What to expect? Bemoaning Homepro door installation service

[Morakot]

Well I'm now in doubt about my expected level of attention to detail... I recently purchased a door to replace the old one in a lavatory. Homepro offered me two options for an installation service:

1. Take the old door off the hinges and put the new one in, including fitting a lock (1000 baht).
2. Take remove the door frame and door and put an new frame in and hang the new door; fit a lock (2000 baht).

I opted for the first, as the current hardwood frame is in a relative good condition and I feared that the tiling close to the frame might be damaged.

I know building work or carpentry is not an exact science and as long as every looks neat it should be fine. The installation team (Mr Chang and wife) took about 50 minutes [!] to finish the job and the door closes properly without needing any force. However, the original door frame turned out to be slightly “twisted” and Mr Chang appropriated the position of the door to compensate for this. As a result of this the new door closes flush on one side and has a 8 mm gap on the other side where the hinges are.

Anyone with a bit of sense would have planed down a few mil of one side of the frame; this would have taken about five minutes and the gap would have been drastically reduced -- not visible to the naked eye. I think I should have complained on the spot, but was expecting a comeback that I should have bought a new frame. I'm award that this small gap is not obvious if you don't look closely; what I found annoying though is that just with a little bit of effort and basic skills this could have easily been a good job with the appropriable level of finishing.

[Langsuan Man]

That is why they wanted twice as much for a new frame to go along with the new door. But you opted for the cheap charley solution and now are not happy.

With your vast experience in wood working why didn't you do it yourself and then you could complain to yourself

[eyecatcher]

Actually that's pretty acceptable.

Its nion impossible to plane down the rebate of a door frame, the middle is straightforward as long as the blade if as wide as the plane which it isn't on a smoothing plane.

And the top and bottom,so difficult without a special box plane.

My guess is the hinges are a tad too wide and he couldn't get far enough back.

Options. Simply find some narrower hinges or just stick a but of brown draught seal down the frame rebate.

I would go for the latter if the door fits well and looks good from the inside.

I think you are being too critical.

But to hang a door, planing leading edges ,chop out and fit hinges and fit the lock is a 2 to 2.5hr job even with the right tools.

Your door looks like the pressed hardboard with egg box interior..I suggest you seal all edges with paint or varnish otherwise you will be planing down the door yourself in a week or two.

[eyecatcher]

Forgot to add...another common option is to but a small wood quadrant bead and fit down the open side. Many doors are fitted to door linings and the stop beads planted on afterwards..

[meatboy]

what door man and wife have a plane.he would have done it with a screw driver if you told him.

[eyecatcher]

what door man and wife have a plane.he would have done it with a screw driver if you told him.

Yes I have seen screwdrivers double up a chisels and shoes double up as hammers.

[Morakot]

Actually that's pretty acceptable.

Its nion impossible to plane down the rebate of a door frame, the middle is straightforward as long as the blade if as wide as the plane which it isn't on a smoothing plane.

And the top and bottom,so difficult without a special box plane.

I used a wide chisels and mallet and took off at few mil off at the top and bottom now. It was done in ten minutes and looks good; you need to turn the chisel with the grove against the grain, otherwise you dig in. Thinly shave it in several goes. Easy.

Your door looks like the pressed hardboard with egg box interior..I suggest you seal all edges with paint or varnish otherwise you will be planing down the door yourself in a week or two.

It's actually foam inside and it's supposed to be water and termite resistant.

I think you are being too critical.

Fair play!

Edited March 26, 2014 by Morakot

[Morakot]

Thank you for posting in this thread.

[topt]

Looks better than when I had a new frame and door put into an existing opening. I was not there at the time but fortunately had not paid the full amount. There was a gap of between 5 and 10mm around the frame that they were not going to do anything about. Eventually putting the sealant/mastic in must have taken them almost all of 20 minutes if that. Lesson learned as I did not of course specify that part thinking it was standard.......

This was a small door shop but I think they all use sub-contractors.

[Langsuan Man]

You are welcome

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Morakot]

what door man and wife have a plane.he would have done it with a screw driver if you told him.

Yes I have seen screwdrivers double up a chisels and shoes double up as hammers.

I'm all for improvising; I wonder what the finished product looked like though.

[meatboy]

what door man and wife have a plane.he would have done it with a screw driver if you told him.

Yes I have seen screwdrivers double up a chisels and shoes double up as hammers.

I'm all for improvising; I wonder what the finished product looked like though.

I had an architect come to look at a badly cracked pillar inside our house,so to investigate he asked for a screwdriver to chip away the concrete but my educated wife gave him a chisel.the problem the 3rd.coat of plaster[ no cement] had come away from the 2nd.this was mon.lets see how long they take to come and repair.

[Morakot]

I had an architect come to look at a badly cracked pillar inside our house,so to investigate he asked for a screwdriver to chip away the concrete but my educated wife gave him a chisel.

[eyecatcher]

Actually that's pretty acceptable.

Its nion impossible to plane down the rebate of a door frame, the middle is straightforward as long as the blade if as wide as the plane which it isn't on a smoothing plane.

And the top and bottom,so difficult without a special box plane.

I used a wide chisels and mallet and took off at few mil off at the top and bottom now. It was done in ten minutes and looks good; you need to turn the chisel with the grove against the grain, otherwise you dig in. Thinly shave it in several goes. Easy.

