- PROFILE face, rabbet, throat
- SQUARENESS SDI / HMMA tolerance
- ANCHORS masonry / stud / existing
- WALL CMU / partition / storefront
When the frame is the job
Door Frame Replacement in Charlotte, NC
Tell us what the wall is made of. That decides most of it.
The short version
When the frame has gone, no amount of work on the leaf will fix the opening
Frame replacement is the job people put off, and the reason is honest: it is disruptive. The wall has to be opened, the anchors have to be dealt with, and the new frame has to end up plumb in a wall that has spent twenty years moving. Worth being clear about that before you start budgeting.
On this line of work
What separates this from a swap-out
We will talk you out of it
If the frame is square, anchored and free of corrosion and the complaint is a binding leaf, the frame is very likely not your problem. Hinges, closer arms, strike alignment and leaf sag account for most of it.
Masonry openings are the normal case
Tobias came up setting hollow metal in commercial shells and spends most of his time in walls where the rough opening is never what the drawing said.
Square is measured, not eyeballed
Set plumb and square within published SDI and HMMA tolerances, then the leaf hung and checked through its full swing before we call it done.
The sequence is written down first
You get the order of operations before the wall opens, so you can plan access and, on secured openings, arrange a temporary closure.
We say what is not ours
Where the wall needs patching, painting or a structural opinion, we tell you whether that is in our scope or a trade you should bring in.
Scope of work
The conditions that bring us out
Frames fail from the bottom up, from the side, or from never having been square in the first place. Each one presents on the leaf, which is why it so often gets misdiagnosed as a lock problem.
- Corrosion at the floor line
The classic hollow metal failure. Water sits in the frame profile, the base rusts through, the anchor loses purchase and the leaf starts to drag. Progressive, and it does not recover.
- Impact damage
Pallet jacks, carts and delivery traffic. A frame with a deformed rabbet will never latch reliably again, and straightening it is usually a worse investment than replacing it.
- Racked and out-of-square frames
Building movement, settlement, or a frame that was never set square. Shows up as binding at one corner and a latch that only catches when you pull the door.
- Knock-down frames in partitions
Installed after the drywall, common in office fit-outs, and often why a door has never closed properly since the space was reconfigured.
- Frames that no longer suit the opening
Widening for clear width, or replacing because the hardware being specified needs a prep the existing frame cannot carry.
Sequence
The sequence on a frame replacement
Establish what the wall is
Masonry, stud and drywall, or an existing knock-down frame in a partition. This single fact determines almost everything else.
Measure the rough opening, not the frame
The frame you are replacing may never have been the right size. We measure what the wall actually gives us and order against that.
Remove and make good
Old frame out, anchors dealt with, wall condition assessed and reported.
Set, anchor, verify
New frame plumb and square within published tolerances, anchored to the wall type, leaf hung and checked.
What drives the figure
Where the money goes on a frame job
| Variable | Effect on scope | Who owns it |
|---|---|---|
| Wall type | A frame in a stud partition is contained. A frame grouted into masonry is demolition, and the wall has to be made good. | Established at survey |
| Whether we patch the wall | Some clients want it handed back ready to paint. Others have their own trades. Both fine, different scopes. | Your call, priced either way |
| Rated or unrated | A labelled assembly restricts what frame may go in and how it is anchored, and removes field modification. | The label decides, not us |
| Occupied or shut down | Cutting a frame out of a wall is loud and dusty. Out of hours costs more and disrupts less. | Your building's hours |
No figures here for the same reason as everywhere else on this site: the wall decides, and we have not seen your wall.
Elsewhere on the site
The other four lines
Commercial Door Installation
New leaves into existing frames, and complete openings in new work, ordered against a measured opening.
Read moreCommercial Door Hardware Installation
Grade 1 locks, closers, exit devices, hinges and electrified prep, scheduled by function before ordering.
Read moreADA and Egress Door Compliance Upgrades
Clear width, opening force, hardware operability and single-motion egress, measured and corrected at the door.
Read moreFire-Rated Door Replacement
Labelled openings replaced as tested assemblies, with leaf, frame, hardware and gasketing treated as one unit.
Read moreCoverage
Door Frame Replacement across the metro
Describe the opening. We will tell you what it needs.
Describe the wall and what the frame is doing at the floor line, and you will hear whether this is a frame job or something cheaper.
- Commercial Door Installation
- Door Frame Replacement
- Commercial Door Hardware Installation
- ADA and Egress Door Compliance Upgrades
- Fire-Rated Door Replacement