27 September, 2024
doors
In the vast majority of cases, the installation of external doors will be carried out by a specialised installation team. However, if you are a DIY enthusiast, you can take on the challenge yourself. Either way, it is worth knowing how an entrance door is fitted.
Table of contents:
To begin with, it's always worth asking ourselves whether we really need a new door? The answer may be trivial, because if we are bored with our old door or have reservations about the functionality or appearance of our current entrance to the house, there is no need to think twice. We need to act.
What exactly should you choose? There are indeed many possibilities. The most popular are classic wooden doors, while PVC doors have already gained enormous popularity. Aluminium doors are synonymous with modern prestige. Steel doors, on the other hand, are still considered to be a special-purpose product, but more and more people are opting for such unusual proposals.
What do we actually want from our doors? We should be mainly interested in:
You can find such options in each of the systems mentioned above. However, it is important to get the door installation process right, because without this, no door will be able to fully spread its wings. Literally and figuratively.
Professional door installation, a process carried out on the basis of experience and technical knowledge, is absolutely essential. Of course, this does not mean that installing doors yourself is out of the question. On the contrary. Although it is certainly not the easiest of domestic tasks, replacing an external door should not be beyond the reach of the skilled DIYer.
If you manage to install your entrance door correctly, you can count on:
The general principles of door installation are relatively simple. It is advisable to rely on detailed guidelines, predetermined steps for door installation, which must be followed step by step to avoid unforeseen situations and to take care of the implementation.
The first step should always be to choose the right door. What does ‘suitable’ mean?
Surely they must fit the opening in the wall or, if they don't fit, we must be prepared to have them fitted. Nothing difficult for those who want it, but you have to be sure that the building structure will not be affected in any way.
The second issue is insulation. Our doors need to be warm enough to ensure thermal comfort in the house and that the heating bills don't shoot up to the ceiling. Normally, by replacing the door, this can be significantly reduced.
The third issue is aesthetics. The choice is currently overwhelming, although not entirely arbitrary. Some housing associations or even municipalities may have something to say here in their local regulations. It is worth making sure that we are not restricted in any way here.
An important part of how to install an exterior door is to prepare the right tools and materials. Here, the guidelines may vary depending on what exactly we will be doing, but the basics are roughly always the same.
Tools and materials:
With such an array of tools, we should be ready for anything.
Now that we have everything in place, it's time to get to work. Our tasks in turn are:
I. Removal of the old door frame;
II. Preparation of the opening and treatment of the threshold;
III. Installation of door frame;
IV. Door treatment and sealing;
V. Installation of hardware and final adjustment of the door.
The next step will already be enjoying your new door.
In order to have room for a new door, the old one must first be removed. Our primary concern will be the door frame. Crucially, the installation of the door frame usually requires the opening to be prepared in advance.
To begin with:
Replacing a front door in terms of removing the sash from the hinges usually involves lifting the hinges. If the hinges are unusual, we will find out everything from the instructions for the hinges themselves.
More challenging is the preparation of the opening, for which the prelude is the removal of the old door frame. This is usually done in an unsubtle way, using a saw or crowbar. It is not difficult to damage the door opening then.
To make the process of removing the frame as smooth as possible:
Dispose of the frame sections separated from the wall.
Proper preparation of the opening mainly involves levelling and levelling it. Installing anything in a wall requires that this wall is level. The tolerance is really small and not worth testing.
Fitting a door frame is a delicate process, as no mistakes can be made in the process. Any irregularities will later reflect on the functionality of the door. The frame should be sealed with sealing tape or vapour-permeable foil before it is placed in the door opening.
The installation of the door frame is first carried out using mounting anchors to stabilise it. It is a good idea to place spacers afterwards, so that when the frame is screwed to the wall and secured with foam, the structure does not warp. The plumb and level are checked with a spirit level. We also check the diagonals so that no skewing occurs. It is a good habit to repeat this check at later stages of the work so that any problems can be quickly identified.
The threshold must not yield under load. In order to avoid this, we can protect it with, for example, a concrete/jointed floor screed. This must dry well in order to ensure that the subsequent work steps are safe.
We also need to bear in mind that the leaf of our new door should ultimately move about one centimetre above the floor. This will ensure that the arrival of small objects, gravel or other debris will not damage the door and the floor.
The process of installing the door is approaching the point where we put the leaf on it, but before this can happen, we need to bolt the door frame.
Setting the frame on the mounting anchors beforehand will now allow us to adjust it if there is any deviation. Usually, we will already have holes prepared through which we screw the frame with self-tapping screws. If there are no such holes, we have to make them ourselves according to the following rules:
The installation of the frame will be completed after the panel has been pre-attached.
Now that the replacement of the door frame is mostly behind us, it's time to put the doors on. We put them on the hinges, of course, and if they are not already fitted, they will need to be fitted. There are two possibilities:
In the first option, the installation of the hinges consists of choosing the right height for them and screwing them to the frame according to the manufacturer's instructions. Recessed hinges are a more difficult task, as holes need to be prepared for them in the frame if they are not already there. The hinges are placed in the carefully prepared slots and screwed there.
Regardless of the panel you choose, always seat the front door carefully and gently. It is advisable to have the support of a second person, as fitting the door yourself does not mean that you have to do everything alone, and there is usually a lot of weight to carry.
If everything is in order, we check the vertical, horizontal and diagonal alignment once more, after which we can screw the frame to the jamb and remove the metal anchors.
We already have a door, but the door opening still needs to be properly insulated. This consists of two tasks:
To begin with, you need to use a repair mortar. Only when it has dried can we apply the foam. Once it has dried, we cut off the excess material and apply either masking strips or acrylic from a cartridge.
The entire structure is now ready. What remains are the handles, locks and possibly other accessories that we want to place in the panel and which are not yet there in the factory.
Practically all the actions to be taken in connection with these elements are fully intuitive, and if something is unclear, the instructions supplied with the peephole, mail drop or other door accessory will help us.
Remember to check that the door leaf moves correctly and closes properly. Any imperfections in this regard require adjustment. If you have taken the appropriate care when installing the door frame, additional adjustment will be needed to a cosmetic degree at most.
Replacing an external door is not as scary as it is painted, and has many benefits. The most important of these are utilitarian, as you can save a lot of heat with a new panel, cut out ambient noise and fit better locks. The front door is the showpiece of a house and can completely transform it.
From the text, we know how to prepare for door installation, how to dismantle the old door, fit a new door frame, insulate and seal it and fit a new panel. However, if the rules of door installation still seem complicated to us and we don't know if we can cope with them, there is no reason to throw ourselves in at the deep end.
Eko-Okna distributors will be happy to help, whether you opt for new overlay panels, Ekoline glass panels or something even more unusual, such as the MasterLine 8 Pivot doors. The undoubted advantage of this option is that the warranty on the door itself is extended by the warranty on its installation, which the distributor will offer.
We would like to invite you to familiarise yourself with our offer of traditional wooden solutions, modern aluminium and PVC panels offering very good value for money. Right after windows, doors are our greatest passion.
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