This video demonstrates how to remove an old front/back door and replace it with a newer one that will last longer and look better. Replacing an exterior door is an effective way to update one of the key features of your home’s appearance. To prepare, clean out debris, especially at the doorway’s bottom, and remove old trim. To replace a door, start by removing the hinge pins on the old door to remove it from the frame. Trace the hinge shape and door handle hole from the old door.
To remove the old door and put in the new one, gather your tools and ensure you have what you need before starting the operation. A seasoned pro shows you how to replace a front door, step-by-step, including measuring and ordering a new door, removing the old one, and ensuring that the new one goes in perfectly square and level.
Start by carefully prying off molding and casing using a pry bar, pulling any nails from the jamb as you go. Loosen the hinge pins and support the weight as you detach the door. Unscrew the jamb screws attaching it to the rough opening in the wall. In this article, we show you how to order a prehung exterior door that fits like a glove. Then, follow the step-by-step instructions to get your old door out and install the new one.
📹 DIY Front Door Replacement (How to Replace a Front Door Step-by-Step)
Replacing the front door on your home is a relatively easy DIY project that can dramatically increase your home’s curb appeal.
📹 HOW TO REMOVE and REPLACE a Front/Back Door (Easier Than it Looks!)
Hey Gang! In today’s video we show you how to remove an old front/back door and replace it with a newer one that will last longer …
I guarantee that in my life, I will never, ever install a door (I have a door guy). Why did I watch this whole article? Because it really is captivating and interesting. You guys do a GREAT job of making things succinct and informative, without the stammering and time-wasting that so many other YouTubers do. Brilliantly edited, too. Excellent job!!
This is what I do most of for a living. I give this article my approval. If the door is plumb and your top reveal is off the right side of that door needed to go up a heavy 16th of an inch. Also if you shim the center hinge heavy it will push the entire door to the latch side. 7 doors a week you learn a few tricks
As a DYI’er I’ve done many interior doors but no exterior. The house I just bought needs all new exterior doors and I was a bit nervous because it’s a brick house and the trim outside is a lot more extensive than the other houses I’ve owned. Showing how to remove the door from the inside without touching the outside trim was just the trick I needed to get me going on this project. I haven’t turned my TV on in days since I’ve found your website, been binging on your guys articles. Keep up the great work!
Good job guys right on. I am a retired old finish Carpenter and have done many doors like you did. One additional thing I would check would be the twist of the frame you have to make sure the door fits the jam when it closes otherwise it’ll be twisted it looks like yours was probably okay. For the majority of doors that I did in retro fit house the floor seem to be always the problem and out of level one way or another. A lot of times the floor and subfloor were rotted and needed to be filled in redone. Anyway guys, good job, good article. Thanks
Coming from a fellow veteran carpenter, you did a great job of showing how nothing is “just”. It’s never “oh, ‘just’ install a new door” or window or ‘just’ replace a deck or lock set. Or ‘just’ repair a whole in drywall. Nothing is ‘just’. And people who don’t know this trade need to understand this point.
As a former professional article editor, trainer, and digital designer, I want to compliment you guys on your excellent productions. They’re robust and, even though the topics and concepts are sometimes complex, your presentations clip along at a comfortable pace, “breathing” where necessary, and chock full of tips and explanations, especially for someone like me, a professional handyman, who already knows everything (just ask my dog!) Echoing another comment, I, too, recommend reinforcing the strike & deadbolt areas behind the jamb, as these are critical to secure closure and get the most “abuse” by repetitive strikes, false openings (handset free, but deadbolt locked & vice versa), etc. I love hiding the screws under the weatherstripping! I’m going to patent that technique so you (or anyone else) who does that owes me a nickel for each screw you sink (multiplied by the TDOC— Times the Door is Opened & Closed) from now in perpetuity. (Sorry. “The law is an ass.”). 😉 Thanks for another informative article. Keep up the great work!
I just replaced a rear entry door today for my older brother. Got home and cleaned up, then this article is in my suggested list, watched to the end and liked. Great job, good idea on those hinge shims, glad I sourced the door from a local reliable plant, where I can look at the door before I get it loaded for the job, but if I ever come across this I’ll know what to do.
