I am in the process of finishing a basement in an old house. The next project is the replacement of the exterior door. My question is, can a pre-hung door be placed into a concrete opening without any wood rough in. Unfortunately the concrete opening is 33" x 79.5" and I want to install as large (wide) a door as is possible so that I can still get furniture in and out. The current door is original (1936) and is hung in a 2X6 "frame" that is simply nailed into the concrete. If I use the 2x6 as the rough in I am going to wind up with a 27" wide door if I use pre-hung.

Any ideas?

 

You have problems all the way around with this one. Prehung doors are a standard 80" tall -- You need at least an 81" tall opening to install them. With some Skil Saw work, that problem can be overcome. But the rough opening being only 33" wide will limit you to a 30" wide door. That's not wide enough to install a 32" door in. Not much furniture is going through an opening that is that narrow.

 

What you could do is install a hollow metal door instead of a wood one. These are the meatl doors that are installed in commercial buildings. They can be custom sized by the supplier. You can get them with a 1" jamb and prepped for installation into an existing concrete opening. You can also get the insulated and galvanized. Hope this helps