If you’re installing a new floor but don’t know how to cut a door frame for your new flooring, I’m sharing 3 easy steps so that your floor installation will look seamless. Your door frames will look like they were installed AFTER the floors and you won’t even have to remove them!
How do you install LVP flooring around a door jamb?
If you are installing Luxury Vinyl Plank (LVP) floors, then here are my top 10 tips for installing them like a pro!
Whether you’re installing wood flooring or luxury vinyl plank flooring, and the home has already been completed, you will come to a door jamb and you can install it without removing all of the trim!
Let’s talk about your door for a minute. The door frame, door jamb, or door casing (all the same thing) is the decorative wood trim that surrounds the door. Its purpose is to cover the 2×4 construction and gaps in the drywall from the door installation and make it look finished.
Let’s talk about the construction of your door. When a home is built, the door frame is typically custom cut to directly meet the floor after the floorshave been installed.
So how are you going to make your door frames look like they were removed, cut to the new length, and reinstalled without removing them?
It is a lot easier than you think!!
And it saves you from having to cut the caulking to remove the frame, remove the nails stuck in the trim, cut the frame down, reattach and then caulk and paint all over again!
How do you cut a floor around a door frame?
The short answer….you don’t. It is much easier and cleaner to cut the door frame and install the flooring under the newly cut frame. You can cut the flooring, but cutting the frame instead of the floor is going to give you a much more professional result in my opinion, and won’t look like a secondary installation.
Consider how you will get the fit perfect around the frames if you decide to cut the flooring instead. My door trim has a lot of grooves and ridges. It would be difficult to get the same seamless look if I cut the flooring insteadof the door frames.
It is so worth it to invest in an oscillating tool for this kind of project and I have 3 easy steps you can follow. The awesome thing is that this tool will come in handy for other projects down the road because it can cut metal and drywall, among other surfaces, too!
What’s the best tool to cut door frames?
You only need one tool. Yes. One tool! You will need to get an oscillating multi-tool. I have a Dremel Multi-Max and I love it! It has a 4.7 rating! It comes with several blades good for a variety of projects (so you can use it again and again) and allows me to make very specific cuts when any other saw just won’t do the trick!
The blade I installed for this project is one specifically made for cutting wood. It also has a measurement guide right on the blade so you can cut it into a specific depth. Like if your trim is 1/2″ thick, you can see when you are 1/2″ into the trim and know it is time to stop the cut.
The first thing I did was remove my baseboards because I wanted to install a nicer baseboard on top of the flooring (You don’t have to do this and can install your floor right up to the existing base and then add a shoe molding around the perimeter to cover the expansion gap.)
Then I got out my Multi-Max and got to work preparing for my floor installation.
If your ears are a little sensitive you may want to use some earplugs as it has a little bit of a high-pitched sound. And as always use safety glasses!
Step 1. Turn the tool on. You can adjust the speed and you want this to be at high speed for this project. It might have an intimidating sound but don’t be afraid of it.
Take your oscillating tool, and place it on the existing floor right next to your door frame. Then gently press it into the frame. You will be surprised at how easy it is to cut it.
Use the numbers on the blade to gauge how deep you go. You’ll want to go the depth of the trim. (Mine is 1/2″ so I watched the blade and since it is marked I could see when I hit a 1/2″ depth.)
Go ahead and cut all the way across the frame being careful not to cut the door.
Step 2. Now that you have cut the frame, go ahead and place a scrap piece of the flooring you are installing next to the door frame.
Now do the same as step 1 with your blade laying on top of the scrap piece, turning it on, and pressing gently against the scrap piece of flooring and into the frame. The scrap piece will act the same as your original floor.
*TIP* Go ahead and cut nice and tight to the scrap flooring. You don’t want any extra space.
This will create a gap between your existing flooring and the door frame for the new flooring to slide into perfectly.
Step 3. Remove the extra little piece of trim that you just cut out. By removing the piece of trim that you just cut you will open the small gap between the original floor and the bottom of the door frame.
This will give you the perfect fit for your new flooring to slide right under the door jamb!
Admire that it is a perfect fit! I promise if you use this method you will be 100x glad you did!
I cut all of my door frames to fit the new flooring under and it looks SO good, don’t you think?
In my opinion, it looks more professional than if I had cut the wood flooring to fit around the frames.
That is it!! SO EASY! The main thing is to get over the fear of the sound of the tool.
The multi-tool is easy and relatively safe to use, just be careful. I hope you are inspired to give it a try because it really makes a difference when installing your flooring.
How do you install wood flooring or luxury vinyl plank flooring without removing the baseboards?
If you want to just install the flooring up to the baseboards you can do it.
You can install quarter-round or shoe molding where your flooring meets your baseboard. To install it correctly, you will need a 1/4″ expansion gap between the flooring edge and your baseboard so just be sure that your molding piece covers the gap!
If you don’t want the extra expense and hassle of cutting, installing and painting the new shoe molding, then I recommend removing all of the baseboard, installing the flooring, and then re-installing the baseboard back in or taking the opportunity to upgrade your baseboard.
We had 3.5″ baseboard in this house and I took the opportunity to install 5.5″ base which elevates the look of the house and it looks SO good!
Let me know if you tackle this project! Was it a great success? Were you as afraid of the tool as you thought? Would you just hire this out? Comment below!
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