I appreciated your article. One thing I have done when the door is closer to hinge side but the hinges are set flush is just put something in the hinge and push it to close the door to bend the hinge open a little wider. It has to be done very carefully but you can achieve the same thing without having the hinge sit proud of the trim. I did a replacement just like this but have never tried it without removing the exterior trim. I’m definitely going to try it next round!
I have watched several of your articles. Each one was superb, and I gained alot of great insight and information from each of them. After perusal your prehung exterior door installation article, I went out and bought an inch and a half wide, stiff blade chisel edge putty knife. It seems indispensable to me on most all of my projects. Thanks again for sharing your impressive expertise and dedication to being such a fine craftsman. I hope you and Jordan keep the great articles coming.
I am a 25 yr door carpenter you did exactly what had to be done. God help you on the flooring. A trick I do is pull the plastic threshold cap and run a few screws inside to secure the threshold down. You can move doors all over by positioning shims cut out of ramboard (pasteboard) to tilt the hinges. Most of the millworks in my town are bad to awful and maybe that is how it is now but I warn everyone to avoid these Mastercraft doors period for many reasons.
Watching this…then checking all my doors lol. Thank you guys, I really appreciate you and all your hard work, I’ve learned a lot! Just finished tiling my backsplash, I’m in the process of refinishing my kitchen cabinets, then building an island. I probably won’t get to the front door till next year but is on my list and you gave me the confidence to do this and a few tips along the way.
Sorry Stud Pack, I was cut off before I could finish. After installing the newly formed Sill tray, use the quality sealant around the edges to prevent air leaks, around the Sill tray. As a note on the knob side of door, I would suggest using wider shims around the latch area so your customers can add reinforcement latches that contain 8-12 3″ harden screws to prevent door kick in’s that could pull your frame out of plumb without wider shims placed on latch side. These are simple couple of suggestions to you, and I say this respect. I have been installing doors and windows for years without water penetration. Keep up your wonderful work, I enjoy your articles. Best regards to you, Danny Price
In my career as carpenter and framer and trim out, I thought I’d seen every trick in the book on how to level out the door frame. But the shims behind the hinges was a first. And will definitely be sticking that tip in my hat. I’ve actually had to fix a door that a “HANDYMAN” changed out Yes He Put It UPSIDEDOWN! Go figure that one out 😂
I made some plastic hinge shims (out of styrene) just like in the article for another purpose. I was replacing all the hinges, knobs, lock hardware, striker plates, and such in my lady friend’s house to freshen it up. Most had multiple messes of sloppy paint on them from over the years and replacing seemed easiest. The house was built about 1950 and the new hinges I bought were thinner than the original ones. I needed to shim every hinge on both the door casing and the door.
Men, I love the article. I’ve installed a number of doors and completely feel your pain. However, instead of shimming the jam side hinge, I recommend trying to bend slightly the jam side hinge barrels towards the lock side. It works like a champ. It takes only minutes and requires no shims behind the hinges.
I’ve watched many many “how to install a door” articles. You are the first to ever explain why the reveal at the top corners can look weird or off and how to fix it by loosening one screw in the corner and tightening the other at the opposite corner until the reveals are the same. My god. That was life changing. I mean it. Thank you.
Those stick down tiles under your parquet may have asbestos in them…..we demoed over 3000 sg ft back in 1985 in our home and didn’t know that it was asbestos….thankfully the black adhesive had released and we picked them up in full tiles for the most part and since then have learned a few things. Enough to have help my Commercial Awning Contractors License and been building and remodeling ever since. I love your articles and appreciate you sharing your knowledge with others.
Great job, Paul and Jordan! I’ve hung many a door in my career, and that’s definitely a good way to do it. Taking the time to make your reveals correct and true allows the door and the jamb to have clearance for seasonal movement, and proper operation! It’s not just for looks, people! One thing you didn’t touch on was making sure to add a “shim pack” (hey, is that your 2nd website?) above and below the strike plates on the latch side of the door for reinforcement. I have also noticed a huge degradation in the quality of doors lately, especially from “Steves” and “Masonite” . It seems during the shortage times, the quality control has been severely compromised! The router job on the strike plate mortise would drive me absolutely crazy! Splitting the extension jamb like you did here saves a ton of time and effort when doing a door replacement! Very smart!
