exterior doors

[nattydreadlocks]

Currently, I have a combination door. The door itself is trashed and the recess in the fiberboard jamb for the lock set is gone. The price of a exterior prehung door is way out of my budget. I was thinking about using a jamb kit. Lowes sells a two inch thick jamb kit that will fit my 2x4 walls for about $60. Has anyone every tried this?

[Greg]

I personally would install a whole new steel door assembly and be done with the problem, You may have to enlarge the opening to fit a full size door. Greg

[Brenda (OH)]

I have not used a jam kit, but I did have a door jam that had no more wood to drill into where the deadbolt and plate needed to go on the door frame. all of the wood had been previously drilled out or busted.

this fix may let you keep going while you save up for the replacement door.

I removed the few remaining pieces of wood, and made the hole a rectangle.

I found that a piece of trex material about 4 inches long, (the trex was about 1 1/2 or so square), from a balaster trex piece fit the space.
I had tried a chunk of 2x4, but it split when I tried to drill the hole in it.

I installed it into the door frame, part of it also went back into the wallspace.

I then used a spade bit to cut out the hole needed for the deadbolt to go into the frame.
since the material is a solid block, it did not split even though the material left on each side of the hole was very narrow.

Trex is the composite decking material. I had found the balaster pieces on clearance and bought them to use between the ground and wood for when I make exterior stair sets.

the trex is hard to screw into unless you predrill it, and I used high quality deck screws. I think I was able to install the plate with the hole in it, but since the repair was done last year, I won't swear to that part.... lol

Brenda (OH)

[nattydreadlocks]

Steel doors are cheap and can be found in the width I need for about a $100. I can cut one down to length with a circular saw no problem. My question is how thick are the jambs? Two inches? I did not want to tare mine apart just to find out that the jambs are one inch thick.

[Greg]

I think most jams are 3/4" thick. If you want to go thicker you would need a 2x next to it, that would allow you to use a long dead bolt lock. You can also use a steel reinforcement plate. Greg

[nattydreadlocks]

Just saw that Lowes sells a anti-brake-in kit. It has a 48" long steel jamb liner which slips over the jambs. The video shows that it works fine on damaged jambs. Might take a look at it.