How to Replace an Exterior Door

DIY techniques for a weathertight outside door installation

Time

Multiple Days

Complication

Intermediate

Cost

Varies

Introduction

Replace a worn, drafty front door with a stylish new energy-efficient 1. Replacement doors come pre-hung in a weatherstripped frame and you don't accept to be a main carpenter to do a kickoff-course task. We'll show you the techniques that will consequence in a perfect, weathertight installation.

Tools Required

Materials Required

  • 10d finish 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
  • Curlicue of flexible cocky-sticking flashing membrane
  • Transition molding Transition molding (optional; Photo xiii)
  • Treated lumber to build upwards the sill (optional)

Prehung Exterior Door Installation

pre hung door installation Family Handyman

Rarely can you lot complete a project in a weekend that will salve you money and dramatically amend the looks of your house like hanging a new front end door. In this article nosotros'll show y'all how to order a prehung outside door that fits like a glove. Then we'll show you, step by step, how to get your old door out and the new 1 in.

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

Video: How to Hang a Door

ⓘ

Project footstep-past-stride (19)

Stride one

Figure A: Measure Your One-time Door

In most cases, simply order a new door the same size every bit the sometime i. If you change the size or add sidelights, you'll have to reframe the opening and change many details. This usually doubles or triples the size of the job. Here are the 4 sets of measurements you'll need to social club a door (refer to Effigy A for extra details):

Door size

  • Measure the width and height of your erstwhile door.
  • Circular these upward to full inches to find the size of the replacement door you'll need.
  • For case, if your door measures 35-3/4 in. wide and 79-ane/2 in. tall, yous'll order a 36-in. by 80-in. door.

Jamb width

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

Rough opening

  • You'll need to remove the interior trim for accurate measurements of the crude opening.
  • Measure the opening width betwixt framing members and from the bottom of the sill to the peak of the opening.
  • Compare these measurements to the rough opening requirements of your new door to make sure it will fit.

Exterior opening (or "masonry opening" if you lot have a brick or stone door surround)

  • Measure out to the outsides of the exterior casing, then from the bottom 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 likewise pocket-sized to fill the space, or if you want a different trim style, you have three options.
  • The best solution is a door with wider, apartment casing to fit the opening. You tin always add a piece of decorative molding overtop to judge the style of your existing outside trim. (We ordered 2-1/4-in. flat casing and reinstalled the existing decorative molding.)
  • Second, y'all can club your door with standard molding and fill the gap with additional strips of wood.
  • The concluding option is to social club the door without exterior molding and brand your own to fit.

Step 2

Remove Your Old Door

  • Tap the hinge pins loose with a hammer and nail set.
  • And then swing the door open up and elevator information technology off.
  • Protect the floor with a dropcloth. The one-time 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 broad putty pocketknife.
  • If you programme to reuse the trim, first score the intersection between the molding and jamb with a utility pocketknife.

pry off old door frame

Stride 4

Pry Off the Outside Trim

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

pry off exterior trim

Step 5

Remove the Jambs

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

remove door jambs

Pace vi

Jamb Removal Shut-Up

  • If you plan to reuse the interior moldings, pull the nails through the backside with a pliers or nipper to avoid damaging the face.
  • Cutting through one side jamb makes it like shooting fish in a barrel to tear out the entire frame.

remove door jam with saw

Step 7

Prepare and Install the Sill

  • Afterward the door frame is out, check the condition of the framing and subflooring in the sill surface area.
  • Cut out and replace any rotted woods.
  • If the sill on your new door is thinner than the one you lot removed, you may have to build up the sill expanse. We were lucky. Our brick opening was level and plumb, merely this isn't always the case.
  • Start by checking the sill surface area with a ii-foot level. If you're building information technology up every bit we show in the photo below, it's easy to level it with shims at the same time.
  • Set the sill pinnacle so the door just clears carpeting or rugs when it swings inward.
  • Build up the sill area to the proper meridian with treated lumber. Add shims to level information technology.
  • Level the sill area with pairs of shims spaced about iv inches apart.
  • And then set the door in the opening for a test fit. Hold a level against the hinge jamb and arrange the door and frame until the jamb is plumb.
  • Bank check to come across how the casing fits confronting the siding. If the siding is so far out of plumb that the door frame and casing don't fit in, either cut dorsum the siding or trim the casing. It looks better if y'all tin cutting the siding, merely it'southward ordinarily more practical and easier to trim the casing.
  • Marker the casing in areas that demand trimming.
  • Then take the door out and trim the casing with a belt sander or round saw.
  • One time level, fasten information technology with coated deck screws.

