How to Supercede an Exterior Door

DIY techniques for a weathertight exterior door installation

Time

Multiple Days

Complexity

Intermediate

Toll

Varies

Introduction

Replace a worn, drafty forepart door with a stylish new energy-efficient one. Replacement doors come up pre-hung in a weatherstripped frame and you don't have to be a master carpenter to do a first-form job. We'll bear witness you the techniques that will issue in a perfect, weathertight installation.

Tools Required

Materials Required

  • 10d stop nails
  • 10d galvanized casing nails
  • 16d galvanized casing nails
  • 3-in. deck screws
  • 4d finish nails
  • 6d finish nails
  • Backer rod
  • Minimal expanding foam
  • Polyurethane caulk
  • Gyre of flexible cocky-sticking flashing membrane
  • Transition molding Transition molding (optional; Photo thirteen)
  • Treated lumber to build up the sill (optional)

Prehung Exterior Door Installation

pre hung door installation Family Handyman

Rarely can you consummate a project in a weekend that will save yous coin and dramatically ameliorate the looks of your house similar hanging a new front door. In this commodity we'll show you how to order a prehung exterior door that fits like a glove. Then we'll bear witness you, footstep by step, how to become your old door out and the new one in.

If you can handle basic carpentry tasks, you'll have no trouble installing a new pre-hung entry door in a day. Figure on some other solar day to finish the details and start painting the door. Front door paint adds personality and curb appeal.

Video: How to Hang a Door

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Project step-by-stride (xix)

Step 1

Figure A: Measure Your Old Door

In most cases, simply order a new door the same size every bit the old i. If you lot alter the size or add sidelights, you lot'll have to reframe the opening and change many details. This normally doubles or triples the size of the task. Here are the four sets of measurements you lot'll demand to order a door (refer to Figure A for extra details):

Door size

  • Measure the width and height of your sometime door.
  • Circular these up to full inches to find the size of the replacement door you'll need.
  • For example, if your door measures 35-3/4 in. broad and 79-1/ii in. alpine, yous'll lodge a 36-in. past 80-in. door.

Jamb width

  • Measure from the backside of the interior trim to the backside of the exterior trim (Figure A).
  • Specify this jamb width when you guild your new prehung door.
  • This guarantees that the interior trim will fit flush to the wall without adding "jamb extensions."

Rough opening

  • Yous'll need to remove the interior trim for authentic measurements of the crude opening.
  • Measure the opening width betwixt framing members and from the bottom of the sill to the top of the opening.
  • Compare these measurements to the rough opening requirements of your new door to brand sure information technology will fit.

Exterior opening (or "masonry opening" if you lot take a brick or rock door surround)

  • Measure out to the outsides of the exterior casing, and so from the lesser of the sill to the top of the trim.
  • Compare these measurements with those of a prehung door that has standard two-inch-wide "brick molding" trim.
  • If the framed door with standard trim is too pocket-sized to fill up the space, or if you want a dissimilar trim style, y'all have iii options.
  • The best solution is a door with wider, flat casing to fit the opening. You can always add a piece of decorative molding overtop to judge the mode of your existing exterior trim. (We ordered 2-1/iv-in. flat casing and reinstalled the existing decorative molding.)
  • Second, you lot can social club your door with standard molding and fill the gap with additional strips of wood.
  • The final choice is to order the door without exterior molding and make your own to fit.

Stride 2

Remove Your One-time Door

  • Tap the hinge pins loose with a hammer and boom ready.
  • Then swing the door open up and lift it off.
  • Protect the floor with a dropcloth. The old door will be heavy.

remove old door

Step three

Pry Loose The Old Trim

  • Pry the interior trim loose from the door frame.
  • Protect the wall with a wide putty knife.
  • If you lot plan to reuse the trim, first score the intersection between the molding and jamb with a utility knife.

pry off old door frame

Footstep 4

Pry Off the Outside Trim

  • Slice the caulk articulation between the siding (brick) and exterior trim.
  • Pry the trim from the doorjamb with a pry bar.

pry off exterior trim

Step 5

Remove the Jambs

  • Cut completely through the side jamb with a handsaw.
  • Pry the jambs loose and pull them out of the opening.

remove door jambs

Footstep 6

Jamb Removal Close-Up

  • If you plan to reuse the interior moldings, pull the nails through the backside with a pliers or nipper to avert dissentious the face.
  • Cutting through 1 side jamb makes it easy to tear out the entire frame.

remove door jam with saw

Pace 7

Fix and Install the Sill

  • After the door frame is out, cheque the status of the framing and subflooring in the sill area.
  • Cutting out and supervene upon whatsoever rotted forest.
  • If the sill on your new door is thinner than the one you removed, you may have to build up the sill expanse. We were lucky. Our brick opening was level and plumb, only this isn't e'er the instance.
  • Start by checking the sill area with a two-foot level. If yous're building information technology upward as we show in the photo below, it's easy to level information technology with shims at the aforementioned time.
  • Set the sill height and so the door just clears carpeting or rugs when information technology swings inwards.
  • Build upward the sill area to the proper acme with treated lumber. Add shims to level it.
  • Level the sill expanse with pairs of shims spaced about four inches apart.
  • Then prepare the door in the opening for a test fit. Hold a level against the hinge jamb and suit the door and frame until the jamb is plumb.
  • Check to see how the casing fits confronting the siding. If the siding is and then far out of plumb that the door frame and casing don't fit in, either cut back the siding or trim the casing. Information technology looks meliorate if you can cutting the siding, but it's ordinarily more than applied and easier to trim the casing.
  • Marking the casing in areas that need trimming.
  • Then take the door out and trim the casing with a belt sander or circular saw.
  • Once level, spike it with coated deck screws.

