Widening a Door Frame

[MacMcMacmac]

I found some very nice steel doors to replace old rotten ones at a friend's place but they are about 1/4" too wide for the first existing frame. Just wondering what you would do to accommodate this. I was thinking I could cut out the existing door jamb with an oscillating tool, using the wide part of the frame to guide it, but she insists we need to tear it all out and build a new frame which is a whole other level of frustration. Beginning to regret getting involved but the existing doors are about 2 decades past needing replacement. Basically, if I could remove the lighter colored section of the frame, I'd be good. A second door frame next to it is about 1/4" too wide. I figure that will be much easier to deal with.

 

[The Cobbler]

that's going to be a ton of work to skim off part of the door jamb and keep it flat,level etc.
am I understaning correctly, or do you want to cut that all off using the door stop as a guide ? that would make some sense . I would do it on the latch side and not bother the hinge side .

 

[MacMcMacmac]

Yes, my plan was to use the paint line as a guide for the oscillating tool to cut out the section nearest my thumb from top to bottom, back to the current door stop. A tall order I'm sure. The door stop on a frame we worked on a few years ago was not a removable piece, rather, it was milled into a much thicker piece or wood. I think this might be the same deal. The door frame is about 10" deep as far as I can determine. Not going to be fun to remove and relocate.

It's going to be a royal pain no matter what gets done. The hinges are actually reversed on the new door in the photo, the original one had them on the right in the frame. From the pictures, it looks like it might be easiest to knock out the left frame board, cut the OSB wall back, reinstall the door frame member and make a new upper frame cross piece. I have two other doors that can be used, or I can just reverse the hinges to go back to the old arrangement with the new door.

She thinks we need to make an entire new frame. Much heated discussion ensued. This is a 70 year old house that never got anywhere near the maintenance it needed and every job tends to cascade into something much more complicated that it started out as.


If these doors hadn't been free and immensely strong Stanley steel doors removed from some facility somewhere and left as a donation by a contractor, I would't be bothering, but these just fell in my lap and probably worth up near a grand apiece to buy new.

There's a second doorway just to the left that goes into the basement that these will basically drop right into.

 

[Shiftless]

I found some very nice steel doors to replace old rotten ones at a friend's place

So you are doing all of this for a friend?

 

[MacMcMacmac]

Yes.

We went through some very lean years together.

 

[whateg01]

I would probably be tempted to build a new frame, depending on the rough in.

 

[nadogail]

Pre-Hung doors in steel frames have solved a lot of problems.

 

[carlaisle]

That sounds like a ton of easily avoided and unnecessary work. I would use a wood door and adjust it as needed with a planer and belt sander.

 

[Uncle murph]

I found some very nice steel doors to replace old rotten ones at a friend's place but they are about 1/4" too wide for the first existing frame. Just wondering what you would do to accommodate this. I was thinking I could cut out the existing door jamb with an oscillating tool, using the wide part of the frame to guide it, but she insists we need to tear it all out and build a new frame which is a whole other level of frustration. Beginning to regret getting involved but the existing doors are about 2 decades past needing replacement. Basically, if I could remove the lighter colored section of the frame, I'd be good. A second door frame next to it is about 1/4" too wide. I figure that will be much easier to deal with.

I would cut out and replace the strike jamb but it looks like the door is going in backwards,if so you need to remove and reverse the glass and trim.

 

[PCustoms]

I would probably be tempted to build a new frame, depending on the rough in.

This.

New frame should be able to accommodate a little extra width.

It's going to be a royal pain no matter what gets done. The hinges are actually reversed on the new door in the photo, the original one had them on the right in the frame.

Why is the door being put in backwards? Spin it around and it's is "handed" correctly

I would cut out and replace the strike jamb but it looks like the door is going in backwards,if so you need to remove and reverse the glass and trim.

 

[firebirdparts]

Prehung doors are cheap. About $225 at Lowes give or take.

 

[Stuart in MN]

From this distance it's impossible to tell how the framing is built, but there should be king and jack studs like in the diagram below. It may be possible to pry out the jack studs, run them through a table saw to rip off a thin strip, and then reinstall them. You'll also have to deal with revised trim boards too, of course.

 

[pcmeiners]

The door frame looks in poor condition, myself I would cut it out and replace it. If you have a table saw I would get 5/4" wood ,cut width to depth, dado the head jam; the crappy ,3/4" jams just about every manufacturer sells are more work then they are worth, they require more shimming/leveling/plumbing/squaring.
It will be a pain in the *** no matter what you do, consider it a learning experience which you will not volunteer for again.

Ran into the same situation a few dozen times. I used a Sawzall with a long blade (used like your oscillating tool idea). You will hit nail or screws. To get a 1/4" it would take 2 cuts at least. I used this method but only with door jams in better condition.

 

[Hank11]

Buy doors that fit.
Sometimes making heroic efforts to use free stuff is not worth it.

Alternately, making new jams to fit the framing and the doors is not that hard if you have a good shop, tools and talent. But it will take some time.

 

[Hank11]

From this distance it's impossible to tell how the framing is built, but there should be king and jack studs like in the diagram below. It may be possible to pry out the jack studs, run them through a table saw to rip off a thin strip, and then reinstall them. You'll also have to deal with revised trim boards too, of course.

Can you cut and pry out one jack stud?
If so, do that and replace it with a 1X. You gain 3/4”.

 

[69charged]

I would be tearing that old one out and building a new one. If the door was in that bad of shape, I can't imagine the door frame is much better?
Although I understand the frustration involved, especially doing it for a friend for free. Good on ya.

 

[cmandp]

I'd rip out and replace with a prehung steel door. It will save you tons of headache in getting a good fit and sealing.

You can also fix other issues that may be there.

I need to do this to my two garage man doors as well and have put it off since I know I will have to reframe the openings to accept a modern standard door size...

 

[cvairwerks]

Rather than trying to run jack studs through a table saw, I'd run them through a planer instead. Way faster and much less cleanup work. Also a heck of a lot safer too.

 

[CraigStu]

I know you got them free but...I have seen 6 panel doors very heavily constructed w/ no lock holes or hinge positions. They also had at least 4" of 1.5"(?) thickness on the sides and maybe 6" top and bottom. They were about $300 each at either HD or L. If you could find some of these that could be cut down that would be a heck of a lot easier to install. Coat them w/ proper exterior primer and paint and they will certainly last as long as the siding on that house.

 

[MacMcMacmac]

Yeah, this is looking like more work than it's worth. We could probably install the one in the other frame where it fits, and sell the other two to take a chunk out of the price of a new hung door.