Is installing a prehung exterior door hard?

[NewShockerGuy]

We need a new front door. Ours is 16+ years old and honeslty is garbage..

Got a quote from a local guy charging about 300 for the install of the door.. about the same price as the big box stores..

I am looking at how this is and it doesn't seem too difficult to me. Most of the work is shimming/and making sure the door is plum.. I think the hardest part for me is going to be ripping out the trim pieces both inside and outside of the door? See pics below.

Am I over simplfing this or is it really worth a 300 dollar install??

Here are pictures of the door. Standard, townhouse door.

This is the door we are looking at:

http://www.homedepot.com/Doors-Wind...splay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

Initially I wanted another door but considering we will eventually use this house as an income property we can't see spending $1400 on a new door...

I'm not a carpenter, but I have tools..lol. I like taking on projects. Just last weekend I installed engine mounts, trasmission mount..etc in my STi. I have no problem picking up a wrench and doing stuff, I do have a problem paying for something that in retrospec I am able to do..etc. I have no expereince hanging a prehung door but the logical part of my mind is saying "ITS ALREADY IN THE FRAME" "I am not building the frame from scratch..."

Here are pics of our **** door.

Inside:

Inside hinge and gap:

Outside trim: FEELS LIKE STEROFOAM!

Bottom of door frame:

Rotting or falling apart.. and previous owner did a botch job trying to fix it..

Looking for any insight, tips, tricks, DO's / DON'T. Take this project on, or run away from this..etc..lol

Again, I don't mind doing things I like the satisfaction of knowing I did something and saving the money...etc.

Thanks,
-Nigel

 

[54FordPanel]

It's very doable, and it's not worth paying somebody $300 to do it.
Make very sure the new door is exactly the same size as the old door, and I'm not talking about the door itself, but the frame. You'll have to take off all that moulding on the outside, and hopefully save it. Sometimes you break some, and have to replace it all.
You should look at the outside, and decide if you had to replace all the trim & brick moulding, if you could do it. That's sometimes a can of worms.

Edit: Looking at some of your moulding, that looks like it might be a job. They wouldn't do all that for the standard $300 either, so you need to look at it real good, and see if you think you can take it off and save it.

It's gotta go in plumb! Get at least a 4' level.

And you're going to need some help, they are too heavy to move around by yourself.

 

[little d]

I was going to say just match up the hinges and call it good untill i saw the last pic...oops.

Ok, can you do it? I can't as=nswer that but, if i was going to do it I would take off the door(pull the pins outa the hinges. unscrew the hinges from the jamb. Same with the strike plates. take a flat bar and carefully pull the trim off of the inside, set it aside, you should be able to reuse it. if it is calked you will have to cut it with a knife. Cut along where the outside trim meats the jamb. Take a sawsall and from the inside, run it between the cripple studs and the jam, cutting the nails/screws. After everything is cut free, take the flat bar and again carefully pry between the jamb and outside casing/trim (you realy want to leave it if you can)and the jam should pop out to the inside of the house. Then ya just reverse the steps to put the new one in. Well it's a little more involved but you get the idea. Hope this helps, d.

 

[Duker]

Agreed very doable.. There are different methods as in shimming to make the frame square first then installing the door or installing then shimming. The one thing that will screw up your day the most is if the frame is racked meaning the square opening between the walls is twisted i.e. one wall leaning in the other wall leaning out. Just making it level will either cause frustration in trying to create a uniform gap or it wont swing right much less trying to fit the trim. Those are the worst case situations other than threshold rot but that doesn't sound likely with a 16 year old house.

As for pointers, since its an exterior door, take an extra long screw and use that in place of one of the screws from the door hinge and same for the latch plates. Just an added measure of safety in preventing kick-in's. Make sure to use caution if you use expansion foam that it doesn't expand too much and push the frame. Many more but what joy would that be if we didn't let you experience all of the fun!

 

[Frank The Plumber]

Very Do able for a carpenter. Keep in mind that this is an income property, therefore the cost of installation is deductible from the profit loss of the income property, you need a reciept from Mr $300. On an income property I would have the pro do it, life is short and that door casing looks rally jazzed up for a rookie to be screwing with.

 

[little d]

Oh ya forgot, that pre hung should come with brick mold on the outside of the jamb, you'll have to take that off but it should slide right in from the inside.

 

[NewShockerGuy]

Thanks all, it's not an income property yet, won't be for many years.. but that's why we can't justify a $1000+ door..etc.

What all is needed as far as supplies go to seal the door/frame?

So far I've been watching tons of videos on line and think I have a good understanding on what to do, it's just the molding that I am now worried about...

Thanks,
-Nigel

 

[Travis E.]

