I want to remove 35 year old aluminum sliding glass door with new more efficient aluminum one. My house is stucco so i need to know what is the best way to remove the old door? Should i saw a border around the old door or chisle it? What depth should i set the blade at? And what is a safe boarder to make around the existing door to get at the apron, 3"?

also if anyone can direct me to a book or refernce on the web i would be much abliged.

thanks.

 

You don't want to saw it! Sawing it would 1). cut the wire 2). cut the building paper 3) give you a straight edge that is harder to hide when you go to repair the stucco. Instead, you should either chisel it out with an air hammer or bust it out with a 2lb sledge. You will want to remove 3 or 4" of stucco (so that you have 3 or 4" around the NEW door) and leave as much wire intact as possible. You don't want to damage the building paper, since it and the stucco are your only flashing. Peel back the wire, install your door, flash it with peel and stick membranes, and your original building paper should overlap the head flashing over the door.

An article in the June 2004 "Journal of Light Construction" was entitled: Replacing Windows in Stucco. You'd get some good tips if you could locate and read it.