I just replaced 15 doors in my house with solid pine doors that I finished and painted. Fitment nightmares. I am not a professional carpenter by trade but I knew I couldn’t be that incompetent with door installation. The manufacturing quality was horrible. And I went to a window and door stop to buy them to get a ‘higher’ quality! I had to rebuilt the frames and reposition the door stops on most of them. I finally got the manufacturer’s rep out to look at them and he is replacing some on their dime. This project has taken most of the year and now I have to finish more doors to replace the ones that I already did. The whole project has been a nightmare thanks to horrible manufacturing. I feel your pain.
With productions builders like who built my house, the carpenter’s screwed the hinge side tight against the framing then put in some nails on the other side & didn’t care about the gaps between the door & the casing. All of the interior doors were installed the same way. I had to replace one door & there was not any shims at all. Then when carpenter I hired to replace the door was doing the same I stopped him & told to install the door correctly. He packed up his tools, said good luck & left. So my father & I ended up installing the door. I don’t think most carpenter’s know how to install a door correctly at least in Southeastern North Carolina.
I have to say, the Guy Fieri Diner’s Drive In’s and Dives vibes I got from this article had me giggling at first, but by the end of this article any doubt that I had about being able to DIY replacing my door is gone. The amount of detail put into this is incredible. Showing every step no matter how small on camera, explaining what you’re using and WHY you are doing what you do, and then explaining every possible thing you might come across is soo useful for someone like me who is just starting out in DIY home renovations. You explained every single bit of this in such a clear and thorough way, the editing and camera work was very entertaining and of professional quality, and it was just a joy to watch. I’ll definitely be back to watch more as I start more home projects, I’ve already seen so many articles on your website I need to watch in the future!
I went through this a few months ago.. What I found was the QC at the door manufacture was completely terrible, but the problem is, when you find the QC issues during install, you don’t have a door on the house and have little choice but to make their poorly manufactured door work anyway.. We ran into hinges not fully seated in the routed area and the screws the manufacture put in were stripped out (over spun with drill). We also had the door frame not perfectly square, etc.. Was all day to change each door..
Thank you. Your attention to detail is becoming a lost art. Hopefully the younger generation is perusal content like yours. I’m a subscriber and although I’ve done a lot of the same jobs you work on, I have picked up some tips and tricks from each of your articles. One thing I am doing on exterior door installations is hardening the area where the dead bolt goes into the frame. I normally put a 3 foot strip of steel next to the 2×4 framing and secure it with long screws. It helps to make it secure from being kicked in. I also use structural screws on the hinges. That is most important on the lower ones. Keep the good content coming.
Glad that you focused in on all the shortcomings of the prehung door. We have seen a steep decline in quality control among almost every company we order prehung doors (and also windows in general) from. It’s such a sad state – paying premium price for absolutely horribly put together material. At this rate, ten more years and we will be ordering slabs and making our own frames.
Great job!!! Love the fact you took the time and explained what you were doing at every step of the way and why. Not every door replacement would or will be same. Some are wood and others metal. I’ve just discovered you guys and if you haven’t done a door replacement on a metal frame with a side light that would be great! I need to replace mine. Again, great job. Worth the time to watch.👍
Love this information! Thank you so much! I have a request for a article. I’m going to be installing an antique door (I already watched your article on the double antique door install), but it’s an exterior door and I have to reframe it out. Could you make a article on that? I did find a article on how to reframe an exterior door but I’m sure an all in one from you guys would be VERY helpful! 😊
Nice job. This is why I hang my own doors in a jamb I fabricate. Most manufacturers do a nice job fabricating there doors and jambs. Some of them don’t fit that well. I worked for the same company for nearly 40 yrs hanging all the interior doors and specialty exterior doors. So I’ve seen my share of terrible doors installation. But again I enjoy your articles as sometimes it seems you can learn something that works for others.
This article popped up in my feed, and I watched it from the perspective of a residential/commercial door specialist, having installed many thousands of doors, reinstalled many thousands more. I also taught proper door installation to other carpenters. I know, too well, the deficiencies of door manufacturers and production framing crews. I have watched many u-tube carpenters install a door and face-palm. A correct swap, well done. You even called out the larger #9 screw ( I use stainless) on the security screw. I also use 3″ # 7’s for strike and latch plates. Criminals beware 🙂 !
I’m a DYI guy and I purchased one of those oscillating dewalt tools at the beginning 2021 ( buzz tool you stated ) That thing is priceless to my tool arsenal, it has save me countless hours using that thing for all kinds different projects / repairs, Great door article and good tips.! Your earned a subscribe here, I’ll be looking for other article’s.
