Exterior door replacement

Howdy all, my mom has a older cinder block building that was used as our shop building when we use to farm. There are 2 walk in door entrances. The wooden doors are about 40 years old and in bad shape, they have been patched with plywood over the years. The door frames are made out of steel, as in 6" channel iron with 3/4" square stock used as the stop. She wants the doors replaced, but doesnt want wood doors. I was thinking about getting a wood door blank, so I could trim it to fit, and possibly clad the door with sheet metal. This whole door thing is new to me so any thoughts yall have would be greatly appreciated. The existing doors are 1 3/4" thick 35 1/2" wide one is 81" tall and the other is 83 1/2" tall. Both door frames are the same size. The height of the doors is not important because I can modify the frame to make them work. I am thinking this door would work: Masonite 6-Panel Solid Wood Core Universal Reversible Wood Hem Fir Unfinished Slab Entry Door (Common: 36-in x 80-in; Actual: 36-in x 80-in)
Item # 738792 Model # 738792

 

Welcome to the forums!

Have you considered taking out the frame and all then installing a steel prehung door?

 

Thanks for the welcome. Yes we have, and we also had a couple of local handyman/contractor people look at it. The thought is the frame is a permanent part of the the building. They gave us some crazy numbers in my opinion. My thoughts were it couldnt be but so hard to just replace the door alone, till I got to looking at doors lol.

 

I have the same set up in my garage. I went to our local building supply salvage yard and bought a really nice fiberglas exterior blank, not punched, not mortised. I did a trim job on the width to make it fit the steel opening, mortised where the framed hinges were, then punched it where the lockset was on the steel frame (which is definitely not the same as a wooden prehung).

The fiberglas will outlast both wood and some metal doors, it is paintable and workable, as in trimming. Adding metal to a wood door is not a good idea.

 

Reminds me more of a steel commercial door. If you get precise measurements of both the slab size and the EXACT location of the hinges, you can have one made for you to fit the existing frame. I've installed complete replacements of all steel with and without frame replacement as well as steel framed solid wood doors.

 

I'd also say it might be a candidate for a commercial hollow welded frame steel door... its got to be a standard width and height opening. Only reason the frame would "have" to stay is if they slugged it solid with concrete. Even then, i'd remove and replace the frame too so that it all works together, anchoring it to the blocks.

 

@ chandler

Thats what, I think, I would like to do. But I havent had any luck finding a fiberglass blank. So they do make blank Fiberglass doors? All the fiberglass doors Ive seen are prehung.

 

You might have to special order it. Have you asked a salesman at the store? websites don't always show everything they sell.