Step 1
Measure the old door and order the new one
Pry off the interior trim
Family Handyman
Robin thought this was a pretty neat trick. Protecting the wall with a putty knife under the pry bar meant she wouldn’t have to repaint the entry. One of the biggest mistakes homeowners make is to grab a door off the home center shelf and expect it to fit right. So my first coaching task was to help Robin and Danny measure for and order the door. First we measured the width and height of the door. Then Robin carefully pried off the interior trim (Photo 1) so we could measure the rough opening, which is the width between the studs and the height from the floor to the header.
“Protecting the wall with a putty knife saved the wall paint. Neat trick!”
— Robin
Next we measured from the back of the outside trim, or brick molding, to the face of the interior wall to find the jamb width. Ordering the new door with the right jamb width ensures that the interior trim fits without the need for added jamb extensions. Finally we went back outside and measured the width from the outside of the brick molding and the height from the bottom of the sill to the top of the exterior trim. To avoid having to patch siding, it’s best to order a door assembly that will fill the space. This may mean asking for special exterior trim that’s wider than standard 2-in.-wide “brick molding.” If you’re ordering a door and sidelight(s), you can adjust the width by substituting a different size sidelight or by adjusting the space between the door and the sidelight. The door and sidelight were assembled at the plant and arrived as a single unit. Installation of a door without a sidelight is the same.
With the door size, jamb width and dimensions of the rough and exterior opening in hand, Robin and Danny went door shopping. They discovered that the standard configuration of a 3-ft. door and sidelight was a few inches too narrow and 1/2 in. shorter than their existing door and sidelight. The salesperson recommended spending a little extra money to add a spacer between the door and the sidelight. This corrected the width problem. Robin and Danny could have ordered a custom height door and frame for several hundred dollars more, but they decided to live with the height difference and cover the gap with trim later. We decided to add a strip of plywood under the sill to raise the door slightly, so in the end the shorter height worked out perfectly.
“I was shocked at all the door options available. The choices were limitless.”
— Danny
Robin and Danny wanted a door that looked like wood, minus the maintenance hassles. They chose a Therma-Tru fiberglass door with a surprisingly realistic-looking oak wood grain. The cost of the door and sidelight unit was $1,300. Fortunately (for us, anyway!), the door assembly plant wasn’t too busy and the door was delivered about 10 days later.
