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Doors
Internal doors, fire doors, external doors and made to measure sets, hung to an even gap, latching first time and still closing the same way in five years.
in short
AltHome fits internal doors, 30 minute fire door sets and external doors in houses across Kerry, Cork and Limerick. Each door is scribed to its own opening and hung to an even 3 mm gap, so it latches first time. One carpenter usually fits six to eight doors a day, so most houses are done in a day or two.
what decides it
Nothing in an Irish house is square, and the door has to be
Hanging a door is a twenty minute job in a perfect opening and nobody has a perfect opening. Frames rack, floors slope, linings twist, and a new door out of a wrapper is dead straight. So the work is in the measuring: the opening is checked for width at three heights, for plumb on both jambs and for level at the head, and the door is then scribed and trimmed to suit rather than forced in and packed with foam. Hinges are cut in with a router so they sit flush and the door does not spring open, three of them on a heavier or a fire door, and the latch is set so it catches with a push and not a shove. The gap is the tell: an even three millimetres all round, and enough under the bottom for the floor covering that is going down later plus the air a room needs for its vents to work. Fire doors are a different piece of work and people get them wrong constantly. A door is only a fire door as part of a set: the correct leaf, intumescent strips and smoke seals let into the frame, hinges rated to take it, a latch that holds the door shut, a closer where the regulations call for one, and gaps kept tight. Cut the bottom off it for a carpet and you have just downgraded it to an ordinary door. In a rented house, a converted attic or an apartment, that is the difference between a certificate and a problem. External doors are about weather and security: a frame sealed and flashed properly, a threshold set so water runs out and not in, a multipoint lock and hinge bolts that suit what your insurer expects, and a solid or composite leaf that will not swell shut the first wet November.
The door that sticks every winter
A door that binds in damp weather and swings freely in summer is usually a door with bare edges. The top and bottom of a leaf are the faces people never paint, so the timber drinks moisture and moves. Planing more off it in January only means a gappy door in July. The fix is to take it off, ease the right edge, seal all six faces, and correct the hinge that is doing the real work. On an old house that has settled, sometimes the honest answer is a new lining rather than another shaving off the door.
the work
What is included in a door fitting job?
- Measure every opening for width, plumb and level before a single door is ordered.
- Fit or straighten the linings and frames so the door has something true to hang off.
- Scribe, trim and hang the leaf with routed hinges and an even gap all round.
- Fit the ironmongery: latches, locks, handles, stops, closers and hinge bolts.
- Let intumescent and smoke seals into fire door sets and keep the gaps to spec.
- Fit architraves, seal the edges, and take the shavings and packaging away with us.
4 steps
How long does it take to fit new doors?
You get in touch
Tell us how many doors and whether any of them are fire doors or external. We answer the same day.
We come and measure
Every opening measured and listed, with the ironmongery agreed. You get a price that includes the doors or fits ones you have bought.
We fit them
Most houses are done in a day or two. Rooms stay usable and the dust stays where we are working.
You sign it off
We open and close every door with you, adjust anything that catches, and leave the keys and the fire door certificates.
next door
What goes around it
Doors are usually the last thing in a room, which means they land at the same time as these.
asked
Doors: common questions
Can you fit doors I have already bought?
Yes, and plenty of people do. Send us the sizes before you order though. Standard Irish door sizes and older openings do not always agree, and a door that is 40 mm too narrow cannot be fixed on site.
Where do I actually need fire doors?
Typically on rooms opening onto the escape route: an attic conversion, a stairs in a three storey house, a door from an integral garage, and most doors in a rented house in multiple occupation. We will tell you which openings in your house need them, and fit them as a complete set rather than just the leaf.
My door drops or bangs off the frame. Worth fixing?
Usually yes, and it is a fraction of a new door. Most of those are a hinge screw stripped out into soft timber, a lining that was never packed behind the hinge, or a missing door stop. We carry what is needed to sort those on the first visit.
How much does it cost to fit internal doors?
The price depends on how many doors there are, whether the frames and linings are reused or replaced, and whether the doors are standard, fire rated or made to measure. We count the openings on a visit and give a fixed written price per house, not a day rate that grows.
Do new doors need new frames?
Not usually. If the linings are sound and roughly square, a new door is scribed to fit them. Frames are replaced when they are split, badly racked or when a certified fire door set is needed, because a fire door is only rated when the door, frame and seals are fitted as one set.
quote
Get a fixed quote for doors
Tell us the address and how many doors. We work across Kerry, Cork and Limerick. We ring you back within one working day. A photo of one opening with a tape across it makes the price tighter.
085 220 1422 · info@althome.ie
Written by the AltHome crew. Last reviewed September 2026.