doorsdrywalltrimwindows
I have a room framed with windows and door with jambs sized for 1/2 drywall. I would like to install 3/4" X 3 1/2" casing, see illustration, around them.
I would also like to install 5/8" drywall rather than 1/2" for various reasons.
With this setup, drywall will be sticking 1/8" above the jamb. Is there an easy way to work around it?
Will the casing with profile in the illustration work or do I need to scrape some drywall under it?
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I agree with Jeff Widmer -- you don't need a bigger/stronger bracket, as it's not the bracket that failed, but longer screws to properly fasten the bracket.
Given that, your jamb repair doesn't need to be structural so don't sweat how strong it is and just make it look nice with whatever product you've used before and liked. After you drill your pilot holes for the new bracket screws, drill out the repaired jamb with a bit that's larger than the screw threads so the screws don't stress your repair. Of course you want this larger hole to only be the depth of the jamb, maybe 3/4".
Before you get started carefully evaluate if you really really want to have a pair of doors that swing out 18" into the room. In many bedrooms this is likely to be a less than desirable thing to have. If you are having a hard time visualizing what this would be like then you should get some large cardboard boxes and make up a fake set of the doors and duct tape them in place for a few days. Then with normal usage of the room you can swing the fake doors open and shut to see if the 18" interference is a pain or not.
Do not try to install the door hardware right on the top of the drywall. You will indeed regret doing that sooner as opposed to later.
The really correct way to do this is to remove the banding drywall material. (This will likely be more work than first guess because there is highly likely to be metal corner pieces installed on each corner of the opening). You would also remove the banding drywall at the upper side of the opening along with any previous door track hardware. Then you would fit in new boards to make a proper jamb for the doors. These will want to 3/4" thickness and not the 0.5" thickness that you proposed. Proper door fitting will demand that there be a small gap between the jamb and the exposed stud faces. The gap is used to allow the adjustment of the jamb opening so that it is perfectly square and plumb. Tapered wood wedges in the opening help to wedge the frame one way or another.
After the jamb is in place the trim is installed across the gap to bridge over the space from the jamb out over the drywall.
You should also plan for installing door stop molding which gives an edge for the doors to close against.
Door Comparison
I've added a couple of pictures to my answer to show the advantage of bi-fold doors in terms of how they project out into the room less than full swing doors. First off you would want to use a pair of bi-fold doors per opening for optimum usage. The second point is that the pivot point for bi-fold doors can often be recesed into the opening which lessens the projection distance into the room. The latter comment would also apply to a single bi-fold door application as well.
I can appreciate the fact that bi-fold doors use up some of the opening width. For your most often used closets you may want to consider the possibility to widen the opening which of course is not a trivial project. But then what is the price of convenience.
Also closets with deep blind ends are indeed a pain to make use of. Often it can be advantageous to re-fit the closet pole in such closets so that they go across from the front to back of the space at the ends so it is easier to take hung garments in and out.
Best Answer
You have a few options:
When you apply the caulking to the seams, the difference will not be noticeable.
The bevel joints at the jamb corners will be slightly dipped, and you can minimize the visual distraction by applying some drywall compound and sanding it.
The drywall panel and the jamb are rarely ever perfectly flush anyway.
Then apply caulking to fill the 1/8 gap at the jamb.
You can also combine the two and fill with only 1/16in. This makes the gap smaller but leaves a bit of a tilt.
If your jamb is 1in thick, and you want the casing half-on (1/2in on jamb), and you have 1/2-in shim spacing, you'll have 1in that needs full casing thickness, and the remainder will be over drywall and will need to be trimmed. For 2in wide casing that's half its width, for 2.5in wide casing (most populat) that's 1.5in of the width that needs its thickness trimmed etc...
This will provide a snug and level fit on both the jamb and the drywall. You need to set the blad height to half the width of the casing, and the fence at 1/8 (almost at the blade) and feed the casing on its side.
Which one you choose is a matter of aesthetics, tools and time.