Front doors are the main source of security for your home. They come in handy for inviting people as well as keeping away unwanted people. Since it serves such an important purpose, having a high-quality door is essential and what’s more essential is installing it correctly.
Installing a front door can be difficult, and just its thought may leave you exhausted. However, ensuring you do it right is imperative, and this guide will introduce you to the steps to make the project a success.
But before that, be sure to choose a fine quality door like the ones from https://mikitadoorandwindow.com so that your efforts can reap positive results.
What is the main purpose of a front door?
Front doors are the main entrance and exit points of your home, but other than the security it provides, the front doors also offer protection from weather conditions such as rain, hail, storm, and the like.
It keeps you warm during the cold and gives you shade when the sun is scorching outside. They also enhance the appearance of your home as today, there are doors that come in various designs which give them an ability to act as decor too.
From providing safety to the contents of the house to making your house look more welcoming and comfortable, front doors perform many functions. Hence, investing in the right quality of doors that look stylish and eco-friendly has become a rising need in today’s age.
Steps To Install A Front Door
While installing a front door may sound like a daunting task, you can complete the installation process without much hassle if you have the right tools and follow the right steps.
Before heading to the steps, be sure to keep the essential tools like the door, frame, pry bar, shims, putty knife, hammer, nails, screwdriver, screws, and drill ready. Here are the steps you can follow.
- Remove the old door and frame
If you have an old door and frame, the first step you must take is to remove them. Next, start removing the old lock and the hinge pins to lift the door out of the frame.
Following this, move on to prying off the old trim and taking off the jambs and the header. Once this is done, you will be left with a rough opening and a gap in the wall.
- Measure the rough opening and level it
Measure the dimensions of the rough opening so that you can buy a right-sized new door. This is important because the gaps in different areas may not be at the same level, so carefully measure their height and width.
Knowing the difference in the level of the sides and the top and bottom of the opening will help you ensure that the new front door fits perfectly in the space.
- Check the sill
Checking the sill is another important step to make sure the new door fits well because if the floor is not level, there will be an obstruction when you are opening and closing the door.
You can raise the leveling tool by keeping wooden shuns under it if the floor isn’t level. You must also measure the shim’s height. This is important to make sure the door functions smoothly.
- Adjust the jamb as per the measurement
You can figure out the height of the floor on each side with the measurement you have taken. Remove this amount from the bottom and adjust the door jamb accordingly.
Cutting the jamb correctly is essential, and you must always shorten the part which is one the side and where the sill is higher. Cutting it the wrong way may lead your jambs to not correctly fit in the rough opening.
- Use shims to secure the frame
Now you must secure the door frame, and for this, you need to use ships. First, place a wooden shim on the door’s hinge side and place another shim behind the door frame’s hinge attachment.
Observe various points of the frame properly and add more shims so that the door can be firm and be held in place securely. Keep measuring it with the level while you’re doing this, and keep adjusting to ensure the frame is plumb.
- Screw the frame securely
After you have put the frame into the correct place, you must fix it securely. You need to use good quality and robust screws to securely fix the frame.
Be sure to use screws in every location where you have placed the shims to fix the entire thing properly. The shims can also be put where there are hinges that allow you to screw them with longer screws to have some extra rigidity and strength.
- Set the door, test it, and finish up
Use shims to give the door some support from underneath, and insert the hinge pins using a hammer. Be sure to continue adjusting the door until it’s right.
Next, try to open and close the door. If it does this correctly, you can fit the trim to it and give it a finishing touch. Give the trim light sand and paint it accordingly. After this, you can fit the doorknob.
Tips To Remember
To make the front door installation simple and more effective, here are some tips you can check out.
- Opt for a pre-hung door
A pre-hung door will make the installation process easier to a great extent because all you need to focus on is if everything lines up properly and take care of the shimming. As a result, achieving a successful fit is much easier with these pre-hung doors.
- Caulk the joints
Adding caulk when you fit the trim can come in handy as it can be helpful for holding everything in place more securely, and it creates a seal between the wall and the trim as well.
Final Thoughts
Installing a front door certainly is no child’s play. That’s why going through the installation steps properly and ensuring you have all the tools needed for the same can ease the process to a great degree. Also, pay special attention to measurements to make sure that the door fits perfectly.
