You can easily replace a worn, exterior wooden door
Q. My house has an old wooden door that has taken quite a beating over the years from the weather and my sons. The aluminum siding on my house still looks fine. What are the steps to replace the door myself?
A. You should be able to install a new door yourself in just several hours. Most doors are made to standard sizes so it will not be difficult to find one to fit the opening once your old door is removed. The most difficult part of this project will be handling the awkward, heavy door.
Wood doors are attractive and they can have a long useful life if maintained properly, but you might consider a different type of door this time. Both insulated steel and fiberglass doors are more durable, require less regular maintenance and insulate better than solid wood doors.
If you are handy with tools and want to save a few dollars, it is possible to buy just the door itself and install it in the existing door frame. This requires careful fitting of the new door to old frame and positioning all the hinges and threshold.
Instead of all this detail work, most do-it-yourselfers install a prehung front door. The new door comes mounted in a new door frame with the hinges already installed. Using a prehung door saves a lot of installation time and you can be certain the door fits squarely in its frame. Many of the these doors also have the bottom threshold and seal attached.
To install a prehung door, you first have to remove your old wood door and its framing. Knock the hinge pins out of the hinges and lift the old door out of the frame. Be careful because it is heavy. It may not seem difficult to handle, but with its height and weight, if it starts to tip from a vertical balanced point, just get out of the way and let it drop.
Carefully pry the door trim casings loose and pull them off the door frame. You may have to pull them over some the trim nail heads. Don't worry about this because you can fill in the tiny holes with wood filler later. With the casings off the door, you will have access to the old frame. Use a reciprocating saw to cut through the nails and then remove the frame.
With the rough wall opening now exposed, place your new prehung door in it to see how well it fits. Use a level to make sure it is vertical when test fitting it in the opening.
Since your house has siding, this is a good time to trace the outline of the new door trim molding along the siding. A circular saw can be used to cut the siding to the trim line.
Center the prehung door in the wall opening framing and secure it into position with wedge shims. Insert shims every 12 inches along the sides of the frame. Stuff fiberglass insulation into the gaps. Foam insulation also works well.
Drive nails or screws through the door frame and shims into the wall opening framing on the latch side. The long screws through the hinges on the other side extend into the wall framing. Reattach the door trim and caulk along its edge.
• Send questions to Ms. Builder, 6906 Royalgreen Drive, Cincinnati, OH 45244 or visit dulley.com/msbuilder.
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