Building and Construction - Exterior Door help?

Author

Exterior Door help?

Randy

2006-06-24, 9:25 am

I need a suggestion on how to replace an exterior door.

The door is 81 1/4 in length and 33 1/4 wide. I need to replace the
exterior door with a heavy wooden door.

I can't seem to find a door locally. Most are either 80 x 36 or have a
30 inch with.

Any suggestions?

Appreciate any help. I live in a rural area and will need to drive 40
miles to a large Lowes or other wood supply.

marson

2006-06-24, 9:25 am

Randy wrote:
> I need a suggestion on how to replace an exterior door.
>
> The door is 81 1/4 in length and 33 1/4 wide. I need to replace the
> exterior door with a heavy wooden door.
>
> I can't seem to find a door locally. Most are either 80 x 36 or have a
> 30 inch with.
>
> Any suggestions?
>
> Appreciate any help. I live in a rural area and will need to drive 40
> miles to a large Lowes or other wood supply.

here are your options:

1. replace the entire door with a prehung unit, jambs and all, and
make the rough opening bigger. this requires some carpentry knowledge
and judgement, since you need to still support the header. sometimes
you can replace 2x trimmers with 1x, but you need to know enough about
the structure of the building to know if this is safe. sometimes
exterior doors don't even need headers, but again that is a judgement
call that you need some knowledge to make. also, if the house is
stucco or brick, this may not be practical.

2. also replace the entire door but make the RO smaller. will
probably need to patch sheetrock inside and siding outside, or else use
wider trim.

3. go to a lumberyard and obtain a 36" door only that is not bored
for lockset/deadbolt. then cut 1 3/8 off of both sides of the door.
then hinge and bore for locksets. lots of work and requires good tools
and skill. nothing like botching up a brand new door!

4. go to a lumberyard and custom order the width you need. you should
be able to find out the feasibility of this with a few phone calls.

I would avoid the big box stores for a problem like this, unless you
know that they have a competent contractor desk.

Al Bundy

2006-06-26, 3:25 am

"marson" <briankontio@gmail.com> wrote in
news:1151154809.500718.214820@b68g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

>
> Randy wrote:
>
> here are your options:
>
> 1. replace the entire door with a prehung unit, jambs and all, and
> make the rough opening bigger. this requires some carpentry knowledge
> and judgement, since you need to still support the header. sometimes
> you can replace 2x trimmers with 1x, but you need to know enough about
> the structure of the building to know if this is safe. sometimes
> exterior doors don't even need headers, but again that is a judgement
> call that you need some knowledge to make. also, if the house is
> stucco or brick, this may not be practical.
>
> 2. also replace the entire door but make the RO smaller. will
> probably need to patch sheetrock inside and siding outside, or else
> use wider trim.
>
> 3. go to a lumberyard and obtain a 36" door only that is not bored
> for lockset/deadbolt. then cut 1 3/8 off of both sides of the door.
> then hinge and bore for locksets. lots of work and requires good
> tools and skill. nothing like botching up a brand new door!
>
> 4. go to a lumberyard and custom order the width you need. you should
> be able to find out the feasibility of this with a few phone calls.
>
> I would avoid the big box stores for a problem like this, unless you
> know that they have a competent contractor desk.
>

Is this a front door? Is there another exterior door to the house, any
kind including patio, that opens to 36"?

If not, go with option #1. Many household items like furniture,
appliances, showerstalls, etc. are specifically desighed to fit through
a 36" door opening. Someday you may find yourself unable to get that new
frig in the house even with trim moulding removed.

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