considering they will have to come out and give you a quote, measure, buy the materials, frame, hang the sheetrock, compound the joints, sand, re-skim joints, hang the door, and then paint its a lot of time when they could be doing bigger more lucrative jobs.

[NewJeffCT]

16. That's my problem

My brother is pretty handy, and has a friend that can do it all as well... but, getting them up to our house is one thing. Then, having them measure & buy things and come back to install the door and my 3 1/2 year old daughter will be graduating high school by the time they're done.

[AllegroRondo]

13. I did something like that in my basement

I used a folding door, which IMO is much easier to put in. As I was only blocking off a storage area a solid door wasnt really necessary.

After your walls are down, you just build a door frame out of 2x4s large enough for your door to fit in. Basically you're building a wall with a door sized hole in it. The folding door attaches to a track installed on the top 2x4.
I ended up getting one book from the library on basic home improvement work, and lots of advice from the guy at the hardware store. But it wasnt that bad.
Just make sure you know if the wall you are taking down to make the door hole has electric wires in it before you start demolition.

[NewJeffCT]

14. No walls to take down

The house had the "open" room when we moved in - we just want to put up a door there, so if we decide to make it into a bedroom, the person sleeping there can have some privacy...

So, we have no walls to take down. We'd just have to do some framing to put one in.