Replacing an Exterior Door

This article is for replacing a simple door and door frame. If you have a double door or a door with panels on each or one side you can replace them with the same technique used here but you will need to ensure the frame door is the same size as the one originally there.

If you change the size of the door frame that you are putting in you will need to do extra work to either cut out more of your door frame area or add some panels or wood and siding to the area if you going with a smaller door. If you are doing something like this you might want to consult someone who knows more about construction.

You’ll first want to go and get the door and all the parts and tools you will need before you begin. The main things you will need is a door with frame, this will be the biggest expense of course. A steel door without a window can run as little as $135 and with a window can be around $180 and up. From there you can go way up in price, these are for an economy steel on wood door with nothing fancy about it.

These will also be prehung doors; this means that when you buy it the door is already hung with hinges on the door frame. All you have to do is put the door and frame into the correct position and screw it to the frames that are part of the wall. You will also want to get the door hardware, the door knob and bolt that you want in the door.

Outside doors are usually 36 inches wide, but the hinges are either on the left or right, this makes them left or right doors. There are two parts to determining the hand of a door. Which way it swings and which side the handle of the door is on. Is the door handle on the left or right?

To determine the hand of a door you stand inside looking at the door. If the door swing inside then you look at the door and the handle. If the handle is on the left and the door swings in, it is a left hand. If the handle is on the right and it swings in, it is right hand.

If the door swings outward toward the outside of the house go out and turn to look at the door. If the handle is on the left and the door swings out it is a left hand. If the handle in on the right and the door swings out it is a right hand.

This will determine which hand or handed door you will get when you go to purchase a door. You will buy whatever kind of door you want but the hand of the door should be the same, your house is set up as it is and you should buy the same door, but you can have it swing the other way or have the handle on the other side if you want. If you want to change it, that is up to you, but usually you will not. So we have a door, with a hand to it that is the 36 inch door with frame.

A regular exterior door is either 32 or 36 inches wide and about 79 inches tall. This is assuming you are just replacing a regular door that has no side panels. If your door has side panels or you want to replace a double door frame, this is more difficult but can be done. It just requires more careful leveling and use of a wider opening.

Measure your existing door and get a door and frame the same size with the same hand. You will also need the trim for the door, whatever you want to replace the interior trim that you will be ripping off the wall. This can be as plain, as you can see mine is, or as elegant as you want. You will need a package of shims, some 4 inch general purpose philips head screws and some 6d finish nails for the trim and some of the door. You will also need some caulk to seal around the door and some expanding foam sealant spray. If you do not have a caulk gun they run only a few dollars for a cheap one and you can use it for other caulk and sealing jobs later, try weatherizing your home to save money.

For tools you will need to have a hammer, a common screw drivers, wood chisel, electric or battery screw driver with philips head bit, crow or pry bar, saw to cut trim, level and reciprocating saw with metal cutting blade. The reciprocating saw is to cut any nails or screws that attach the front trim or boards around the door frame to the door frame. You can rent one for a day for a low cost if you do not have one; many stores sell them for just around $25 for a basic one.

First you need to remove the old door, take the hinge pins out of the hinges, go inside the room and push the out using the hammer and common screw drivers and drive the pins up and out of the hinges. If you cannot get them out you can just take the hinge off the frame. Take the door out and set aside.

Remove the interior trim and the frame. You do not want to remove the boards that the screen or storm door is on if you can help it, if they are damaged and need to be replaced you can do that, it is much easier not to have to remove that too. There is more caulking to do at the end if you remove this.

First removed the inside trim, if you can do this without ruining it, you can reuse it, but you probably won’t be able to keep it. Use the pry bar and common screw driver to get under it and pry it out from the wall and frame. Once it is all off you can see the space between the door and wall studs.

You will have to see about the storm or screen door, if you are replacing it, remove it from the building. Unhook the piston closer by removing one of the pins that hold it on, you might have to pull the piston one way or the other to get tension off the pin. Most screen doors have a hinge strip along the one side, just unscrew this from the wall boards that it is attached to. Once it is off you will have to gently pry the front boards away from the frame, just a little, enough to get the reciprocating saw blade between the boards that the screen door attaches to and the frame.

Run the blade down around the whole frame between the outside boards and the frame of the door, this will cut the nails or screws that attach the frame to the front boards that are around the door on the outside. You may need to run the blade along the top also, cut any there if the installer of the door put some nails or screws in that board.

Once you can run the blade of the saw around the door frame between the front boards and the frame you should be able to pry the frame out. The frame is three pieces, the top and two sides. The two sides are nailed to the top and you will have to pry one of the sides out first. Use the pry bar and start at the bottom of one of the sides, you should have no problem with it. If you see screws in the frame you will of course have to unscrew them, sometimes they use screws sometimes nails.

