Some rooms are so small, they're almost worthless. Occasionally, a cramped kitchen or other room can be "enlarged" enough to relieve an intolerable situation, by merely changing the hinges on a door so that it swings out instead of in.
Source: a Farmer's Almanac
By Ron from Cortez, CO
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
How do you change a right hand door to a left hand door? It is not a pre-hung door.
By Pat Frain from IN
One is to remove the door and moldings, buy a new prehung door and install. The other is to buy a new door and you or hire a carpenter to hang it. The hinges location will have to be cut out on the door as well as matching hinge slots on the molding.
I am a handy person and have done this before myself and it turned out almost perfectly but it was such a time consuming hassle that if I ever had to do it again I would hire a professional that could do it in an hour. ;-)
Pat, I know this project can be done, because my husband did it a couple of years ago. Of course, he's a retired contractor.
Deeli and FoxRun are right.
I retired from a construction career ten years ago. I've reversed door-swings often. If the original door fits well there is no need to buy a new one. Maybe some people have more money than sense? If the door is a simple plain blank panel one can turn it upside down and relocate hinge and lock locations. That probably never happens.
So: First turn the door inside out. Mark hinge cutouts and route or chisel them. Mark lock hardware on previous hinge side and cut openings. I agree that you should hire a professional to do this. If an inexperienced home-owner tries it, he or she generally labors his/her way through a long physical tutorial (turmoil) before scrapping the original door and hiring a carpenter.
I've seen that too.
