Everything You Need to Know About Replacing the Front Door

It’s calendar week five of our six-week challenge! We’re participating inwards the One Room Challenge, where nosotros are completely renovating 1 infinite inwards our habitation inwards simply half dozen weeks. This Spring, nosotros decided to tackle our entry, which has been a lot to a greater extent than function than nosotros anticipated!  Replacing our outdated front end door was 1 of the musts of updating this space. I thought the chore was going to survive a fleck daunting, but it turned out to survive a fairly unproblematic process. Replacing the erstwhile wooden front end door amongst a novel dark front end door was well-worth it!

*This ship service was sponsored past times The Home Depot Canada. As always, opinions are 100% my own. For to a greater extent than information, delight meet my disclosure page.*

This is the door nosotros decided to replace. Actually, it wasn’t much of a determination at all. As presently equally nosotros decided to tackle the entry, my hubby in addition to I knew that this door had to go. We knew nosotros were going to become to The Home Depot to teach a door because nosotros loved the alternative there – it’s 1 of those areas of The Home Depot that nosotros would simply walk through to expect roughly every fourth dimension nosotros were buying lumber or pigment or anything really, lol.

There is a really helpful subdivision associate to assist you lot figure out everything you lot demand to know, but it helps to guide keep a caput start. Here’s what nosotros needed to know earlier nosotros were able to teach our sleek novel dark front end door.

Things to catch when you lot are replacing the front end door:

Size of your door casing

• Obviously, this is the start affair you lot demand to know when replacing the front end door. To figure this out, accept off a slice of your interior moldings in addition to your exterior brick moldings, in addition to hence you lot tin determine your wall thickness (i.e. if your household is a 2×6 or 2×8, etc. frame).
  
  
  
  • The means nosotros figured out our width was past times sticking a steel rod inwards betwixt our existing door in addition to existing framing. Once it was all of the means through, nosotros marked that on the rod in addition to measured that distance (which for us was 2×8″ framing).
  
  
  
  

• Once you lot know your frame size, you lot likewise demand the thickness of your drywall in addition to the exterior OSB board (always on the exterior of the household betwixt the siding in addition to the framing). Add all iii together in addition to you lot volition know how broad the casing needs to survive for the novel door.
  
  
  
  • Our walls were 2x8s (7 1/2″), the OSB was 1/2″ thick, in addition to nosotros had 1/2″ drywall – in addition to hence nosotros ordered an 8 1/2″ casing for our novel front end door
  
  
  
  

Rough opening acme in addition to width

• Taking off your exterior mouldings volition likewise allow you lot to uncovering your stone oil opening width in addition to height.

• To teach the width, simply stair out from the exterior border of the framing on 1 side, to the exterior border on the other side.

• Rough opening acme is simply the locomote past times of the framing to the bottom. The locomote past times is tardily to figure out 1 time the molding is removed – it’s simply the measuring to a higher identify the framing.

• The bottom tin survive a fleck trickier because at that spot tin survive a lot of variables affecting it, such equally electrical flow flooring or subflooring, in addition to whether or non you lot are edifice off concrete.
  
  
  
  • You tin accept 2 measurements for this: the measuring from the locomote past times to the flooring surface (e.g. locomote past times of your hardwood), in addition to the measuring from the locomote past times to the lowest indicate underneath your flooring (e.g. the concrete slab underneath), which volition compass you lot your maximum stone oil opening.
  
  
  • In our representative knew nosotros were edifice off a concrete slab in addition to hence nosotros drilled a hole through the door sill in addition to subfloor, to the concrete slab underneath to determine our maximum stone oil opening size.If you lot are replacing the flooring, you lot may likewise desire to accept into line of piece of occupation organisation human relationship the novel flooring measurements
  
  
  
  

• If you lot are replacing the flooring, you lot may likewise desire to accept into line of piece of occupation organisation human relationship the novel flooring measurements.
  
  
  
  • We knew nosotros were adding heated flooring, sparse develop in addition to tile which added to 5/8″
  
  
  
  

How you lot desire your novel door to look

• Take a motion-picture demo or banker's complaint which means your door opens (to the within or outside) in addition to which side the hinges are mounted on


• Do you lot desire a sidelight? Is at that spot room for one? If you lot desire 1 in addition to at that spot isn’t space, you lot may guide keep to exercise some structural function in addition to framing to add together one.


• Get ideas of what door features you lot like. I spent some fourth dimension perusing Pinterest to uncovering exterior door inspiration. Here are some things to consider:
  
  
  
  • Do you lot desire glass? How much? Do you lot desire it frosted?
  
  
  • What type of door exercise you lot want? (e.g. steel, wood, or fiberglass doors)
  
  
  • What exercise you lot desire the door frame made of? (e.g. vinyl or wood)
  
  
  • What door hardware options exercise you lot similar the best?
  
  
  
  

Once you lot guide keep these measurements, accept all this information to your local Home Depot store. Their experts volition sit down amongst you, accept all of this info, in addition to they volition assist you lot scroll through the options available for replacing the front end door. I definitely didn’t know just which door nosotros would teach when nosotros sat down, but nosotros knew that nosotros actually wanted something contemporary in addition to I ever wanted a dark front end door. We were in addition to hence happy amongst the Masonite door nosotros ended upward choosing!

Installing your novel door

• After a few weeks, your door volition arrive


• Use a sawzall to cutting roughly frame of erstwhile door in addition to though screws that held the erstwhile door inwards place. Then take the door.

• Look for whatever rot or mold earlier installing the novel door. We had to supersede our bottom sill, which you lot tin meet was pretty moldy…

• Follow the instructions that come upward amongst the door to shim in addition to install it

I was overjoyed when our door arrived. Honestly it was gorgeous. I’m in addition to hence happy to finally guide keep a dark front end door!

Even though at that spot is a huge alternative of doors to depository fiscal establishment correspond out online, you lot actually guide keep to become into the shop to teach a sum motion-picture demo of the customized doors that are offered.

Since I’m an obsessive listing maker, here’s how our listing looks right away that we’re done replacing the front end door:

1. Demo the space


2. Tile the floor


3. Tile the bench


4. Build novel shelving for storage


5. Build novel drawers for storage


6. Design characteristic wall


7. Build woods characteristic wall


8. Paint


9. Remove erstwhile door


10. Install novel door


11. Buy a smart lock set


12. Buy some decor (i.e. baskets, rug, etc).


13. Order planters in addition to mistaken or existent plants


14. Install novel modern moulding

Tiling a floor, edifice a characteristic wall, in addition to doing some styling all inwards the finally week. Shouldn’t survive that bad… right?! lol.

Catch upward on previous weeks: 

Week 1 // Week 2 // Week 3 // Week 4 // Week 5

The entry isn’t completely done yet, but nosotros tin meet the destination line, in addition to we’re excited to demo off the entire finished infinite adjacent week!

Find to a greater extent than non bad One Room Challenge blueprint plans on the One Room Challenge site, or at Calling it Home!