front door

texas2007 · Sat Jul 07, 2007 4:11 pm

I am looking for a new front door. I cannot seem to find a reasonably priced one. If possible, I would like to buy one locally from Lowes or Home Depot. I am also looking for a screen door for it, as mine had to be thrown away due to the wind destroying it! I would appreciate any ideas!

JD · Sat Jul 07, 2007 4:32 pm

Hi Texas,

The first thing to do is to measure your "rough opening" to see if a store bought door will fit without modification. The best way to do this is to pull off the trim (casing) on the inside of the door. You should see the edge of the door and probably some wood shims between the door and the framing. Measure the distance between the 2x framing the door is in and then measure from the floor to the 2x wood framing over the top of the door frame. This is your rough opening. On older homes, this measurement is usually an inch to narrow for a store bought prehung door and sometimes 4-6 inches too short.

If this is the case, you will have to determine if you want to open up that wall to modify the framing, which will allow you to buy a cheaper but nicer door from the local home stores or if you want the easier install job and order a mobile home door that will slide right in, with the new screen door already installed on the door frame. You could be talking $250+ difference in total cost and maybe 4-6 hours labor difference in labor (your mileage may vary).

JD

Maureen · Mon Jul 09, 2007 12:10 am

Hi Texas,

It would be most helpful if we had the age of your home. Filling out a profile on this site is very important. We don't need a lot of personal details, just your local and info about your home.

When I get some down time over the next few weeks, I'm hoping to post some Directions For Posting on this board. It's very important to know the age of your home, your skills, your local, etc. Fixes depend on those answers.

You can fit any store bought door into your home, providing your able to modify your home, if needed. It's very possible that you can buy a combo door and storm and do the very same thing! Most depends on your skill and the exterior structure of your home.

Maureen