Very do able. Especially since you won't have to deal with stucco.

 

[ishiboo]

Thanks all, it's not an income property yet, won't be for many years.. but that's why we can't justify a $1000+ door..etc.

What all is needed as far as supplies go to seal the door/frame?

So far I've been watching tons of videos on line and think I have a good understanding on what to do, it's just the molding that I am now worried about...

Thanks,
-Nigel

You need a tube of caulk for under the sill, nails, and shims. Lots of shims.

Prehung doors are still a lot of work for a novice until you get good at it. Lots of fun getting the frame square in the opening and so the door closes perfectly. Lots of installed doors, the frame is not square, or it's actually "twisted" so part of the door makes contact with the weatherstripping and part does not.

It'll be a good learning process, but once you've done 20 they will probably go quickly

 

[Thruxton]

In addition to these comments, get some how-to's from Fine Homebuilding or one of the DIY finish carpentry books. This looks more trivial than it is, but you'll learn a lot doing it. Good suggestions above, including especially getting a 4' level. It has to go in level, plumb, straight, and square all around, and each of those 4 dimensions is as important as the other. Good exercise in patience, IMHO. Have fun!

 

[srmofo]

I installed my first exterior door last fall. I will be redoing it this spring. the door sits level and flush, but it just doesnt close right. The bottom weather seal gets hung up. The problem didnt show up right away either.

Im also going to suggest you remove the trim and measure the rough opening. I made the mistake of measuring the frame Thinking it would have enough clearance and when I pulled the old door out it was a VERY tight fit. After making a huge ******* mess with poly caulk (dog stepped in it, then I stepped in it) I ended up cutting almost .5" from the frame and driving some nails back in because I cut the heads off.

It can be very frustrating to say the least but most of my issues came from the extremely tight clearance and once I solved that issue everything was alright.

 

[Hank McMauser]

as for attaching the jambs to the studs there is a product made/sold by GRK Fassteners that uses a crown bit to install doors it screws in then the "bushing" moves in & out to adjust the jamb plumbness. they work pretty neat & GRK screws are some of the best ,but be warned, they don't come cheap.
I'll google it & try & find ya a link....here it ishttp://www.grkfasteners.com/en/TOP_4_diy.htm
+1 to what was said about the walls leaning in/& out can make for a frustrating install if they aren't plumb.

 

[mikester]

I hate to say it but I think you should pay to have it put in. It sounds like youre not too experienced with this stuff. What if you get the old door out and run into a problem and you cant get the door installed in a day ? Or worse, you mess up the frame and wreck the door ? Dont take this wrong. Ive torn every room in my 111 year old house apart but there were a few things that I paid someone else to do just because I didnt want to screw it up and kick myself later.

 

[ducati]

Totally do able even for a novice. $300 is a fair price, that is about what I charge if I do one. I can take out a door, replace it and retrim it in about an hr, but I have done a few hundred. You will end up screwing with it for 1/2 a day just as i did when I did my first door years ago. You do need to decide if you would rather enjoy your saturday though. Make sure you look at what part of the sill actually contacts the floor and make sure your bead of caulk is there. To be totally honest, you really don't need a level. Set it by making your reveal even. I have seen to many people make sure the hinge side of the jamb was level, but didn't realize the floor wasn't level then the door catches either the header or the sill. Make sure you shim behind the hinges and run a 3" screw threw the hinge into the cripple stud.

 

[e-tek]

I installed my first exterior door last fall. I will be redoing it this spring. the door sits level and flush, but it just doesnt close right. The bottom weather seal gets hung up. The problem didnt show up right away either.
I ended up cutting almost .5" from the frame and driving some nails back in because I cut the heads off.
.

Sounds like you got the frame twisted and one of the fasteners (nails?) was pulling it over time. First rule - use screws, not nails.

I hate to say it but I think you should pay to have it put in. It sounds like youre not too experienced with this stuff.

What kind of advice is that? How do you build experience?

What if you get the old door out and run into a problem and you cant get the door installed in a day ?.

That's a GOOD point and the first one I was going to make- START EARLY and get it out FAST! You'll want as much time as possible to line it up, test it 100X and adjust it 101X!!

But in reality, I hear ya (Mikester) on sometimes paying someone else to do it. I paid someone to plumb the sink in for a basement suite I just did - because I didn't want the water shut off to my other tenants for too long and didn't want to have to run back and forth to the store several times on a day I didn't have the time to.

 

[little d]

If you take it out and put it back in from the inside you'll be fine. like i said, take your time and dont force anything, dont distrube the outside casing and it should go right in.

