I have an 8ft front door that I need to take down and refinish. I will need about 3-4 days to complete the refinishing. My question is..How do I secure the opening where the door is now hanging while I have the door down? I have seen suggestions that say to use a temporary or construction door. I went to Home Depot and they had no idea what I was talking about (actually I don't). Can I cut a sheet of heavy plywood and mount it in the opening? If so how is the best way to make it secure from intruders? Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Terry Gray

 

terrygg,

Welcome to DoItYourself.com and the Door & Window forum.

I'm assuming that you are talking about a door that is 8' tall rather than 8' wide, but that really doesn't matter.

Board it up like we do a window. Security is an issue, so do as much of the screwing from the inside as possible.

If one sheet of plywood (4' X 8') is large enough to cover the opening that's all you need. Otherwise, use 2.

Lean the plywood against the outside of the jamb so it overlaps by a few inches on the top and each side. Just inside the jamb screw 2X6's vertically to the plywood so that they project slightly into the interior side. Across those 2X6's screw on some 1X4's or 2X4's so that they extend past the door jambs on each side. You will probably have to notch the 2X6's a bit so that the 2X4's are tight against the jambs.

If there are any screw heads exposed on the outside you can use 1X4 to cover them, screwing those 1X4's in place from the inside.

 

Since the door is 8', you probably should just get some plywood, cut it to fit, and press it into place. It can be stopped into place from the inside, using screws. When the screws are removed, you'll have a few holes to fill in the jamb. If you don't like holes in the jamb, you can pad the plywood panel out on both sides with 2x4 scraps, then run some 2x4's horizontally across the interior (flush across the interior wall surface)... and across the exterior (flush across the exterior trim) which will basically sandwich the plywood in place so that it can't move in or out.

I had to make a bang door for an 8' door recently that had an arch on top. I used a blank solid core door and added plywood onto one side. Put hinges on it and hung it on the opening. The door needed to be able to open, close and lock. But if you can go out another door, plywood stopped in place with 2x2's or similar is the better answer.

Temporary bang doors are available from your better lumberyards that deal with contractors regularly. I'm not suprised that the big box stores looked at you funny when you asked.

 

Not discounting previous posts,.but there is another way.

If you can acquire two 6'-8” doors of the proper width (maybe craigslist) cut one up for use as a transom, and install the other as a operable door.