Your door looks like the pressed hardboard with egg box interior..I suggest you seal all edges with paint or varnish otherwise you will be planing down the door yourself in a week or two.

It's actually foam inside and it's supposed to be water and termite resistant.

I think you are being too critical.

Fair play!

Well done anyway.

My wife regularly advised me that if something is not done as I would have have done it, then accept it, don't complain just do the job again yourself instead of stressing yourself and everyone around you.

Since the first time.....tilers I sacked after one day for starting the walls before the floor.

I now do everything myself.

[Sheryl]

You have my sympathy, I have been through 3 bad door installations (not HomePro, private "chang"), unfortunately of the front and back doors to the house proper so affecting security (i.e. enough space around where the latch catches that even a child could easily open the door when locked).

"Anyone with a bit of sense..." is I think where things tend to go wrong here. Of the many dozens of "chang" I have dealt with over the years I can count the number who appeared to have that on the fingers of one hand.

As it was HomePro I suppose you could have tried calling to complain and insisting he come back but as you seem to have already corrected the situation, no real point.

[meatboy]

one problem I have come up against it that home pro and others use third party fixers who can do anything or should I say who cant do anything RIGHT.

[canuckamuck]

When we renovated we hung 6 new doors. The only one that was hung badly and continues to be a problem is the first one where I was helping the chang to hang it (just holding for him really) and he got angry with me and told me he would do it himself. (balancing it on his toe) The other 5 were done by me, as I saw the result of the first and told him to piss off.

[meatboy]

before we changed all but 2 doors on the house and alarmed those 2, you could put a screwdriver between the frame and door and lift the bolts,plenty of room for snakes to get in,the balcony doors fitted at the top but 1.5inches out at the bottom and it was the same with the windows over 30 windows and doors and not one fitted right,and who fitted them THE BUILDERS or should I say workers.

[IMHO]

Yep, hanging doors seems to be a black art... Out of over 50 workers, we have only one who can do the job right, and also understand how to trim a door so it continues to open & close year 'round.....

[Morakot]

As it was HomePro I suppose you could have tried calling to complain and insisting he come back but as you seem to have already corrected the situation, no real point.

I now have the answer after speaking to the customer satisfaction team!

After expressing my dissatisfaction, they checked with the technician and told me that nothing can be done about this; it's an issue with the frame. They advised me what I need is a carpenter for what clearly is a carpenter's job. To my surprise, when asked who on earth than did hang the door, I was told that their installation staff are not carpenters; they are just installation people.

In sum, this is where it all went wrong: I was seriously under the impression that for 1000 baht (in country with a minimum wage of 300 b per day) I get a skilled tradesman who knows something about carpentry. How wrong I was...

Verdict: Homepro installation service again? Thanks, but no thanks!

Edited March 27, 2014 by Morakot

[eyecatcher]

As it was HomePro I suppose you could have tried calling to complain and insisting he come back but as you seem to have already corrected the situation, no real point.

I now have the answer after speaking to the customer satisfaction team!

After expressing my dissatisfaction, they checked with the technician and told me that nothing can be done about this; it's an issue with the frame. They advised me what I need is a carpenter for what clearly is a carpenter's job. To my surprise, when asked who on earth than did hang the door, I was told that their installation staff are not carpenters; they are just installation people.

In sum, this is where it all went wrong: I was seriously under the impression that for 1000 baht (in country with a minimum wage of 300 b per day) I get a skilled tradesman who knows something about carpentry. How wrong I was...

Verdict: Homepro installation service again? Thanks, but no thanks!

Not surprised at all......now I would just go back to your door and check they haven't used nails in the hinges, it takes 50 mins to fix hinges properly!

[canuckamuck]

While we are on about doors, have you ever noticed they often put as many as 6 hinges on a normal door.

My brother in law did this and his doors don't work right (the hinges are working against each other). I used three and all my doors are perfect (the ones I hung that is).

[eyecatcher]

While we are on about doors, have you ever noticed they often put as many as 6 hinges on a normal door.

My brother in law did this and his doors don't work right (the hinges are working against each other). I used three and all my doors are perfect (the ones I hung that is).

No never!

Should always be 1.5 pair hinges for external and bathroom and fire doors and 1 pair for most other doors.

Rarely but sometimes 2pairs on a strong room door that is 50mm thick.....but 3 pairs? No not even thai incompetence would be that daft.

Suggest you check again.

[eyecatcher]

While we are on about doors, have you ever noticed they often put as many as 6 hinges on a normal door.

My brother in law did this and his doors don't work right (the hinges are working against each other). I used three and all my doors are perfect (the ones I hung that is).

No never!

Should always be 1.5 pair hinges for external and bathroom and fire doors and 1 pair for most other doors.

Rarely but sometimes 2pairs on a strong room door that is 50mm thick.....but 3 pairs? No not even thai incompetence would be that daft.

Suggest you check again.

[canuckamuck]

Must be a northern village thing, I have seen it a lot up here.

Edited March 27, 2014 by canuckamuck

[Morakot]

Must be a northern village thing, I have seen it a lot up here.

Maybe they run out of piano hinges.

[IMHO]

Must be a northern village thing, I have seen it a lot up here.

Maybe they run out of piano hinges.

Maybe they think the hinges are responsible for the door not opening/closing correctly in humidity?