Great article. I like to carry a bunch of small washers and place them around the hinge screw holes to use as shims when needed. Using washers also gives you the ability to tilt the hinge if needed, by using on just the two outside holes, instead of all four holes. Sometimes even small washers are too thick for the adjustment I need. A few layers of masking tape in this case will get me to the perfect thickness. To help not having to open and close the door so many times to test gap thickness, I will take a wood shim and slide it into the gap at the top and botom of the door where my gap is established. I push the shim in until it sits snug in the gap between the jamb and the door. I then take another scrap of shim and some CA glue (2p10 glue as you brand reference it) I glue the scrap to my gap shim lining up against the jamb creating a positive stop. I them use the gap shim up and down the jamb where needed sliding shims in-between the jamb and the framing until it presses snug against my gap shim. This creates the perfect gap with a lot less opening and closing of the door. If one doesn’t have CA glue handy, you can also just make a pencil line on the gap shim. Having the stop makes it easier though.
Instead of messing with shims behind your hinge which pushes out the hinge from the mortice. You can bend the hinge by putting a nail between the hinge halves and closing the door partially and gently. Go a little at a time until you get it just right. I’ve had them so bad I had to use a screwdriver as a spacer in order to get it to bend enough. You can get it perfect without making the hinge look like it’s mounted funny. Keep up the great work!
Great article as always, but every time you showed a close up of the prehung door, I realized you should purchase your prehungs from another supplier. you pointed out some issues but I also noticed the routing for the hinges on the door itself was from front to back, thats pretty bad. But like always, you guys make the best of it.
Can you cover in another article how you handled that interior flooring leading up to the threshold? Did you just rip down some parquet flooring and install it close to the wall? That’s one of the steps everybody seems to skip on these interior door install articles. I’m so glad you guys are having such success growing this website, your articles are great!
Retailers, Home Depot and Lowes for example, have the doors in racks. The doors are pulled and pushed in and out of the racks. This pulling and pushing can twist the door and change the alignment. Often the bag with the parts, screws and plugs gets ripped off when caught while being pulled out of the rack. Most customers will just grab another bag off the next door.
This is EXACTLY what I was looking for – a article where you keep the exterior trim in place. The rest is excellent too. I also like that you talked about how you had to get the hinge shims made and then came back the next day. Lastly, the reality of how many times you had to put the wooden shims and screw in and out was showing the reality of how long all of this takes. Excellent article!
I have hung dozens of doors and it is somewhat of an art. On older houses, like this one, it can be a struggle. On new houses, professional door hangers would have hung this door in less than 30 minutes max. Guys that hang doors for a living are far quicker than I am. However, my end quality is far better than theirs is. You did a great job in hanging this door. A LOT of pre-hung doors have numerous problems and it makes them hard to hang.
Great article! We definitely had some issues with the quality of the manufacturing. Should the door hinges be touching when the door is closed? Does the gap between hinges mean you have a problem? Also on the strike side, on the bottom corner, where the 2 pieces of weatherstripping meet, it was overlapping, allowing light to come thru. Should I cut back the weatherstripping or adjust the installation of the door?
Big box store door, likely. I appreciate all the details you provided. I like using 3″ GRK trim head screws under the weather strip. I flip it up out of the way and run them through a set of shims. At the latch, higher end doors provide a heavy plate to set under the strike plates and provide #10×3″ screws. It adds a little extra security against doors getting kicked in easily. Thanks for the posting. I enjoyed it thoroughly, partly because someone else was dealing with the challenges that ALWAYS come w remodeling projects. Good on you. Blessings to you and yours and a Merry Christmas 🎅🎄
Hey guys great article. I am a carpenter/ handyman for 35 + years. This is a question for further discussion. I agree the mortising on your door was not perfect. But if you have a door with perfectly flush hinge plates and the gap is still too small, would it be unrealistic to think that the hinge offset is a messed up and that the hinge itself needs to be bent? Right where the pin loop meets the flat plate.
25 years ago I worked as Shop Foreman at Pella of Georgia. When assembling the door to the frame we installed two pressed cardboard shims at each hinge and we had some soft vinyl 90 degree shims that we stapled on the interior edge with the leg between the door slab and the frame. Makes the install much simpler. Personally I like the pressed cardboard hinge shims better than plastic.
