Exterior Door Replacement: It is Do-it-yourself Job - Get Ideas on Tools You'll Need to Start
Your front door provides security to those inside, and beauty for those on the outside. This is a vital part of your home and you should take care to make sure it is strong, safe, and matches the architecture of your home.
The saw is useful for stubborn jams and will speed things up, but it isn't a necessity.
Before we get started tearing things out, a word of caution. Take measurements of your existing door and jam opening. Then when you actually get the new door in, measure it to make sure it is a correct fit. Due to the different methods of construction, and a possible lack of standards amongst carpenters in ages past, you might find the rough opening won't be exactly what you expected size-wise. Within a half-inch or so, most modifications can be easily made and not hinder the appearence of the installation.
Let me reiterate, make sure the new door is on location and is the right size BEFORE you tear out the old one.
How you tackle the next phase depends on what you intend to do with the old door. If you're wanting to re-use it, like on a shed or something, you'll have to be careful and try to remove the jam without damaging it. If you are just throwing it away, removing the jam will be much easier. I'm going to mostly describe the later scenario but I'll try to make comments when pertinent, about trying to salvage the existing jam.
To remove the door, it's probably easiest to just open the door and remove the screws holding the hinges to the jam. If you have a stubborn screw, which is likely to happen in older doors, you can either drill it out or use a pry bar to wedge in between the hinge and the jam, tearing out the screw (this method will not salvage the jam).
Carefully remove the interior trim or moulding. The outside trim, or brick mould, can also be removed. If you need to keep your siding looking nice, use your prybar and hammer from the inside of the brick moulding.
If you are not saving the jam, the quickest way to get it out is to use your saw and cut through it about midway up each side. This will allow you to literally pull the jam apart and use your prybar to help tear out the pieces. This works especially nice if the jam was installed with nails. If it was installed with screws, just backout all the screws and the jam will likely pop out. You have to watch for hidden screws as well, like behind the weather stripping, behind hinges, and behind the strike plate.
Tools You'll Need
Removing an entry door is fairly simple. Here are some tools that will help make things go well:- Cordless Screwgun
- Pry-bar/Crow-bar
- Reciprocating saw
- Hammer
- Helper
The saw is useful for stubborn jams and will speed things up, but it isn't a necessity.
Before we get started tearing things out, a word of caution. Take measurements of your existing door and jam opening. Then when you actually get the new door in, measure it to make sure it is a correct fit. Due to the different methods of construction, and a possible lack of standards amongst carpenters in ages past, you might find the rough opening won't be exactly what you expected size-wise. Within a half-inch or so, most modifications can be easily made and not hinder the appearence of the installation.
Let me reiterate, make sure the new door is on location and is the right size BEFORE you tear out the old one.
Remove the Door
I recommend you remove the door from the jam. Most exterior doors are pretty heavy and will make it difficult to handle.How you tackle the next phase depends on what you intend to do with the old door. If you're wanting to re-use it, like on a shed or something, you'll have to be careful and try to remove the jam without damaging it. If you are just throwing it away, removing the jam will be much easier. I'm going to mostly describe the later scenario but I'll try to make comments when pertinent, about trying to salvage the existing jam.
To remove the door, it's probably easiest to just open the door and remove the screws holding the hinges to the jam. If you have a stubborn screw, which is likely to happen in older doors, you can either drill it out or use a pry bar to wedge in between the hinge and the jam, tearing out the screw (this method will not salvage the jam).
Carefully remove the interior trim or moulding. The outside trim, or brick mould, can also be removed. If you need to keep your siding looking nice, use your prybar and hammer from the inside of the brick moulding.
If you are not saving the jam, the quickest way to get it out is to use your saw and cut through it about midway up each side. This will allow you to literally pull the jam apart and use your prybar to help tear out the pieces. This works especially nice if the jam was installed with nails. If it was installed with screws, just backout all the screws and the jam will likely pop out. You have to watch for hidden screws as well, like behind the weather stripping, behind hinges, and behind the strike plate.
