Over the weekend with the help of some friends we hung 2 exterior doors, front and back entryway doors.
The front door was a challenge. We had measured and selected a 36x80 door. The door is in plumb, level, and square but I have two issues.
The first issue is there is a relatively wide, but inconsistent width, gap between the casing and the dry wall edge. The roughed in door width was ~ 1 inch too wide but had a lot of variance. We ended up splitting the space and have about 1/2" (with a - 1/8 to + 7/16 variance) on each side. If this was my only issue I could draw back the dry wall and either install some wood to clean up the inside jamb appearance and address trim and call it a day.
The second issue is the depth of the casing versus the jamb. At the top of the door the casing sits flush with the roughed in door (i.e. a gap created by the dry wall). But at the bottom there is nearly 1 fill inch of the roughed in jamb.
I am looking at the best way to fix this. A radical approach would be to get some 1/2" pressure treated wood, hand plane the tight spots, shim the loose spots, and literally reseat the entire door. Of course the bottom of the door is glued in, I have MS and it wont be easy to get my friends over to rip out all the work we did. The door is installed securely and functioning.
My next best thought is to get ~ 1/2" strip of wood and hand plane, sand, etc. so the face is flush with the drywall. The strip would have a natural straight edge to meet the corner of the casing and the gap between the strip and the dry wall is irrelevant as it would be filled and then covered with trim. This is what my friend suggested. I have never done something like this but think I am up to the challenge with some guidance.
Any advice or alternative suggestions? I have not insulated (door & window Good Stuff) or caulked the door yet.
Ps. I will try to post pictures in the next day or so as I am sure my description is inadequate. The good news is the back door went in without a hitch as the 32x80 steel door fit without issue. Minor shimming required to get the door plumb, level, and square. The door took less than 2 hours to complete beginning to end. We did this door first. My friends were very conscientious about making sure it fit correctly so I don't think the front door issues are due to us rushing or lack of knowhow on their part. I had read 5 tutorials before we started and watched some youtube videos.
The front door was a challenge. We had measured and selected a 36x80 door. The door is in plumb, level, and square but I have two issues.
The first issue is there is a relatively wide, but inconsistent width, gap between the casing and the dry wall edge. The roughed in door width was ~ 1 inch too wide but had a lot of variance. We ended up splitting the space and have about 1/2" (with a - 1/8 to + 7/16 variance) on each side. If this was my only issue I could draw back the dry wall and either install some wood to clean up the inside jamb appearance and address trim and call it a day.
The second issue is the depth of the casing versus the jamb. At the top of the door the casing sits flush with the roughed in door (i.e. a gap created by the dry wall). But at the bottom there is nearly 1 fill inch of the roughed in jamb.
I am looking at the best way to fix this. A radical approach would be to get some 1/2" pressure treated wood, hand plane the tight spots, shim the loose spots, and literally reseat the entire door. Of course the bottom of the door is glued in, I have MS and it wont be easy to get my friends over to rip out all the work we did. The door is installed securely and functioning.
My next best thought is to get ~ 1/2" strip of wood and hand plane, sand, etc. so the face is flush with the drywall. The strip would have a natural straight edge to meet the corner of the casing and the gap between the strip and the dry wall is irrelevant as it would be filled and then covered with trim. This is what my friend suggested. I have never done something like this but think I am up to the challenge with some guidance.
Any advice or alternative suggestions? I have not insulated (door & window Good Stuff) or caulked the door yet.
Ps. I will try to post pictures in the next day or so as I am sure my description is inadequate. The good news is the back door went in without a hitch as the 32x80 steel door fit without issue. Minor shimming required to get the door plumb, level, and square. The door took less than 2 hours to complete beginning to end. We did this door first. My friends were very conscientious about making sure it fit correctly so I don't think the front door issues are due to us rushing or lack of knowhow on their part. I had read 5 tutorials before we started and watched some youtube videos.
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