Paul, great tips on door installation! I’ve been procrastinating replacing my front door for some time. You’ve given me the confidence I need to tackle the job. Your article revealed you had to deal with fixing some door manufacturer problems. Any tips on a good brand of door to avoid such issues? I also have a home alarm to deal with on the door. Any tips on how to deal with alarm contacts? It has a hidden magnetic contact on the bottom jamb area. I’d like to make the installation easy as possible.
17:05 I’ll tape off the hinge or put a shim on the hinge (with tape or command strip) when doing this for that extra extra overkill protection if not hitting it with blade, especially if a “painted hinge”😊. Rather be a bit cautious than ding up painted/finished hardware and regardless where it’s at, someone will eventually see it, always happens
I never use those kinda shims… I don’t think the main problems in the hinges, it’s in the jambs or sometimes the slab itself warping some. Also, in other articles, I’ve commented on how I like to use some liquid nails as I place my shims so shims will stay in for the long haul & not move or split. This also holds them in while I’m still adjusting the door & jamb. I also want to screw or nail thru the shims, so I like to pre drill &/or countersink as needed.
Boy – I’m not sure if I am happy for replacing my door without perusal this article or if I wished I had seen it beforehand! Props to you guys for such attention to detail – I just stuck it in there and didn’t really pay attention to the reveal depth on each side. I figured as long as it is plumb, the manufacturer would have everything else set right. You guys are amazing! Can’t believe you took the time to shim even the hinges. Great job!
Excellent step by step. Glad I was able to see your custom shims. Always nice to see new products that solve common problems. I too did this with door latches and deadbolts. Over on my page here on YT. If you were to add a double-sided tape to get them to stick, that would be very helpful to your invention.
Just what I needed! We have a renter moving out of our single family rental. Her son “accidentally” kicked the door to close it a little too hard and busted it up pretty good. I’ve only replaced a front door one other time on a 1927 house that we live in and it was a bitch. Had to remove all of the exterior trim. I was not looking forward to that again. But after finding your article I’m pretty excited about replacing the door! lol Final walkthrough of the house is this weekend after Thanksgiving. Probably a bunch more minor repairs to do. Nothing my wife and I can’t handle! Thank you for making this article!!
Great article. I learned a lot. But I don’t understand why you didn’t remove the door from the jamb prior to attaching the jamb to the frame. It seems that muscling the entire pre-hung unit about is more work than necessary and the weight of the door may actually work against you when attaching and plumbing the jamb to the frame. Also, what is that power tool you used to cut the nails securing old jamb to the outside casing, and what type if blade did you have on it? I think you used that same power tool to cut the excess shim material off too, but it might have had a different blade on it for that. Did you call it a “buzz saw”? Could you please provide a link to the type and maybe even the brand of that “buzz saw” tool?
Good one. Now, how do you install a door like that when the walls are cinder block? Tapcon screws kind of suck at best, and are no go for a door hinge. My temporary fix a few years ago was to install 2×10 wood frame against the cinderblock, then put a 32×80 pre-hung door in. It works, but you better only ever buy really skinny furniture going forward. I’m going to have to redo that door after the next project is done, so I’ll again face the problem of dealing with the cinder block walls.
It was when you pulled up the rotten flooring that made me realize why I never assume any job will go easy. You got the door in and it looked great, but now you’re moving onto doing the floor. And when you redo the floor, something else will show up. It all starts to snowball into way more than you anticipated. Anyway, it was still informative and my new house needs a new door coming in from the garage to the laundry room. I will be using this article as a reference for sure.
I had a carpenter install 6 new interior doors many years ago. They never really shut right, or at least three of them did not. I had to remortise the hinges locations properly. Since the carpenter didn’t have a jig, some of the mortises in the door for the hinges were too deep. I will grab pieces of paper, or thicker oak tag, and tap them with a hammer lightly against the mortise on the door to make a thin spacer. I then cut them out and installed it behind the hinge.
Little trick I inadvertently learned. Use composite screws to get door adjusted left to right. When you sink them, the reverse threads at the top of the screw allow you to back the screw in and out without the head moving to a proud position, but moves the door frame. Makes it easy to get the door frames perfect all the way up the legs with ease of adjustment. Add shims to fit and trim nail them off…good to go!
