Installing a door is not an open-and-shut job. It's sure not as simple as it may seem at first glance. In fact, a lot of homeowners think hanging a new door is easy until it's too late and they find themselves stuck with an unworkable opening.
The two most obvious things to keep in mind are the door itself and the existing frame. There are a lot of different choices for doors. Steel, fibreglass composite and wood are the most common choices for exterior doors. And, as with most things in the house, you usually get what you pay for. The better the door, the stronger the construction and the greater the insulating value. That means you could be more secure and your heating and cooling efforts won't go out, well, the door. For the same reasons, you want a professional to install your exterior door.
For interior doors, homeowners are more inclined to try to do it themselves. That's usually a mistake.
Wood doors are the most common interior choice in a residential application - unless it's the door between the house and an attached garage. That door should be fire-rated, close automatically and have proper weather-stripping to prevent exhaust fumes from entering the house.
With wood doors there's a variety of prices and choices. Hollow-core wood frame doors are the most common and the most affordable. It's the fact that they are mostly hollow that makes them affordable. There are also solid wood doors, although they aren't necessarily better. It depends on the type of wood used and how it was constructed. A poorly built solid wood door will warp and never close properly. It may swell and shrink depending on the humidity in the house, making it hard to open or close.
But the biggest challenge to opening or closing a door is how it is fit into the opening or frame. And yes, this is a finicky job that can challenge the skill - and patience - of even a seasoned carpenter.
Most often, the door frame or jamb is out of square - especially in older homes - in at least one dimension, either side to side, from top to bottom or from top corner to the opposite bottom corner.
If you follow inside walls that are out of plumb and the new door is hung in the old frame, the door may not open or close properly. That's one reason why most new doors are sold with their own jamb (or, in contractor language, are "pre-hung").
If your door is not prehung consider changing the jamb. It's unlikely the new door will fit the existing jamb without modifications. Besides, it's always a good idea to look behind the existing jamb; it's a chance to see whether the rough framing was done right, and also whether there are any surprises lurking behind there.
In the past, I've found plumbing lines or electrical wires running in the void between the rough opening and the existing jamb just waiting for a puncture from a trim nail. I've even found clear evidence that the structure of the house was tampered with.
If the existing jamb can't be altered, all is not lost; shaping a solid wood door to the opening that's there is usually straight-forward. A pencil, a plane and lots of experience will get the job done. A hollow-core door is a different animal: the bottom rail or side stiles usually have to be removed - with a lot for trouble - so the door can be cut to size. Then, it all has to be reassembled.
Thinking of installing a new door? Think twice, and don't underestimate the challenge. A professional has the proper tools to do the job right.
Not many homeowners have either the experience to hang a door or the specialized tools needed to line up and miter the hinge openings or drill the holes for the lockset. Some doors are best left closed.
Mike Holmes is the host of Holmes on Homes on HGTV. E-mail Mike at mikeholmes@holmesonhomes.com or go to www.holmesonhomes.com .