New flooring looks good — right up to the moment you try to shut a door and it rubs along the floor. Laminate, vinyl plank, or engineered wood lifts the floor level by 8–15 mm, and all at once the interior doors in the flat start scraping, sticking, or not closing at all. The solution is simple: trim the bottom of each door to suit the new floor height and leave the right ventilation gap. One door usually takes 20–40 minutes. We trim doors across Warsaw — we recently completed one job in Ursynow and another near Kabaty.

How much does door trimming cost

The cost depends on how many doors need cutting, what the doors are made of (solid wood, MDF, hollow-core), and whether the frame needs trimming as well. Current rates for all flooring services are listed in the table below.

How the process works

1. Measure the gap: we place a piece of the new flooring against the door and mark the cut line. We leave 5–8 mm for a ventilation gap above the finished floor.
2. Take the door off its hinges and put it on a stable surface — sawhorses or cardboard laid on the floor.
3. Stick masking tape along the cut line — this helps stop the decorative finish from chipping.
4. Cut with a circular saw and guide rail. Fine-tooth blade for solid wood, standard blade for MDF.
5. Sand the cut edge with 120-grit paper and clear away any splinters. For laminated doors, finish with finer paper.
6. Seal the exposed edge with acrylic sealant or primer — especially important for MDF and hollow-core doors to stop moisture damage.
7. Hang the door back, make sure it opens freely, and adjust the hinges if needed.

Common mistakes

• Cutting by eye without marking — the door comes out uneven and the gap is different from one side to the other.
• Sawing without masking tape — the laminate or veneer chips along the cut line and leaves a rough edge.
• No ventilation gap — the door sits tight to the floor, airflow in the room is poor, and in summer the wood swells and starts jamming again.
• Skipping edge sealing — bare MDF soaks up moisture every time the floor is mopped, and after a few months it swells and starts to delaminate.
• Trimming the door while it is still on the hinges — the saw can slip, the cut comes out uneven, and the frame gets scratched.

What to prepare before the handyman arrives

• Remove doormats and threshold strips near the doors that need trimming.
• Check that there is a power outlet nearby (the circular saw runs on mains power).
• Decide which doors need trimming — sometimes it is only the bedroom doors, not the bathroom.
• For expensive or custom doors, check with the manufacturer how much can be taken off the bottom (hollow-core doors may have only a 30 mm rail).
• Clear about 2 metres of space in front of each door so there is enough room to work comfortably.

A real case from Warsaw

A 60 m² flat in Ursynow had vinyl click flooring (5.5 mm) laid over the old screed with a 2 mm underlay — 7.5 mm higher overall. Four bedroom doors and one bathroom door no longer closed. The handyman came with a track saw and guide rail. Each door was removed from its hinges, marked using a sample of the vinyl plus 7 mm clearance, cut, sanded, sealed along the bottom edge, and hung back. All five doors were done in a little over two hours. The bathroom door was left with a wider 12 mm gap for better ventilation because there was no mechanical extract fan. Now every door opens and closes smoothly without scraping, and the bottom edges are protected against moisture (compatible with Quick-Step, Egger, Kronopol and similar).

Frequently asked questions

Book a door trimming service

New flooring should not turn into a daily battle with your doors. Give us a call — we will measure, trim, and seal every door properly. We bring our own tools and work across all of Warsaw.