Even if you never intend to do this type of work it is helpful to see the process and what it should look like as it’s being done so that if you hire the work to be done you’ll know if it’s not being done right. This article like your others, also show that contractors have to happily deal with many unexpected real world things on site. As a contractor myself I appreciate your many tutorials. I had not thought of the adjusting screws on the top to lean it one way or the other. Previously I had a fight with shims. Love a simple solution. Brilliant! I tend to run caulk first when assembling casings, than wipe clean for a much sharper joint lines. Baseboard that way too.
great work, thank you. sure wish you were in my area because i paid Angie/ home advisor too much $money to NOT hang an exterior door and dead bolt the right way as it is wrong. not a professional work at all, drilled hole for dead bolt wrong-ruined that door+ other framed Prehung door installed wrong. cracked the outer vinyl on top of door opening and closing not shimmed correctly.
This article has to be the best damn article in all of YouTube on how to install an exterior door. I’ve been perusal so many articles and they skip and they don’t go into detail explanation what I need because I’m not a carpenter and I’ve never done this before but with the instructions that I received from this young man will prove to me that I’m not that stupid. I just can’t tell you how appreciate I am to find this article I asked the Lord Jesus Christ to help me find a very good article on how to install an exterior door and there it goes Jesus Christ has never let me down that’s why I love him with all my life and might and gentlemen God bless you and your family and all the viewers that follow you thank you so thank you very very very much. ✝️✝️✝️🇺🇸
It appears you put a screw in the door casing just next to the hinge to prevent the casing from moving in the future. Might I suggest putting the screw under the top hinge location prior to screwing the hinge to the casing. That way there is no need for a plug or anything and you will always have access to the screw In the future.
I spent 5 grand on a pre hung fiberglass door. 36″ x 8′. Those idiots made the frame the same size as the door. My carpenter struggled to put it on and then the door shoe at the bottom would not let the door close once installed. He had to trim the bottom of the door to get it to work. At the end of the day it closes nice, but obviously the gaps are not perfect around the door.
I taught myself to hang doors and many other carpentry type installs as well without prior experience. It’s not that challenging or difficult and in fact you don’t need a college degree. You need patience, keen eye and ability to think the install through. Be willing to measure twice and cut one mentality and have the correct tools at hand. Good luck.
Great tips on fixing reveal and how to shim behind hinges. One thing I was hoping to see was the security plate behind the deadbolt, addressing when a door & frame are not on the same Plane, showing how to put the plugs in over the screws in the trim (not as easy as it sounds) and adding the hardware back on and indicating a 2 3/8″ backset VS 2 3/4″ backset. Overall great job and if you’re interested in doing a plant tour, reach out to your nearest ProVia Distributor to see what it would take to go…ABC Supply, Beacon Building Products, Lansing Building Products or Alside Supply etc…
great explanation! I love when people run into common issues when doing an install because that’s real life DIY. I’m a handyman myself and I enjoy seeing different ways to approach a job. Example, your job a a brick face wall whereas most articles have wood frame. Well here in Florida a lot of homes are block homes, so this could help people who are trying to install a door in a block/brick home. Thank you for the awesome article! I’m officially a new subscriber!👍👍
That’s why I build my own jambs and router out my own plates and hinges. Drill my own holes for the lock sets and dead bolts. Buy the slab, and jamb sets either the thresholds, If the threshold is not included, you buy one separate or build your own. The customer deserves the best and that’s what I’ve always provided for them. I don’t fight the door manufacturers, because it’s not our job to fight them and it leaves imperfections on the surface that have to be repaired and that takes up valuable time that you can be using on important work. “fk repairing other people’s work” I look at it like this….they’re messing up the work, it looks like crap l, they go on with their lives and I have to clean that up? NOPE !!! it’s not good for me or the customer. Manufactures only think about money. Go around them and eliminate them from the loop so they learn to build quality products. No quality, no business. Not from me anyway. Building door jamb allows you to custom fit every opening right from the start when you have all the pieces. You can rip the jamb down to the width you want, and not have to modify someone else’s work. Most of the time it can work but there a small percentage of time it doesn’t. Building a jamb isn’t like building a rocket, plus it’s a lot of fun in the shop while you’re perusal judge Judy or American Greed 😂 The customer can choose their own hardware and lock sets and they will fit perfect because it’s not a monkey in a fast paced environment using tools free hand instead of using a tuned jig.
