Door Trimming in Warsaw — Fit Your Doors to the New Floor

You have laid laminate, vinyl or tiles — and the doors no longer close. The leaf catches the new surface, scrapes, leaves scratches. The problem is standard: a new floor raises the level by 8-15 mm and the old doors simply are not designed for that difference. The solution is trimming the bottom edge of the door leaf. The work is done on site — no need to take the door to a workshop. We trim doors across Warsaw — interior, laminated, veneered, solid wood. If several doors need trimming after a floor renovation, we come and do them all in one visit.

How much does door trimming cost and what affects the price

The cost of trimming depends on the door material and the thickness of the layer to be removed. The simplest case is a hollow-core laminated door that needs 5-10 mm taken off. More involved is a solid timber door that needs shortening by 15-20 mm with the cut edge finished afterwards. A special case is MDF doors with laminate coating: cut too much and you expose the hollow interior, which then has to be sealed with a timber insert.

Fixings and consumables are included in the labour cost. If the cut edge needs staining, varnishing or sealing after trimming, that is included too. Waste removal (shavings, offcuts) is a separate service, though trimming produces very little waste. When ordering trimming for several doors, the unit price is lower. Current prices for all our door services are in the table below.

Send a photo of the door and the gap — the technician will assess the scope of work and quote an exact price with no hidden extras.

How door trimming works: step by step

Door trimming is precision work — an error of one millimetre is immediately visible. Here is how the technician does it:

1. Measuring the gap. The technician determines exactly how much needs to come off. Measurements are taken at several points — the floor may be uneven and the trim must account for that. A clearance of 3-5 mm is left for free movement.
2. Removing the leaf from the hinges. The door is taken off its hinges and laid flat on trestles or supports. The hinges stay on the frame — they are not dismounted.
3. Marking the cut line. A precise line is drawn based on the measurements, accounting for floor irregularities. The line is marked on both sides of the leaf.
4. Cutting with a plunge saw or electric planer. The main tool is a plunge circular saw with a guide rail — it gives a perfectly straight cut with no chipping. For fine adjustments (2-3 mm) an electric planer is used.
5. Finishing the cut edge. This is a critical step, especially for MDF and laminated doors. An exposed edge absorbs moisture, swells and deteriorates. The technician sands the edge and, if needed, applies sealant or edging tape.
6. Rehanging. The door goes back on its hinges. The technician checks the swing — the leaf should open and close freely without touching the floor. If needed, the hinges are adjusted.

The whole job takes 20-40 minutes per door. For multiple doors it is 15-25 minutes each after the first, because the tools are already set up.

Common mistakes when trimming doors

Trimming looks easy — just saw a couple of millimetres off the bottom. But this is exactly where mistakes are made that ruin the door for good:

• Cutting with a jigsaw and no guide. The line comes out wavy, with chips along the edge — the door looks like it was attacked with an axe. A circular saw with a guide rail, or at least a straight batten clamped as a fence, is essential.
• Not accounting for an uneven floor. One measurement at one point, but the floor has a 3-5 mm difference. The result: the door scrapes on one side and has a gap on the other.
• Cutting off too much. A generous margin “just in case” turns into a two-finger gap that lets in draughts and a full view of the hallway. You cannot glue millimetres back on.
• Not finishing the cut edge. Especially critical for MDF doors: the exposed cross-section absorbs moisture, particularly in a bathroom. Within six months the edge swells and delaminates.
• Trimming a hollow-core door too deep. Budget laminated doors have a cardboard honeycomb inside. Cut more than 15-20 mm and you break into the void. You need to know the door construction beforehand.
• Not removing the door from the hinges. Trying to saw vertically while the door hangs in place. The result — a crooked cut, chips and a damaged floor.
• Forgetting about architraves and seals. After trimming, the bottom gap increases and the old seal may no longer work. This needs to be considered in advance.

What to prepare before the technician arrives

Trimming is quick but dusty work. Here is what to do beforehand:

• Decide which doors need trimming. Usually not all of them scrape after new flooring — check each one.
• Make sure the new floor covering is already laid and secured. Trimming by guesswork for a floor that is not yet down is a bad idea.
• Clear the area around the doors — at least a metre on each side so trestles fit.
• Sheet the floor with plastic or cardboard in the work zone — there will be fine sawdust.
• Have a power socket within 5 metres of the door for power tools.
• If the doors are hollow-core (budget laminated), tell the technician in advance — it affects how much can safely be removed.
• Clarify whether the cut edge needs finishing after trimming (for bathrooms it is essential).
• If the doors are expensive (solid wood, veneer), discuss the trimming method with the technician beforehand.
• Provide the entry code and floor number — especially if the technician is visiting for the first time.
• Consider whether you also need hinge adjustment, lubrication or a lock replacement. Everything can be done in a single visit.

A real case: trimming five doors after laying laminate in Wola

A client in Wola had laid 12 mm laminate with a 3 mm underlay throughout the flat. Five interior doors stopped closing — the leaves were pressing against the new floor. Three were hollow-core laminated doors, two were veneered with a timber frame. The laminated ones were trimmed by 12 mm each — exactly the amount the new floor had added. On one of them the cut came dangerously close to the internal void, so we glued a timber strip into the edge and sanded it smooth. The veneered doors were trimmed by 14 mm — the kitchen floor sat slightly higher because of a threshold strip. The edges were stained to match the veneer and sealed with varnish.

The whole job took about two and a half hours for five doors. The client also asked us to lubricate the hinges on all the doors — after six months without maintenance they had started squeaking. The takeaway: it is best to book trimming straight after the floor is laid, while the technician is already on site. It works out cheaper and faster than calling separately.

Who does the work and what guarantees we offer

Door trimming is carried out by tradespeople experienced in joinery and finishing — people who work with doors of every construction and material every day. We arrive with a full tool kit: plunge saw with guide rail, electric planer, sander and edging materials. We cover all of Warsaw and the surrounding area. We guarantee a clean, straight cut with no chipping and proper edge finishing. If the door still scrapes after trimming or the edge is poorly finished, we put it right at our expense. Call or message us — we typically reply within an hour and come at a time that suits you.