| In
This Article:
The rough opening is prepared
and the pre-hung entry door is tilted into place, shimmed and
fastened. |
Related
Articles:
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| Skill Level:
2-3 (Basic to Intermediate) |
Time Taken:
About An Hour |
By
Bruce W. Maki,
Editor
While this project may be a tiny garden shed, conventional
residential construction methods were used so the door installation
should be similar to that of a 2x4 framed house.
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This was my starting point. The roof was
complete and I had applied 15 pound felt (tar paper) to
the wall sheathing.
I wrapped the felt around the door and window
openings and stapled it tight. |
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| A friend gave me this old door when he
replaced it with a newer door. When we removed this
door, the brick moulding trim fell apart.
So I made new trim from Azek cellular PVC. |
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Instead of using a PVC brick moulding
trim, I ripped 3 inch wide pieces of Azek for the side
casing. |
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| The top casing was a 3 inch wide casing
ripped on a 10-degree bevel, with a "lookout"
board attached to the top. |
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I used my small utility trailer as a
rolling workbench. This allowed me to easily roll the
door from my garage to the shed where it was being
installed. |
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Preparations For Installing A New Door:
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The first step in door installation is to
create a perfectly plumb surface to so the hinge
side of the door jamb can be attached.
To create this plumb surface I normally fasten 3
sets of shims to the rough opening. |
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LEFT:
I used my best 4-foot level to establish the thickness
of the middle set of shims.
RIGHT:
Then I established the thickness of the upper set of
shims. |
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| These 3 shims (red arrows) are the main
contact points between the door jamb and the wall
framing, so it's important that they be directly
behind the door hinges, otherwise the jamb will flex
when fastened to the stud. |
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I trimmed off the shims on the outside of
the door opening. |
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More Door Preparations:
To seal the gap under a pre-hung door, caulk is
normally applied.
But I decided to try something different... I glued a
piece of foam sill seal insulation to the
underside of the door sill. |
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Installing The Door... Without A Helper
My outlook is: Why carry something when I can roll it.
When I use a trailer dolly under the tongue of my cheapo
utility trailer, it becomes an oversize wagon.
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First I flipped the door over so
the door trim was face down across the sides of
the trailer.
Then I rolled the trailer in front of the door
opening in the shed, being careful to align the door
with the opening. |
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| I slid the door off the trailer and placed
the lowest part of the door jambs in the rough opening. |
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I tilted the door upwards into the
opening. |
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| I firmly pushed the door and jamb towards
the the hinge side of the rough opening (the
right-hand side in this case).
I set the level against the jamb, made sure it was
plumb, and drove in two 2½" finish nails to
keep the door from falling over.
A pneumatic nailer makes this easier, but ordinary
galvanized finish nails work too, even when working
solo. |
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Then I nailed through the jamb near the
middle hinge, and also at the bottom hinge. |
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With the door partly fastened, I climbed in through the window
so I could install shims on the striker side of the door.
| By looking at the gap between the door and
the jamb, I could tell that the striker side jamb was
too high.
This seemed logical, since I had glued that strip of
foam sill seal to the bottom of the sill. The weight of
the door compressed the foam on the hinge side, but not
on the striker side (since all of the weight is carried
by the hinge side).
So I forced two shims (red arrow) into the space
above the head jamb. I measured the length across each
diagonal and kept increasing the shim thickness until
the diagonal measurements were the same.
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Normally I use two shims in opposite
directions, so their outer surfaces are parallel.
If the framing is warped, I will use one or more
shims pointed in the same direction, to create a surface
that is parallel to the door jamb. This can be a real
pain in the neck.
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| To support the door jamb around the
striker, I placed pairs of shims above and below
the door knob hole.
I also placed shims at the bottom of the jamb.
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Back Outdoors...
Once the striker side of the door was shimmed in a
few places, I nailed the jamb at the top...
|
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| ... and I nailed the side jamb above
and below the striker area. |
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A couple of nails at the bottom completed
the basic fastening of the door. |
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| Then I climbed in through the window and
removed the screws that held the temporary cross-bar to
the door jambs. |
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Finally I could open the door. |
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But Wait, There's More:
To fully support the weight of the door, I drove in
two 3" flat-head wood screws through the
inboard holes in the upper door hinge.
I did this to the bottom hinge too. Many entry doors
instruct the installer to drive long screws through the
hinges into the wall framing. |
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After this step I installed more shims on the striker side, just
to make sure the striker jamb would stay straight. I placed pairs of
shims every 10 inches, starting at the top. You can see these shims
in the picture below. Then I drove nails through the jamb at each
set of shims.
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Once the jambs were nailed to the rough
opening, I nailed the door casing to the wall. I used my
finish nailer with 2½" nails, but these aren't the
best fasteners because pull out too easily.
For better holding power I drove in several 2½"
stainless steel ring-shank siding nails through the
casing. These nails sucked the casing in tight against
the wall.
(Note: Stainless steel nails aren't necessary...
galvanized siding nails would be okay.) |
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After the door was installed and the casing nailed tight, I
applied a bead of siliconized acrylic latex caulk between the outer
edge of the casing and the tar paper on the wall. This should help
prevent water from getting behind the casing.
| The completed entry door installation.
Once the window is installed in the opening on the
other wall, this project will be ready for siding. |
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Door Installation Completed:
I later removed the door (by pulling out the hinge
pins) and painted it with two coats of 100 per cent
acrylic exterior paint. |
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More Info:
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Tools
Used:
- Basic
Carpentry Tools
- Cordless
Drill/Driver
- Pneumatic
Finish Nailer
- Pneumatic
Brad Nailer
- Air
Compressor
- 4-Foot
Level
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Materials
Used:
- Pre-Hung
Steel Entry Door, 36"
- Finish
Nails, 2½"
- Shims
- Foam
Sill-Seal Insulation
- Wood
Screws, 3"
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Links:
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