How to Replace an Exterior Door

DIY techniques for a weathertight exterior door installation

Fourth dimension

Multiple Days

Complexity

Intermediate

Price

Varies

Introduction

Replace a worn, drafty front door with a stylish new energy-efficient one. Replacement doors come up pre-hung in a weatherstripped frame and y'all don't accept to be a master carpenter to do a commencement-grade job. We'll show yous the techniques that will issue 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 cease nails
  • Capitalist rod
  • Minimal expanding foam
  • Polyurethane caulk
  • Roll of flexible self-sticking flashing membrane
  • Transition molding Transition molding (optional; Photo 13)
  • Treated lumber to build upwards the sill (optional)

Prehung Exterior Door Installation

pre hung door installation Family Handyman

Rarely tin can yous complete a project in a weekend that will salvage you money and dramatically better the looks of your house similar hanging a new front end door. In this article nosotros'll show y'all how to order a prehung exterior door that fits like a glove. Then we'll show yous, step by stride, how to become your old door out and the new ane in.

If you can handle basic carpentry tasks, you'll accept no trouble installing a new pre-hung entry door in a solar day. Effigy on another day to terminate the details and start painting the door. Front door paint adds personality and adjourn appeal.

Video: How to Hang a Door

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Projection step-by-step (19)

Footstep 1

Figure A: Measure Your Quondam Door

In most cases, only order a new door the same size as the sometime ane. If you alter 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 chore. Here are the four sets of measurements you lot'll need to gild a door (refer to Figure A for extra details):

Door size

  • Measure out the width and height of your old door.
  • Round these upward to total inches to find the size of the replacement door you'll need.
  • For instance, if your door measures 35-3/iv in. broad and 79-1/2 in. tall, you'll guild a 36-in. past eighty-in. door.

Jamb width

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

Crude opening

  • You'll need to remove the interior trim for authentic measurements of the rough opening.
  • Measure the opening width between framing members and from the bottom of the sill to the elevation of the opening.
  • Compare these measurements to the rough opening requirements of your new door to brand certain it will fit.

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

  • Measure out to the outsides of the outside casing, then 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 likewise pocket-sized to fill the infinite, or if yous want a different trim manner, you have three options.
  • The best solution is a door with wider, flat casing to fit the opening. Y'all can ever add a slice of decorative molding overtop to approximate the way of your existing exterior trim. (We ordered 2-1/4-in. flat casing and reinstalled the existing decorative molding.)
  • Second, y'all can order your door with standard molding and fill up the gap with additional strips of wood.
  • The last option is to guild the door without exterior molding and make your own to fit.

Step 2

Remove Your Sometime Door

  • Tap the hinge pins loose with a hammer and smash set.
  • Then swing the door open and elevator it off.
  • Protect the flooring with a dropcloth. The old door will be heavy.

remove old door

Step 3

Pry Loose The One-time Trim

  • Pry the interior trim loose from the door frame.
  • Protect the wall with a wide putty pocketknife.
  • If you program to reuse the trim, get-go score the intersection between the molding and jamb with a utility knife.

pry off old door frame

Footstep 4

Pry Off the Exterior Trim

  • Slice the caulk joint 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

Stride 6

Jamb Removal Close-Upwards

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

remove door jam with saw

Step 7

Set and Install the Sill

  • Afterwards the door frame is out, check the condition of the framing and subflooring in the sill area.
  • Cut out and replace any rotted wood.
  • If the sill on your new door is thinner than the i you removed, you may have to build up the sill area. We were lucky. Our brick opening was level and plumb, but this isn't e'er the case.
  • Start by checking the sill area with a two-pes level. If you're edifice information technology up as we show in the photo beneath, information technology's easy to level it with shims at the same time.
  • Fix the sill elevation so the door just clears carpeting or rugs when it swings in.
  • Build upwardly 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 4 inches apart.
  • Then ready the door in the opening for a exam fit. Hold a level against the swivel jamb and adjust the door and frame until the jamb is plumb.
  • Check to run into how the casing fits against the siding. If the siding is so far out of plumb that the door frame and casing don't fit in, either cut back the siding or trim the casing. It looks better if you can cutting the siding, but it'south usually more applied and easier to trim the casing.
  • Mark the casing in areas that demand trimming.
  • And so accept the door out and trim the casing with a chugalug sander or circular saw.
  • Once level, fasten it with coated deck screws.

install door sill

Step viii

Install Flashing Record

  • 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, yous tin can buy a special plastic sill flashing kit instead. One make is Jamsil. Details will vary depending on the doorway situation.
  • Cover the crude sill expanse with self-sticking flashing tape.
  • Wrap it upwards the sides of the opening and over the front edge.
  • Set the door in the opening, plumb it and check the fit.

install flashing

Pace ix

Effigy B: Sill Item

  • The thought is to aqueduct water away from the woods. If your home is built on a physical slab, the door frame will probably remainder directly on the slab.
  • Figure B illustrates how to correctly install your sill to reduce whatever futurity potential of water damage.

