Tweet
I'm always asking questions, but never seem to give back much. So I thought I would offer some feedback to other 1st time installers.
Here are a few lessons learned while installing a new exterior door. I replaced a 20 year old broken/plywood covered sliding door in my walkout basement with a new energy efficient clad French door. So even though it may not be absolutely correct in installation it is a million times better than what I had and I learned a few things for next time.
Home Depot Salesman: Is this a retrofit or new installation?
Me: Oh, retrofit – I don’t need a nailing fin.
Day of installation: Say to myself: hmmm, since I replaced all the rough opening this is kind of like a new installation – I’ll bet a nailing fin would be real convenient! Doh!
Why is it that all the DIY books don’t tell you how to fix problems? Like how do you really square up a door when it checked out dry fit, you take it out, put your sealer on the threshold, reset the door on the marks, but it ain’t square. What the hey!
…or what do you check after you’ve made sure the sill is level, the jambs are plumb in both planes, the top plate is level, and the diagonals are spot on, but the center gap still isn’t even. You’d think the books would say to check and see if the door itself is square; nope, nary a hint. (I think it is still my installation job, but when I put my engineer square on the door the upper center corner was off, so since I’m over 50 I’ll take it as the culprit when explaining this to my wife – can’t be me hon.)
Don’t rely on the brochure measurements while trying to figure out the new rough opening. Even after 50 calculations and drawings I was about ¼ inch too tight when I thought I’d have the perfect ½ inch gap all around. “You know hon, I decided to off-set that door a bit just to have a little more room to open the secondary door, remember how close to the wall we were…”
Oh, by the way, don’t spend all your time on the side to side measurements and forget the height or else you will wind up an inch too long in the vertical opening. gee, that’s a lot of shims…
When a door comes pre-drilled and mortised for locksets, why can’t they make the mortise deep enough for those little plastic wells that come with new locks now a days – glad I sharpened my chisels earlier.
Non-craftsmen, like me, really should try to set up their power tools close to the worksite. It saves lots of trips up the basement steps to the garage to trim boards to the right length when you’re sneaking up on the “just right” length. Darn I cut it too long again.
Concrete screws and the associated bits don’t often work like a charm. But you don’t really realize that for about an hour and a half as you cuss at the screws that just snap off as you try to fasten the new rough opening. Once you think to wiggle the drill around a little bit and ream out the hole they work pretty good.
Experienced guys know it is nice to have different drills for drilling and driving when you’re working on a project. But, I never realized how much simpler life is if you have more than one plug or that 2 foot longer extension cord.
2 weeks later…Thunderstorm – great I want to see how watertight my new door is. What is that puddle?…closer look, maybe I should get around to putting those little caps in the holes I drilled for mounting screws; it looks suspiciously like water is dripping in the one at the bottom…
Great Stuff is great stuff, but the can I bought 4 years ago won’t flow, no matter how much I shake it
Tom Silva would have a good laugh at my work, but I learned a little, saved a little (door on sale and it qualifies for an energy tax credit, and the door is solidly mounted and functional. Once I figure out how to trim up the inside I’ll be able to hide a lot of the embarrassing rough work.
Here are a few lessons learned while installing a new exterior door. I replaced a 20 year old broken/plywood covered sliding door in my walkout basement with a new energy efficient clad French door. So even though it may not be absolutely correct in installation it is a million times better than what I had and I learned a few things for next time.
Home Depot Salesman: Is this a retrofit or new installation?
Me: Oh, retrofit – I don’t need a nailing fin.
Day of installation: Say to myself: hmmm, since I replaced all the rough opening this is kind of like a new installation – I’ll bet a nailing fin would be real convenient! Doh!
Why is it that all the DIY books don’t tell you how to fix problems? Like how do you really square up a door when it checked out dry fit, you take it out, put your sealer on the threshold, reset the door on the marks, but it ain’t square. What the hey!
…or what do you check after you’ve made sure the sill is level, the jambs are plumb in both planes, the top plate is level, and the diagonals are spot on, but the center gap still isn’t even. You’d think the books would say to check and see if the door itself is square; nope, nary a hint. (I think it is still my installation job, but when I put my engineer square on the door the upper center corner was off, so since I’m over 50 I’ll take it as the culprit when explaining this to my wife – can’t be me hon.)
Don’t rely on the brochure measurements while trying to figure out the new rough opening. Even after 50 calculations and drawings I was about ¼ inch too tight when I thought I’d have the perfect ½ inch gap all around. “You know hon, I decided to off-set that door a bit just to have a little more room to open the secondary door, remember how close to the wall we were…”
Oh, by the way, don’t spend all your time on the side to side measurements and forget the height or else you will wind up an inch too long in the vertical opening. gee, that’s a lot of shims…
When a door comes pre-drilled and mortised for locksets, why can’t they make the mortise deep enough for those little plastic wells that come with new locks now a days – glad I sharpened my chisels earlier.
Non-craftsmen, like me, really should try to set up their power tools close to the worksite. It saves lots of trips up the basement steps to the garage to trim boards to the right length when you’re sneaking up on the “just right” length. Darn I cut it too long again.
Concrete screws and the associated bits don’t often work like a charm. But you don’t really realize that for about an hour and a half as you cuss at the screws that just snap off as you try to fasten the new rough opening. Once you think to wiggle the drill around a little bit and ream out the hole they work pretty good.
Experienced guys know it is nice to have different drills for drilling and driving when you’re working on a project. But, I never realized how much simpler life is if you have more than one plug or that 2 foot longer extension cord.
2 weeks later…Thunderstorm – great I want to see how watertight my new door is. What is that puddle?…closer look, maybe I should get around to putting those little caps in the holes I drilled for mounting screws; it looks suspiciously like water is dripping in the one at the bottom…
Great Stuff is great stuff, but the can I bought 4 years ago won’t flow, no matter how much I shake it
Tom Silva would have a good laugh at my work, but I learned a little, saved a little (door on sale and it qualifies for an energy tax credit, and the door is solidly mounted and functional. Once I figure out how to trim up the inside I’ll be able to hide a lot of the embarrassing rough work.
Comment