install door sill

Step 8

Install Flashing Record

  • Installing flashing tape will protect the sill from water intrusion. Purchase the flashing tape from lumberyards.
  • If you're installing a door in a newly constructed wall, you can buy a special plastic sill flashing kit instead. One brand is Jamsil. Details volition vary depending on the doorway situation.
  • Embrace the rough sill area with self-sticking flashing record.
  • Wrap it up the sides of the opening and over the forepart edge.
  • Fix the door in the opening, plumb it and check the fit.

install flashing

Step 9

Effigy B: Sill Detail

  • The thought is to channel h2o away from the wood. If your home is built on a concrete slab, the door frame will probably rest directly on the slab.
  • Figure B illustrates how to correctly install your sill to reduce any time to come potential of water damage.

Step 10

Utilize Caulk

  • Brand certain the building paper is intact effectually the frame edges. If not, slide strips of No. xv felt behind the siding and tack it to the framing with staples.
  • When y'all're sure the door will fit, caulk along the sill and backside the casing and tip the door into the opening.
  • Apply a dewdrop of polyurethane caulk along the sides and pinnacle of the door opening and at the sill according to the manufacturer's instructions.
  • Yous'll likely need 2 tubes.

Step eleven

Tack in the Prehung Outside Door

  • Make sure the doorsill is level.
  • And so middle the height of the door in the opening and tack it into identify with galvanized casing nails.
  • Plumb the swivel-side jamb and tack the bottom corners.

Tack in the prehung exterior door

Pace 12

Shim the Swivel-Side Jamb

  • Shim backside each hinge.
  • For big spaces, outset with modest squares of plywood.
  • So finish with pairs of shims.
  • Make certain the swivel-side jamb remains plumb.

Shim the hinge-side jamb

Step 13

Shim the Latch-Side Jamb

  • The goal is to center the door in the opening and shim the sides until they're plumb and straight.
  • Shim at the top, heart and lesser of the latch-side jamb and at the top until the gap betwixt the door and the doorjamb is consistent.
  • Score the shims with a utility knife and break them off.
  • When y'all're happy with the fit, nail through the jamb into the framing at each shim location.

Shim the latch-side jamb

Step xiv

Supervene upon the Hinge Screws

  • Replace a screw in each hinge with a three-inch screw driven into the framing.
  • Drive additional casing nails every xvi in. forth the sides and top of the outside trim.

Replace the hinge screws

Step 15

Figure C: Baste Cap

  • If your door is exposed to the weather, directly h2o away from the door with a metal baste cap overtop as shown in Effigy C. Y'all'll find baste caps at dwelling house centers and lumber yards.
  • Brick openings similar ours and doors protected by porches with roofs don't require a drip cap.
  • If the drip cap is damaged or missing, install a new one earlier you set the door frame in the opening.
  • Cutting the metal drip cap to fit and slide it under the siding and edifice paper (Figure C).
  • If nails are in the way, slip a hacksaw blade nether the siding and cut them.

Footstep sixteen

Insulate Around the Door

  • Fill the space between the doorjamb and the framing with minimal expanding foam insulation (y'all'll need virtually two cans).
  • After the foam has expanded and skinned over, loosely stuff whatever remaining space with strips of fiberglass insulation.

Insulate around the door

Step 17

Install Interior Trim

  • Cut and install new interior trim or reinstall the sometime trim.
  • If at that place'due south a gap between the new sill and the existing flooring, cover it with a askew transition.

Install interior trim

Footstep 18

Use Caulk Capitalist and Caulk

  • Press foam backer rod into the siding/trim gap.
  • Apply a dandy bead of caulk between the siding and the door trim.
  • Cut a trim board to fit nether the sill and screw it to the framing.
  • For gaps wider than three/16 in., insert a foam capitalist and apply caulk over it.
  • Nigh doors require an additional trim board nether the sill to support its outer edge.
  • Finally, remove the door and paint or stain and varnish the door, jamb and trim.

Apply caulk backer and caulk door

Step 19

Editor'south Annotation: Ownership a New Prehung Outside Door

Well-nigh home centers stock prehung exterior doors in a limited number of styles.

  • Common jamb widths for stock doors are iv-9/16 in. and 6-ix/16 in., and they usually include two-inch wide brick molding for exterior trim. These doors piece of work great for newly constructed walls and for replacing doors in newer homes.
  • But if, after measuring the jamb width and opening sizes for your existing door, you observe that you need a different size jamb or that your exterior trim is wider, so yous'll save a lot of headaches by ordering a door to your verbal specifications.

At that place are three types of doors to choose from.

  • Steel doors are pop because they're inexpensive and require little maintenance.
  • Fiberglass doors won't warp or rot, and the more expensive models are hard to tell autonomously from real wood.
  • You'll find the widest selection of styles in woods doors, but be prepared to spend actress time maintaining the finish.

Prehung exterior doors are bachelor at home centers and lumberyards. If you lot tin can't find what you lot're looking for in stock, you can order information technology.

  • Take along your measurements and a sketch showing which style the door swings.
  • If you plan to install a new entry knob and deadbolt, choice them out before you social club the door.
  • So ask the salesperson to have the door drilled to have your hardware. It'll cost a footling extra, merely it's well worth it to avert the nervus-racking job of drilling into a new door.
  • Don't forget to order hinges that volition match the end of your hardware.

Get some ideas for a new door after looking at this stunning door options.

Buying a New Prehung Exterior Door