Install regular house front door?

[mh_doni49]

Hi all. I want to install a regular house front door and I'm looking for some advice as far as the actual reframing involved.

I know I'll need to make the rough opening larger. But beyond that, I'm not sure where to begin.

TIA!

[mh_doni49]

I forgot to mention that it looks like the wall is made up of 2x3s and the exterior is corrugated metal siding.

[1987Commodore]

First thing is to make sure you have the height to make room for a regular door.

[mh_doni49]

First thing is to make sure you have the height to make room for a regular door.

My plan is to buy a solid wood door the local habit 4 humanity re-store. I figured that I could cut it shorter to make it fit.

[JeffInFL]

I did this .. I got a pre-hung exterior house door that had the right width for the rough opening (34" i think), but was the standard 80" regular house door. I already had the drywall ripped down to the studs, so it was just a matter of taking a sawzall and cutting the studs above the door to raise the height of the rough opening.

This is the old door, which i think was 72" tall or so. Take a look at the framing above the door opening:



I cut the vertical 2x3's with a sawzall and removed 8" to accommodate the new door height, plus an extra 1.5" or so to allow for the horizontal 2x3 that would get screwed into these shorter studs



Here is the new 80" door installed. I also replaced the 2x3 that ran along the right side, since the old one was kinda warped and crappy:



The door was about $120 or so at Home Depot .. just a basic pre-hung exterior door. I actually cut a hole in it and installed that window myself .. I got the window for $40 used at a local mobile home parts place.

[mh_doni49]

Thanks for the reply. I read your post after posting my own. I must say that I'm really impressed - - I really don't think I could have brought myself to cut that big opening the door for the window. But it looks great!

My one major concern is the weight of a wooden door. I'm trying to save some money by buying a used door which means that I most likely will need to cut it shorter. That in turn means that I don't want a metal door because I'm really not comfortable cutting one.

[JeffInFL]

I was originally going to get a wooden slab door since it was MUCH cheaper than the one I got .. but the door was so heavy I could barely move it .. and I too was concerned about it being too heavy for the trailer. The metal door I got was light enough that I could flip it all around myself when cutting the hole and installing it.

Cutting a metal door isn't too bad .. use a circular saw, and put the blade on BACKWARDS .. someone in the forums mentioned doing that, and that's how I cut the hole for the window. It worked really well.

The wood slab door at Home Depot was 70lbs. The steel door is about half that. It ended up being a little heavier with the window, but nowhere close to the wood slab weight.

[mh_doni49]

I was hoping someone might have some advice as to framing it out so that CAN support a wood door.

Otherwise, I'll have to spring for a metal door from Lowes. I've never seen used metal ones for sale.

[HouseMedic]

Framing is the same for both. Usually there are two studs on each side. One goes from bottom to top (Called a king Stud) and the other (called a Jack Stud) goes up to the header which goes across the top just above the door. If you have no header now you most likely don't need one because there is not much weight coming down at that area. Your header might just be a 2x4 on it's side. The two studs on each side if properly installed would be fine for a heavier door. Here is a diagram of the layout.

Ron

[HouseMedic]

Here is another picture of the layout for a door.
Your rough opening sizes might be different.

[mh_doni49]

Thanks Ron. I knew most of that for normal houses. I thought maybe the smaller studs might make it so that I'd need to some extra bracing somewhere to support having a heavy wooden door.