install door sill

Step eight

Install Flashing Tape

  • Installing flashing tape will protect the sill from water intrusion. Buy the flashing tape from lumberyards.
  • If you're installing a door in a newly constructed wall, you can purchase a special plastic sill flashing kit instead. 1 brand is Jamsil. Details will vary depending on the doorway state of affairs.
  • Cover the crude sill area with self-sticking flashing record.
  • Wrap information technology up the sides of the opening and over the front edge.
  • Set up the door in the opening, plumb it and check the fit.

install flashing

Pace 9

Figure B: Sill Detail

  • The idea is to channel h2o away from the wood. If your home is congenital on a concrete slab, the door frame volition probably balance directly on the slab.
  • Figure B illustrates how to correctly install your sill to reduce any future potential of water damage.

Step ten

Apply Caulk

  • Make sure the building newspaper is intact effectually the frame edges. If not, slide strips of No. 15 felt behind the siding and tack it to the framing with staples.
  • When you're sure the door volition fit, caulk along the sill and behind the casing and tip the door into the opening.
  • Apply a bead of polyurethane caulk along the sides and superlative of the door opening and at the sill according to the manufacturer's instructions.
  • You'll likely need 2 tubes.

Step eleven

Tack in the Prehung Exterior Door

  • Make certain the doorsill is level.
  • Then heart the peak of the door in the opening and tack it into place with galvanized casing nails.
  • Plumb the hinge-side jamb and tack the bottom corners.

Tack in the prehung exterior door

Pace 12

Shim the Hinge-Side Jamb

  • Shim behind each hinge.
  • For large spaces, offset with small squares of plywood.
  • So finish with pairs of shims.
  • Brand sure the hinge-side jamb remains plumb.

Shim the hinge-side jamb

Footstep 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 meridian, middle and bottom of the latch-side jamb and at the acme until the gap between the door and the doorjamb is consistent.
  • Score the shims with a utility knife and pause them off.
  • When you're happy with the fit, nail through the jamb into the framing at each shim location.

Shim the latch-side jamb

Step 14

Supervene upon the Hinge Screws

  • Replace a spiral in each swivel with a three-inch screw driven into the framing.
  • Bulldoze additional casing nails every 16 in. along the sides and top of the exterior trim.

Replace the hinge screws

Footstep 15

Figure C: Drip Cap

  • If your door is exposed to the weather condition, directly water abroad from the door with a metallic drip cap overtop as shown in Figure C. You'll find baste caps at home centers and lumber yards.
  • Brick openings like ours and doors protected by porches with roofs don't crave a drip cap.
  • If the baste cap is damaged or missing, install a new one before you set up the door frame in the opening.
  • Cutting the metal baste cap to fit and slide information technology under the siding and building paper (Figure C).
  • If nails are in the mode, slip a hacksaw blade under the siding and cutting them.

Stride sixteen

Insulate Around the Door

  • Fill the space between the doorjamb and the framing with minimal expanding cream insulation (y'all'll need about ii 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 onetime trim.
  • If at that place's a gap between the new sill and the existing flooring, encompass it with a beveled transition.

Install interior trim

Pace 18

Apply Caulk Backer and Caulk

  • Printing foam capitalist rod into the siding/trim gap.
  • Use a bully bead of caulk between the siding and the door trim.
  • Cut a trim board to fit under the sill and screw information technology to the framing.
  • For gaps wider than 3/xvi in., insert a foam capitalist and use caulk over it.
  • Most 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

Pace xix

Editor's Note: Buying a New Prehung Outside Door

Nearly abode centers stock prehung outside doors in a limited number of styles.

  • Common jamb widths for stock doors are 4-9/sixteen in. and 6-9/16 in., and they usually include 2-inch broad brick molding for exterior trim. These doors work great for newly constructed walls and for replacing doors in newer homes.
  • But if, subsequently measuring the jamb width and opening sizes for your existing door, you discover that you need a different size jamb or that your outside trim is wider, then y'all'll save a lot of headaches past ordering a door to your exact specifications.

In that location are three types of doors to cull from.

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

Prehung exterior doors are available at home centers and lumberyards. If you tin't discover what you're looking for in stock, you can order it.

  • Take forth your measurements and a sketch showing which way the door swings.
  • If you plan to install a new entry knob and deadbolt, option them out before you order the door.
  • So enquire the salesperson to accept the door drilled to accept your hardware. Information technology'll cost a lilliputian actress, but it's well worth it to avert the nervus-racking job of drilling into a new door.
  • Don't forget to order hinges that will lucifer the finish of your hardware.

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

Buying a New Prehung Exterior Door

Originally Published: May 20, 2022