How Do I Install a New Front Door?

How To Install A New Front Door

Installing a new front door for your home or place of business can instantly change the way the entire structure looks. It is a relatively cheap method of home or commercial improvement. While many door installation projects should be handled by professionals, you may be interested in door installation DIY. If so, you have come to the right place. In this post, we will be going over some of the most important aspects of a door installation job and answering some of the most common questions that get asked about door installation. If at any time you have any questions, you can give us a call here at First Response Roofing and Construction, LLC. You can reach us at (810)-294-5009 so contact us if you have any questions!

Now, let’s get into the details of the door installation.

How Do You Frame a Door?

Framing for a door and a wall is very important. A door is essentially a break in the structure of a wall so it needs to be strong enough to bear the weight that normal studs would. Without proper framing, your doorway could end up being dangerous and cause sagging in your walls. The first question we will address in this regard will be ‘how do you frame a wall for a door?’ Marking the location of your door on the wall plates will be your first step. This will let you know where the door will go on the wall. Be sure to measure your door dimensions accurately. After marking your door location on the wall plates, go ahead and mark your stud locations on the plates, 16 inches apart. The wall plates will serve to frame the bottom of your door. You will need to build a header to frame the wall as well. You should use sturdy header lumber for this. If you are not using LVL boards, you will need to sandwich a length of B2B between your header boards. You will then nail the king studs and headers together. This will give you your rough framing for your new door.

What Does Plumb a Door Mean?

In carpentry, plumb refers to a surface or plane that is perfectly vertical. A plumb door should be a perfect 90 degrees perpendicular to the floor. Making sure your doors are perfectly plumb is very important. If they are not, they will hang open, create a larger than planned for a gap at the bottom and cause binding. So how do you plumb a door? To plumb a door, you will need to identify the hinge side in the framing you have created. Once you have done that, you are going to shim. Then mark where the actual hinges will go in the framing. Then you can use a level (should be one long enough to run the length of all hinges) to plumb the shims. Then attach shims to the top hinge location, bottom hinge location, and center locations.

Door Installation Brackets

Door installation brackets are an alternative to shims for hanging an interior door. Door brackets go behind each hinge with corresponding hangers that go on the opposite side of the door. Once you have all brackets in place, you can line the frame up into the opening of the door. Make sure you use some sort of spacer for the bottom of the door – half-inch spacers if for carpet and quarter-inch spacers for vinyl or laminate. Now you are ready to fasten all 6 brackets to the actual door.

How Long Does It Take to Install a Door?

For a professional, it should take an average of about 4 hours. It is a relatively quick process which is why so many opt to just hire a professional. For a weekend warrior, it could take about a day’s worth of work. Depending on how much experience you have with carpentry and how much time you have on your hands, it may be more worth it to just hire someone. Here are some other door installation issues you could run into:

• Misaligned bottom wall plates
• Incorrect door opening measurements
• Door framing not plumb
• Not enough bottom door clearance on the floor
• Framing headers miscalculated for load-bearing
• The door is uneven at the top
• Framing cuts into plumbing lines

Hiring a Professional

In light of all that could go wrong with door installation in Port Huron, MI, it may be best just to hire a professional. You can get a door with installation from us for a very affordable price. All of our door installation projects are done professionally. We make sure we account for the most common types of door installation issues and then some. Talk to First Response Roofing and Construction, LLC about door installation in Port Huron, MI by dialing our number, 810-294-5009 right away!