Step 10

Apply Caulk

  • Make sure the building newspaper is intact around the frame edges. If non, slide strips of No. 15 felt behind the siding and tack it to the framing with staples.
  • When you're sure the door will 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 top of the door opening and at the sill according to the manufacturer's instructions.
  • You'll probable need two tubes.

Step 11

Tack in the Prehung Outside Door

  • Make sure the doorsill is level.
  • And then centre the top of the door in the opening and tack information technology into identify with galvanized casing nails.
  • Plumb the hinge-side jamb and tack the bottom corners.

Tack in the prehung exterior door

Step 12

Shim the Swivel-Side Jamb

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

Shim the hinge-side jamb

Step xiii

Shim the Latch-Side Jamb

  • The goal is to eye the door in the opening and shim the sides until they're plumb and straight.
  • Shim at the top, middle and bottom of the latch-side jamb and at the top until the gap between the door and the doorjamb is consistent.
  • Score the shims with a utility knife and suspension 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

Footstep fourteen

Replace the Hinge Screws

  • Replace a screw in each hinge with a iii-inch screw driven into the framing.
  • Drive boosted casing nails every 16 in. along the sides and tiptop of the exterior trim.

Replace the hinge screws

Step 15

Figure C: Baste Cap

  • If your door is exposed to the conditions, direct water away from the door with a metal drip cap overtop equally shown in Figure C. Y'all'll discover drip caps at dwelling centers and lumber yards.
  • Brick openings like ours and doors protected by porches with roofs don't crave a baste cap.
  • If the drip cap is damaged or missing, install a new 1 before yous fix the door frame in the opening.
  • Cut the metal drip cap to fit and slide information technology under the siding and edifice paper (Effigy C).
  • If nails are in the way, sideslip a hacksaw blade nether the siding and cut them.

Step sixteen

Insulate Around the Door

  • Make full the space between the doorjamb and the framing with minimal expanding foam insulation (you'll demand about two cans).
  • After the foam has expanded and skinned over, loosely stuff any 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 erstwhile trim.
  • If there's a gap between the new sill and the existing flooring, encompass it with a beveled transition.

Install interior trim

Stride 18

Apply Caulk Backer and Caulk

  • Printing foam backer rod into the siding/trim gap.
  • Apply a neat bead of caulk betwixt 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 three/16 in., insert a foam backer and apply caulk over it.
  • Most doors require an boosted 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 xix

Editor'south Note: Buying a New Prehung Exterior Door

Virtually dwelling centers stock prehung outside doors in a express number of styles.

  • Common jamb widths for stock doors are 4-nine/16 in. and half-dozen-9/16 in., and they usually include two-inch wide brick molding for exterior trim. These doors work great for newly constructed walls and for replacing doors in newer homes.
  • Simply if, after measuring the jamb width and opening sizes for your existing door, you find that y'all need a different size jamb or that your exterior trim is wider, then y'all'll save a lot of headaches past ordering a door to your verbal specifications.

There are three types of doors to cull from.

  • Steel doors are pop because they're inexpensive and crave trivial maintenance.
  • Fiberglass doors won't warp or rot, and the more expensive models are hard to tell apart from real wood.
  • You'll find the widest choice of styles in wood doors, but exist prepared to spend extra time maintaining the finish.

Prehung exterior doors are available at habitation centers and lumberyards. If you tin can't detect what you're looking for in stock, you can society information technology.

  • Have along your measurements and a sketch showing which mode the door swings.
  • If yous plan to install a new entry knob and deadbolt, pick them out before you gild the door.
  • Then ask the salesperson to take the door drilled to have your hardware. It'll toll a piddling extra, just it's well worth it to avoid the nerve-racking chore of drilling into a new door.
  • Don't forget to gild hinges that will match the finish of your hardware.

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

Buying a New Prehung Exterior Door

Originally Published: May twenty, 2022