Wood shims split and compress over time, I always use composite shims and a great source is the left over pieces of a 2″ horizontal faux wood blind that you remove when you shorten a blind. Any shop that makes Custom Blinds can and usually are happy to give you a bunch of them. I have never thrown them away and have found many uses for them. I once used them full length to shim drywall over a plaster wall, instead of demoing the plaster we just shimmed the wall plumb and went right over it. Of course every door and window had to have the jams custom cut but we have the technology and were remodeling the entire kitchen anyway.
You Can Avoid Using Shims Behind The Hinges, By Bending The Hinge. No Two Hinges Are The Same. So What I Saw Was You Had To Add Shims To 2 Hinges Well More Than Likely You Only Needed To Bend Those 2 Hinges. My Family And I Install Windows And Doors Every Day Approximately 2500 Windows And Over 600 Doors A Year. We Have To Bend At Least One Hinge On Every Door We Install To Get That Hinge Reveal Just Right. How Pull Pin, Then Bend Hinge Barrels That Is Attached To Door Slab, Not The Hinge On Jamb. Now Bend Barrels In The Opposite Direction Of The Way You Want The Slab To Go. Your Case The Slab Need To Go Left, Bend Barrels To Right, It Is A Very Small Bend. Bend, Put Pin Back In, Check. Not Good Pull Pin Bend A Little More. Another Trick Is Always Start With Hinge Side Like You Did. But A Nice Trick Before Bending Or Making Reveal Nice And Straight. Quickly Run A Chalk Line Or String Down Jamb To Ensure That You Jamb Is Perfectly Straight The Whole Length. Hope It Helps. You Wont Need Those Custom Shims Anymore. Thanks For Doing Good Work. God Bless.
THANK YOU, you motivated me to fixed my REVEALESS external door after 7 years of neglect. Made the shims out of OLD plastic (flexible) cutting boards. Only downside with using the flexible cutting boards were they were too thin and I had to cut and stack too many shims together. Would recommend THICKER plastic materials to get larger gaps closed with having to cut a lot of shims.
This is very helpful. I will be replacing 2 or 3 doors in my shop and barn, plus another door at my rental property. I should be a pro if I am able to finish all of those projects, and this article will definitely provide my go-to help guide. BTW I am a very recent subscriber. Thanks for your efforts in creating these articles.
I found a beautiful 19th century door, it came with a custom milled frame (to fit “modern” frame size), and I got hung up about removing the old door. I wish the nails were as dainty as the ones you removed! I feel like you skipped over some details, but now I can see what to research a bit more. I feel unable to figure out the threshold, I’d like a new threshold. Nevertheless, this article has given me some courage to make an attempt. Thanks! 🧡😎✌️ ETA: getting lots of help from the comments! 👍 This really is the best, or essentially the only, exterior door article to see. I appreciate the effort. 😎
Appreciate the step-by-step and all the details. As a DIYer I’ve done a few exterior doors including patio French doors. Sometimes I got the wrong door and need to modify swing the other way or put in a 36″ door in a 32″ opening. That were fun for 2 or more days each! Little guy working alone with heavy doors needed JawHorse to position it and inflatable air wedge on the bottom for pin alignment. Keyless entry and Ring Wi-Fi article doorbell would be nice.
Great realistic article, showing the inevitable problems with this operation–problems glossed over in many other articles on this subject. I too have encountered numerous imperfections in various brands of prehung exterior doors, requiring various workarounds, including the shims behind the hinges. I was wondering if you have found any specific brand or supplier of prehung doors with the least problems. Thank you.
We were refabing and had the idea of making an interior door to be a front door to an apartment. Front doors are expensive so I decided to buy a beautiful fiberglass slab door, let me tell you it was the worst decision I’ve ever made. Getting the Slab to fit was a challenge, it didn’t. The levels on all 3 sides were wrong so the door was not able to compensate for it. We could close the door and still look through to the sides of the door and underneath the door. I disregarded what all the door people were telling me and they said to get a hung door. I should have listened. I spent $900 on two slab doors and they are now essentially trash. I have to buy hung doors with frames. Dealing with doors is not easy, leave it to the professionals, you will save yourself a lot of heartache even tough it will cost you plenty.
