Right now I have a 72" sliding door as a front door and we want to replace it with a normal exterior door. I found a special order return at lowes with a 36" foot and two 14" sidelights - frame width 68" wide ($600). It's a great deal.

 

Is this worth doing? How much work will need to be done to make this door fit?

 

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Yes it can be done. Wouldn't be that bad. I've done it before.

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Ck the height also.

the opening has to shrink obviously. Inside you may be able to go with wider trim. Outside. Depends on what got for veneer: siding wood or vinyl, stucco, brick etc. Not hard 

tip, low expanding spray foam

Yes it can be done. Wouldn't be that bad. I've done it before.

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What did it entail? Throw a couple new studs in and some larger exterior trim?

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What did it entail? Throw a couple new studs in and some larger exterior trim?

 

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You can do it that way or you can make up the space when you mull them together or a combination of the 2. Or is the unit already one piece?

 

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Rough guesstimate on cost obviously without seeing? I have wood siding.

 

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It's one piece

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It's already mulled into one piece  Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

 

 

 

 

 I just edited my reply. I kind of figured after re-reading. So you will need wider brick mold outside and wider trim inside or drywall and casing inside. Outside you can also use Azek trim with brick mold. It's only 4" so 2" each side you need to decrease opening and cover.

 

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Rough guesstimate on cost obviously without seeing? I have wood siding.
 
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It's one piece

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Cost for you to do it or to hire someone?

Yourself less than $100 in materials.

Hiring someone you could probably find a handyman for $300 and you get the material and you usually get what you pay for. The last one we did like that was around $900.

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Fair enough. Thanks.

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Without seeing the job:

• remove existing doors and door frame from opening
• remove the threshold
• pad out opening with 2x lumber to make the opening 1/4"-3/8" bigger than your new door frame.
• Add plywood to the exterior to bring the surface flush with your existing wall sheathing
• add drywall on the interior to bring the inside flush with the interior walls, tape, joint compound, sand, repeat.
• figure out how to waterproof the exterior.  building paper or Tyvek should be tucked under the existing building paper and layered to make sure water runs off the paper as it runs down the wall.  There is no one way to do this since all homes are built a little differently.  But really think about how water and gravity work together.  A leak into the wall will become a big problem 10 years from now.
• Install the door using cedar shims between the frame and opening to get the frame plumb and level.  use two shims opposed to get a flat, expanding, double shim.  Screw right through the cedar shims. and into the new lumber you added to change the opening size.
• Fill any voids with fiberglass insulation.  Expanding foam expands a lot and can warp your door frame.
• Decide what exterior trim you will be using to pretty up the outside.  This is probably the difficult part.  A door with extra wide trim looks odd.  Maybe two layers of trim - one large and painted to match the siding and one small and painted to match the door frame.
• Caulk and paint - makes a carpenter what he ain't.

Once upon a time, when I did this for a living and had all my tools organized and ready to go, this would be a one day project but a full day project to do it right.

If carpentry isn't your thing, I'd tackle this on a 3 day weekend to make sure you have plenty of time to get it done. 

 

MGuy has the ticket.  The sliding glass door rough opening is not the same as a door frame rough opening in height.  This creates all kinds of dimension issues in fitment and appearance.   Careful here, what size rough opening is needed for this door and lites and can you safely modify the front of the house to provide that.  Door Header will need to be checked, if hollow fill (studded out) then redo, if solid there are other issues at work.   A bargain is only a bargain if you can use it.  Plenty of ways to finish outside trim, wide boards, decorative trim, etc.  

Cool good to know. Thanks

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Cool good to know. Thanks 

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I don't recall you saying what brand it was. For $600 it may not be that great of a bargain coming from Lowes. A quality door with sidelites will run you a couple thousand dollars. The Pella and Thermatru the box stores stock will not. They have Thermatru doors at the box stores that cost only $300 and they aren't worth $100. Double check before you purchase. Easy way to tell is if you can't find the model numbers on the manufacturer's website. Most items in box stores are made to the stores specs. You won't find the same Kohler Toilets and Moen Faucets in a box store in a Plumbing Supply. The ones in the box store are crap. Moen uses a different model name. Kohler uses the same model names followed by Classic. Classic is code word for crap.

 

Good advice from maintenance guy. Especially the part about not using spray foam. Even minimal expansion spray foam expands. Would suck to install your new door then not be able to open it. Seen homeowners make the mistake more than once.

 

 

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Hey, Check with the PSE at the store. Always great pricing and only the best, and background checked installers in the business.  AH just kidding, That's what the company speel was for the 5 years I was A PSE.

You got A lot of good answers above that touched on all bases. 

 

 

As a contractor I will tell you just to buy the right sized door to fit the opening. You will save a lot in the long run, and it will look better.