Porta doors: what to know before fitting
Porta is a Polish maker of interior doors, and it sells leaves together with frames. Frames come fixed or adjustable. An adjustable one wraps the wall on both sides and copes with varying wall thickness, which helps a lot in older blocks. With a fixed frame the wall has to match the thickness you ordered, or you’re left with a gap or some trimming.
The opening direction is ordered up front: left or right. A mistake only shows up at fitting time, and a finished leaf can’t be flipped, because the hinges and lock are already cut into one side.
Doors go in after the floor and after painting. That way the frame is set against the finished floor with an even gap under the leaf. In a bathroom, a leaf with an undercut or ventilation sleeves lets the extractor draw air.
Once the leaf is hung, it gets adjusted. On many doors the hinges adjust vertically and horizontally, so the gap around the leaf can be made even all the way round. Last comes the handle and a check that the latch drops into the strike plate without pushing. That decides whether the door stays shut in a draught.
Where the trouble comes from
- Too much expanding foam. It swells, pushes the frame inwards, and the leaf starts to rub.
- A frame set by eye instead of with a level. The door swings open or shut on its own.
- Fitting before the floor goes down. The gap under the door ends up too small or too big.
- A fixed frame on a wall thicker than ordered. The architrave doesn’t cover the edge of the wall.
- A leaf with the wrong opening direction, spotted only when hanging it.
Getting ready
- Measure the opening and the wall thickness in several spots before ordering.
- Finish the floor and painting before the fitting.
- Decide about the old frame: removing it is a separate item.
- Keep the door boxes inside the flat, flat or upright against a wall, not in the basement.
Booking the fitting
- In the app, say how many doors, which frames, and whether old ones come out. Add photos of the openings and the boxes.
- Tradespeople who take this work in Warsaw send bids with a price and date.
- You compare prices, ratings and reviews and choose. Only then does the person you picked see your phone number and address.
- After the job you pay him directly, and he issues the invoice.
Foam, wedges and screws are usually part of the labour. The doors, handles, removal of old frames and carrying boxes up are paid separately. Whoever hung the doors answers for them and redoes his own fitting. A crooked opening, crumbling masonry or a factory defect in the leaf are not on him.
Order in the app
Describe the job, add photos and the address. Tradespeople send their own prices and dates — you pick.
Open the app