Door replacement-rebuilding door jamb

Hello!

We are replacing an exterior door, which actually goes from a sunporch into our kitchen. We currently have a pre-hung aluminum door and are replacing it with a solid wood door, that I can't buy pre-hung without waiting 6 weeks....so we're going to tackle rebuilding the door jamb, door and re-finish the trim.

My question is....for intermediate do it yourselfers....how much of a challenge may this be? What are the main concerns and things we need to know.

I know the floor will need to be fixed and am also prepared to replace the sheetrock around the door inside as well.

Any info would be great....I have done countless searches online and can't find exactly what I"m looking for!

Thanks!

 

Biggest reason I stick to pre-hung is the problem of mortising the hinge pockets. I just can't seem to get my router to do a good job, and am not willing to buy the attachments/jigs as I don't do enough of them to justify the purchase. I love new tools, but only if I'm going to get some decent amount of use out of them.

 

With a little care a hinge can be mortised out using an utility knife [to cut the outline] and cutting it out with a sharp chisel.

Is the new door the same size? If so you shouldn't need to reframe or remove any drywall unless damaged.

 

THe door is the same size.

With a door that was pre-hung, is it possible to replace everything EXCEPT the part where the door hinges etc, actually attach? I'm thinking this would eliminate having to completely replace the entire jamb.

We're trying to make this as simple as possible as we're currently experiencing 40 degree weather, and though the sunporch gets warm all year with sun, this isn't the best time of year to do this....but we've got to get it done and hadn't done it yet as we just did all our facia etc, around the whole house.

kids keep us so busy that finding time for projects is next to impossible...and we're on a 3 week break from sports with our high school kid...so it's almost a now or next year situation :-)

I would attach a picture, but not sure how to get the attachment in here......

We'll do all the trim etc, which we already planned on doing. Part of the door trim currently is painted (the trim around the sunporch side) and all of our wood in the house, on the sunporch etc, is unpainted stained wood, so I'm doing it all to match.

In the process of this door....we'll also be doing the storm door going onto the sunporch from the exterior porch...got a handle on that one :-)

 

If the jamb is in good shape and the new door will swing the same way, you should be able to use the same hinges [or atleast the same mortice] and attach them to the new door.

Metal doors are seldom planed or trimmed so the new wood door should fit fairly easy.

 

Jamb is in great shape, so that is the route we're going to take, or try to take....I'll buy the wood, just in case....which we can store for next year as we have to rebuild both jambs off our basement next spring and replace those doors....we have a walkout basement that we're finishing as well....



Projects, projects!!!

Thanks a TON for all the help!!!! I feel better now! :-)