Now that we know how to take a door out, it is time to talk about adding a new door. Sorry if you were hanging on for this after the previous entry, you have now had an open hole in your structure for several weeks! I fully intended to capture the installation of the new door but got busy and forgot.

To make matters worse, I have decided to modify the existing door rather than replace the entire structure. So, I won’t document installing a pre-hung door this time. But, let’s talk about them anyway.

Things to know before buying a new door:

  1. How wide is the existing door? Typical widths are 36”, 32” and 28”. This is how the new doors will be marked for sale.
  2. What is the swing of your door? When on the outside of the door, the side of the hinges will either be left or right. That is the swing.
  3. Know your framing, for depth. Old houses like mine have true, 2×4 framing, new houses are 2×6. By the time you add 1/2″ of drywall, 1/2″ of sheathing and siding, all of this makes a difference when buying a pre hung door.
  4. Do you have a standard door (or opening)? Measure the height of the door, it should be 80″ in height. If your door is less than that, it is possible to modify the door but cutting the frame and door down but is much more work.

This is the reason that I modified the door rather than the casing.

It’s not a great picture, but the reality is the frame of the front door is half an inch wider than the current frame in the back door. The main house is framed with true dimensional lumber where as the back of the house is framed with modern lumber. Instead of 4″ thick, it is actually 3 1/2″ thick. If you have this situation, you are going to either have to cut down a door built for 2×6 walls, add onto a frame that is framed for 2×4 walls or order a custom door.

The truth is there are no good options. I made what I thought was the easiest and quickest method by trimming the door and moving the hinges. Guess what, it worked. It takes some fussiness and careful measuring but it can be done.

The nice thing about a new door is that all of the weather stripping is new. Everything should operate smoothly and easily like the handles and latches. Today, you don’t even have to mortise the lockset in many cases. This is secretly one of my least favorite things to do. If it is a used door, take the time to fix the weather stripping, paint when everything is off, make it install ready.

The next thing to having the right fitting door is to make sure that when installed it is plumb and level. The door will never operate properly if it is not. Do everything possible so that the door can be installed plumb and level including modifying the siding, drywall or structure. I can’t express the frustration you will have over the life of the door if you do not.

End Your Programming Routine: Since I cannot show the installation of the door, I will leave it at that. We got lucky in that I was able to modify both doors to make them work. It very easily could have not worked out because I wasn’t paying attention to all of the variables when my wife ordered the door. Trust me, I have made all of the mistakes before, including ordering a door that was too small for the framing, installing crooked doors that don’t function, having to add onto the structure, removing sheathing., etc.