Once the one side is loose the top will probably fall down, it is not usually nail or screwed on, just held in place by the two sides. The other side can be pried out then, it comes out just like the other. If the frame will not come out because there are screws or nails in the frame cut them with the reciprocating saw. You can cut them flush after the frame is out to get them out of the way after the frame is out. Take the frame out and set aside.

You will need to clean the whole frame out and measure it to make sure the new door will fit. Measure from side to side in three places, the top, middle and bottom. Then measure the door to make sure it will fit. There are probably some shims from the old door that fell out or were stuck to the door frame. These space the frame in the wall between the studs.

The door should fit if you bought the correct size, if not, like on mine, you might have to cut some wallboard or plaster. The fit is important, if there is too many problems now, it will just get worse later. So make sure the door will fit inside easily. You will be taking the door inside the building and setting it in the frame from the inside so the frame should fit inside and be able to stand the door up and slide it straight into the space you made.

The plaster board around the door frame had to be cut some with the reciprocating saw to get the door in. You will have to remove any bottom pieces if there were any left after you removed the old frame. Once all of the pieces are out, you can bring the door in and set it in place, being careful to get the correct side out. Slide the door into place and just set it there for now.

Once the door is in place you will want to put a couple of nail from the outside frame or board into the frame to hold it in place. Use the level and get the hinge board or the board that the hinges are on straight in both directions. Place the level on the side and front as you are looking at from the inside, you will need someone else to nail the door to the frame as you hold it in place.

The frame is level when the little bubble is between the two lines on the one that is horizontal when you have the level against the frame. You also want to make sure the door frame is flush with the inside plaster board or inside wall surface. If you set the door in place and it is not, mine wasn’t, you will have to add some wood to the frame.

My old door frame was wider than the new one, by about an inch, so someone by threes had to be added to get the frame the same width. This might call for a run to the store to get some if you do not have some on hand. Just place the door and measure to get some wood the width you need. There are wood trim pieces of different widths that you can stack to get the correct width. If you need to add some, just take the door out and add it to the outside face of the frame so that when you put the door back in it is added from the outside frame and not the inside. You want the space between the door frame and the screen or storm door.

Before you nail the door in place you want to remove the nails that hold the door from opening in the frame. There should be two that are nailed in almost all the way on the same side as the hole for the door knob. Remove these two with your hammer.

Place the door back in and square it up. When it’s in place and square, nail a couple of nails in place along the hinge board. This will hold that side in and you can work from here. Using the level make sure the door frame is level on the inside, go along the frame and when you have it level in both directions, parallel with the wall and at a right angle to the wall, you can put some more nails to temporarily hold the whole door frame in place.

You will now have four nails in the frame two on each side, from the outside through the frame of the screen door. If you removed the screen door boards you should replace them before you put in the door. You just need to get new boards the same as the old ones and nail them in place, making sure they are level and square along the top and sides. Measure and make sure the boards will cover over the outside of the frame when you get the door into place, but not get in the way of the door when it is opened if the door opens outward on your project.

Make sure you put these pieces in the same place as the old ones, you want to get everything back in place so the door is centered on the frame and the screen door, if you get it wrong you can carefully pry it out and nail it in place again, accidents happen and you learn from mistakes.

Once the door is in place, you will screw it to the existing studs. You should be able to open the door and not have it move on you. Use shims to get the door frame centered in the studs and to hold the frame straight so it does not bend where the screws are going in. Put three screws along the hinge board and two along the opposite one. Put the screw in and start it, the top and bottom screws about four to six inches from the end and put one in the middle. When the screw stays in place you will put shims in to stop the board from bending when you screw it in. Pound shims in but don’t use too many that you bend the frame out. Cut the shims flush after you screw in the screw flush with the frame.

When you have all five screws in the frame is in and staying. You can then open the door and close it to make sure it works well. If you really mess up and it just doesn’t work, can remove the screws and try again. Make sure the whole side with the hinges are level before starting to screw it in.

You will want to add some foam insulation around the door filling all the gaps, where you see any light especially. Fill all around the door frame and then you can add the inside trim when all the gaps are filled. This will ensure that you do not have excess air coming and going in and out and wasting energy. Once the trim is on you can add the outside screen door and the door hardware. Follow the directions on the door knob and bolt. They are pretty easy to install.

Once the screen door is on you can add any caulk around the frames and trim inside and out. Caulking around the trim is nice for energy savings and you will want to match the color with what you had before or you can paint it. If you are painting the trim inside you can do this before you put it on to make it easier.

You can also paint the frame parts that were not painted if you wish. If you have any problems you can use the internet to get more help on advanced problems, try DIY or individual lumber or hardware stores that have how to’s.

Replacing an exterior door is pretty easy once you get past the fact your doing so much yourself, if you start you should do this on a day that you can run to the store and get some more parts if you need them. If stores aren’t open in your area on Sunday you may want to do this on a Saturday. So what are you waiting for? Get out there and DIY!