They make a special flat bar for trim. It has a "cats paw" on one end and a thin, very sharp flat on the other. I use this tool a lot. Anyway, don't hammer on it, just work it in between the jamb and casing by hand and carefully work the trim loose kinda like torquing a head down, start in the middle and work both ways a little at a time.

 

[SARG]

When thing I have learned the hard way after putting in a few doors ....... and that is there is good doors & bad doors. Most of my issues came from doors that were not made well .... meaning the prehung door itself was not assembled correctly at the factory.

Check the door closely before you attempt to install..... Meaning do not buy it ...... let it sit for a month and then realize it is ****. Be prepared to take it back right away if necessary.

 

[kmacht]

I am very much a diy type person and have a hard time paying anybody to do anything for me that I could learn to do myself. Having said that I installed a new exterior door on our house last year and if I were to do it again I would gladly pay someone $300. The problem I had was that the house had settled over the years and the door frame was no longer square or plum. It was a real pain to get the door to work right. I did it but it took me a full day to get it done. $300 would have been a steal for that door install.

Keith

 

[csp]

Gotta wonder what's behind that rotted jamb.

The issue of Fine Homebuilder currently on newstands has a great article on exterior door replacement. It shows a great example of how to properly flash the opening prior to setting the casing and after it's already set.

 

[GarageEnvy]

I haven't installed a few hundred but I've installed a few dozen exterior doors and I have to say I'm surprised by how many people would hire this one out. As someone else said, thank God you don't have stucco to deal with. Every one that I've done has been stucco. Since it's your first door I'd set aside about 4 hours. You might get it done in two but doors get messed up when you rush. I'd try and salvage the exterior moulding and then cut rather than pry the old casing out. Take a little time to clear the debris from the sill area before you get ready to install. Here's my tips tricks for the install
1) Start from the hinge side and if possible get your jamb in the same location as the old one. This way the exterior moulding will fit with an even reveal.
2) When you shim, try and shim from the front and rear so you don't twist the jamb.
3) Screws vs. nails is an ongoing debate. The newer doors with the slick seals that fit in the slot can conceal a screw head pretty nicely and it does allow you to make adjustments.
4) If you use nails don't drive them in all the way. When you pry them out to readjust, use a piece of wood along the jamb so you don't mar it.
5) You'll be checking the gaps and swing of the door many times. Look to see that the gap along the door is even. Then make sure it is striking the casing evenly. Also make sure the whole casing isn't set to the inside or outside of the wall. And of course, make sure the door isn't wanting to swing open or closed on its own.

As mentioned above, you technically don't need a level but I'd have one. It helps you get close to start, especially since it's your first one. Then a full tub of caulk under the sill. It's always seemed like overkill to me but everyone has always said this was the way to go so I follow along.
In addition to the doors I'd have
1) Sawzall
2) Plier or side cutter to remove cut nails
3) Little wisk broom to clean out sill area
4) Level
5) Caulk
6) Screws or nails but 3" either way
7) Bundle of shims
8) PATIENCE

 

[CraigP]

I'm about to replace a hollow core interior door with a new pre-hung solid pine door. I'm pumped to tackle this project but just like you NewShockerGuy I have two exterior doors that are in the same shape: jambs have water damage and have been repaired by previous owner, storm door is shot (interior of the door is MDF and it's soaked and has expanded), and the door itself has a repair (screws holding something together) where there shouldn't be screws. Since they're exterior doors I think I'm going to pay somebody to replace them so I know it's done correct and will be sturdy and keep the elements out (since a little water is currently getting in). Also, the exterior wall is EIFS so I don't want to deal with that stuff either, I have enough projects I can tackle on my own.

 

[nissan_crawler]

I have no clue if I do it "right", but I've done about 15-20 interior/exterior doors, and haven't had an issue.

I always set the assembly in the hole, to be sure there's room to start with and check square, then remove the door, and install the hinge side, rehang the door, and shim the rest of it to fit the door.

 

[ddawg16]

Very doable....just take your time.

When you get the door, it's going to have this plastic thing on the door latch....it holds the door in the proper postion.....do not remove it....yet.....it will help keep the door and frame square.

I can not stress "Square" enough. Get it off and you will find out real quick as to why it is important to keep the fram square.

Once you have the old door and frame out...put your new door in place....anchor the hinge side first....then shim the top and bottom as necessary to keep the frame square. But don't drive in nails just yet.

Once you have it shimmed, remove that little plastic thing and make sure you can open and close the door. Make sure the gap top and bottom is parallel. Make sure the door bolt is centered in the hole.

Then make sure the door is flush against the jamb....of your twisted, the top or bottom will have a gap.

Once it's all straight...NAIL...

Then check again.