Remedy Doors "The ins and outs" EXTERIOR

Hi Home Menders!  Let’s get into repairs that everyone a-doors.

Any home repair specialist should be able to remedy doors. Doors are everywhere. They're in every room of the house, on every deck and enter every garage. Knowing how to handle yourself when it comes to doors, hinges on you being open to the ins and outs.

Remedy doors, you will learn about all door types and styles, weather pre hung, split jamb, slider, bifold or hinged. You will be made familiar with the anatomy of an interior door and exterior door, locksets included. You will master weathersteripping and sweeps and how to install an exterior door by yourself and with ease. You will also grasp how to repair any door issue, including doors rubbing jambs, when hinge holes are too bored out and eliminating daylight seen from inside an exterior door. Also known as the door master module, your confidence in door repair and installation will sore. Let’s get to it!

It’s easy to install a prehung door by yourself. Prehung means it’s already hung inside a jamb. You pull out the entire door and jamb and put a new one in its place. Most times it’s easier to replace the entire door and jamb than fitting a new door in an old jamb. This can be removed replaced and painted in two hours with one person.  Don’t forget your shims and your Insulation to close off any gaps in the frame and secure the door.

The storm door is the out swing outer door. It swings open and usually has glass and screen in it. If you have a 36 inch front door then you need a 36 inch storm door. These Are hinged by the installer so they can decide whether it opens out to the left or out to the right.. A simple storm door replacement can be done in an hour with one person.

The sliding glass door is an easy install. It can look intimidating but many times these doors are sold as "knock down" which means you can buy a moving panel,  a fixed panel and a frame separate making it easy for one person to install it. A pre-assembled door will require two people. These come in 5 foot doors and 6 foot doors. The vinyl frame is put together, placed in the opening and then the panels are lifted up into the track and set down into the frame. Throw on some hardware and you’ve got a brand new slider.

You do not need to pull out a complete door jamb if only one side is damaged. If it’s the hinged side I would replace the entire prehung but if it’s the strike side, these can be removed and replaced. The common occurrence of a door being kicked in will split the jamb on the strike side. This is easily removed, replaced, weatherstripping put back in place, set the latches for the lock and handle and you are good to go.

There are a few different kinds of weatherstripping for exterior doors. The most popular for newer doors is the kerf foam insulation with the tab. The tab slides into the slot in the door jamb creating the seal. If your door jamb is older you may not be able to use this kind and would require the metal beaded weatherstripping.

The metal beaded weatherstripping is for older doors that do not have the kerf slot. The door is shut and locked and the metal bead is installed from the outside into the door jamb with the rubber been pressing up against the door creating the seal. These are screwed on and can be cut with a hacksaw.

The weatherstripping on the bottom of the door is called a door sweep. There are a few different types of sweeps. There are the face mounted  which means they are mounted to the face of the door and screwed to secure them. There is also the rubber bead sweep that fits on the bottom of newer doors like this one.  The door is removed from the jamb , turned upside down and the new rubber seal secured to the bottom of the door with screws.

There are many different storm door handles and this section should take the mystery out of it for you. The best practice for me is removing the needed handle and taking it to the hardware store to match it up, bringing home the correct one and reinstalling it the same way it was taken off will give you the best chance at success.

The mortise storm door lock is a common replacement item needed. A mortise is a cartridge locking mechanism that fits in the edge of the door. The handle and lock are run through and then secured. This is definitely a replacement piece where you would want to take the old one down to the hardware store to get the correct one.

Slider door handles are another part that you would want your replacement piece to match exactly. I like to take my handle down to the store and match it up. Or you can buy all models available and return what you don’t need. Two screws are used to hold these together.

If a door jamb is rotted at the bottom, the whole jamb does not need to be replaced. You can cut off the jamb and replace it with a new piece. Sometimes the situation may arise where you cannot remove just one leg. Here is a repair for such an incident. Replacing the cut out section with jamb material or PVC will last longer than the house will.

Sometimes exterior doors just need a facelift. Here is a situation where the bottom of the door jamb is rotted but in decent shape. Cutting out and removing that door jamb and replacing and then replacing all the exterior trim, commonly called brick mould, will give your exterior door the much needed face lift. Add some paint and you’re golden.