This was the best instructional article I have ever seen. My door is exactly like that one and I have avoided changing it because of the trim. Now that I know I can do it without removing the trim I am going to try. Unfortunately I can’t afford to pay anyone to do the job so thank you so much and God Bless!!!
I just want you to know that your aggressive marketing worked 😂 Seriously though, I have to redo almost every door in my house and I am a novice with powertools because all I was allowed to hold was the flashlight. I love your action shots because they let me know in what ways what tools can be used.
You are doing the person who will behind this door a disservice by not using screws that go into the framing not just that little 1 by stock. Do the same on the strike side as well. Use at least a 3 1/2 inch GRK screw. It won’t stop a determined intruder but it will slow them down and make a hell of a lot of noise.
You did a great job! I’ve been a carpenter for 48 years. It’s a shame what’s happening to the business. Shoddy workmanship in manufacturing. The extra miles you had to go to make it work out is terrible, but imagine what the homeowners would have to put up with if you didn’t. Most carpenters would not have bothered. All about the $$$ now! Nice to watch your workmanship. BTW, subscribed.
Why not bend the tabs on the hinges to create more space instead of putting a shim behind it? If you do that, the face of the hinge will still be flush with the face of the jam. You can also do it without taking the screws out of the hinge. Just remove the pin and use a pair of plyers and a leather strip to protect the hinge. Put the pin back and you are good to go.
Thank you! For taking the time to post and to teach as well as both of you do. Your knowledge is a treasure trove on the website. I often watch your articles, not all will agree with your approach, and there are many haters. Your full explanation and no nonsense approach is what keeps me riveted. Love the website and great job guys.
Ear protection. Use a set of foam plugs that are on a string, let them hang around my neck and tuck them into the front of my t-shirt. Out of the way and it’s easy to just pull one ear out to talk. May get your ears dirtier from rolling the plug with dirty hands, that’s only negative. tried a bunch and then bought them by the box of 500. No excuse for the guys to not have them.
I like how you didn’t remove the brick molding. That definitely helped to align vertical angle assuming it was good. Every door opening has a handful of potential issues dealing with framing alignment and much more. Door manufacturers have ideal factory conditions for making that door. Each door SHOULD be a perfect carbon copy. Human manufacturing error is definitely the Murphy’s Law factor.
@7:50 … WRONG …. (New Construction) The brickmold is not put on AFTER Brick, the door and the brickmold is installed FIRST and then the masons lay brick TO the brickmold …. In new construction it doesn’t matter if the framing is plumb, the door is set in the hole and the bottom rests on the slab, and unless the framers or cornice crew (whoever is setting the door) takes the time to perfectly shim and level the door (which they don’t) the door AND trim can be slightly unlevel and out of plumb and most crews will CHECK for plumb, but if it’s close they yell “NAIL IT !!!!” and bam bam bam go ….. That door and brickmold was set BEFORE the brick was laid, so don’t blame the brick for the brickmold being out of plumb, the brick wasn’t there during initial door installation when the house was built ……
a commercial carpenter in NYC,you haven’t lived till you unload a 53 ‘ trailer of doors,,,our doors are set off a benchmark,but basically the same install,shim on top at header that way you can’t go too far …shim behind hinges and shim strike screw to hold. ….stanley hinges came with cardboard strips wit adhesive backs to PACK hinges,don’t come that way now as when I retired..we used veneers shims or wooden coffee stirrers. .the doors were leveled off BM 5’ AFF. (5; ABOVE FINISHED FLOOR) measure off top of door to set a bank of doors to same height to be more precise,we made a story pole
I noticed over the years it’s good to have a general on the job who can do most of the needed parts of a project from studs to finish . Things can get messed up or extra work created for other companies that could have been avoided had one crew been doing everything in the correct order for maximum efficiency imo. Things don’t always work out perfect but yeah man, being able to do most of the work minus HVAC license and electrical and plumbing which we do anyways when it’s fixing and replacing, there’s nothing that can’t be done with some good knowledge and some get up. I see this in your articles when I watch you guys work. Efficient and doing a good job, hats off . I wouldn’t have even commented I didn’t like the way you’re doing things.
hey guys… enjoy your website. Ive watched this vid about 15 times and I am attempting the entry door replacement. Im to the part where you saw the nails from the door jam. I have plaster walls. The plaster goes nice and neatly all the way to the jam all around the door. I cant get at the nails to saw them off…???!!!! Time to call a professional??? Thanks