New door installation question.

[Greymoon]

I'm not exactly a pro at home repair, but I know enough to get myself in trouble. So I'm asking here to make sure I don't do something stupid.

What I am dealing with is an open doorway into a basement "room". I need to install a door on it to make it officially a bedroom.

The problem is, it has weird dimensions. It's 79 1/2" high and 30 10/16" wide. I've suggested doing accordion doors (even though I hate them) because there are literally 2 doors about 10" away from the door opening itself on either side of the hallway, and because the light switch in the room itself is on the long wall that a normal door would open up against. (NO idea what the electricians were thinking in this place.) Bifold doors are also a possibility, but I would have to try to rig side hinges for stability because I wouldn't want a track running along the floor for people to trip on.

If I try to do a "regular" door how would I go about installing it? I would probably buy it pre-hung, right? But have to trim it down? What kinds of allowances do I need to make for space in a doorway? Inquiring minds want to know...

[pushkins]

Yes you do have a awkward doorway, for a 30" (not going to worry about the other 3/4") you will need a 28" door (pre hung) you will need to cut off the bottom of the jams and maybe a smidgeon from the bottom of the door depending on the flooring finish material for example higher pile carpet. A pre hung door will need 80.5" bare minimum opening no wiggle room here . Technically a 28" door is not accepted as a door for a habitable room code says 2'6" x 6'8" it's IRC code 311.2.3 from memory.
As a rule when framing a 32" door is rough framed at 34" a 36" door rough framed at 38" this allows plenty of wiggle room for out of square etc.... shims are used to fill the void at the places you screw or nail.
There would be nothing stopping you mounting the door so it opens inward to the bedroom and away from the light switch, you cannot install the door so it covers the main light switch for the room when open. Another option would be to flip the switch the the rooms exterior side beside the door, you may run into trouble here too in regards to being strictly to "code".

If you use a single bifold door it will decrease the opening size dramatically when open probably down from your 30" down to 28" this is before trim.

Another suggestion would be an internally mounted sliding door, the bracket would be mounted to the interior side and the door would hang on this rail, you could mount it out past the light switch so when you slide it it doesn't hit the switch, you could make it slide past the switch so when fully open it is an 1" or so past the switch.

Accordion style doors would be another option, not very attractive IMO but might be a problem solver in your situation. They are available in vinyl (economic) all the way up to real wood. Again you will lose actual opening size when fully open (2" approx.)

Hope this helps ya!!

[Drywall DIY Guy]

Basement Door

You can trim down a door to fit. Use a circular saw and a thin board clamped to the door as a straight guide. Tape both sides of where you will cut with duct or masking tape to reduce splintering at the cut. Sounds like your basement "bedroom" may not have the up to code window either. So you will have a "room" that someone sleeps in, but not a code bedroom. So, for safety sake, make sure this is not a fire trap - make sure there are adequate escape windows/doors. And make sure there are working smoke and CO detectors.