For this next HouseCall, Ron was invited to Bennington, Vermont where the winters come early. Beth and Matt Smith needed some help and advice on one final outdoor project for the season. It seemed the old wooden door to their cellar was in pretty bad shape. The plywood had rotted or delaminated in many spots and there was indication of insect damage. Ron recommended that instead of rebuilding the door that they replace it entirely with a steel door kit, which they purchased at a nearby home improvement center. After a quick cup of coffee, they all got to work.
Click here for a list of what
you will need in order to complete this project.
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1. Remove the old door:
- Removing the old door can often be challenging. The nuts holding the door in the hinges can become rusted and difficult to remove. You may need to try a combination of tools to release the bolts. Sometimes it's just a matter of improvising. For this task, the combination of pliers, a socket wrench, hammer and pry bar should eventually do the trick.
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2. Determine if you will replace the flashing:
- The flashing provides a watertight seal for the door. Read the literature packaged with the new door kit to see if the existing flashing will be needed or not. If you decide to reuse the old flashing, you should try to carefully remove the nails from it, causing as little damage as possible, while leaving it in place. For this, Ron recommends a nail puller. Use a hammer to drive the sharp points of the puller under the head of the nail to pry it up easily and with minimal damage to the surface of the flashing. With the flashing loosened and nails removed, the rotten wood should come away leaving the flashing in place.
- If you do not need to reuse the flashing, remove it very carefully so as not to damage the siding.
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3. Remove remaining wood from concrete foundation:
- Use a combination of pry bars and crowbars to remove the side piece from the concrete foundation. Then remove the old header from the side of the house and the side piece up against the right side. After the demolition is complete, clean up the remaining pieces of rotten wood from the area before beginning to install the new door.
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4. Install new foundation plate:
- Next, mark the hole locations for the foundation anchors that will hold the foundation plate in place. Drill the holes into the concrete using a hammer drill fitted with a carbide-tipped masonry bit. The drill's hammering action will make these holes in a fraction of the time it would take with an ordinary drill.
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- Line the foundation plate up with the holes that were just drilled and attach it to the concrete with masonry anchors. In this type of anchor, there is a pin that is driven into the center as you hammer, which makes the split in the anchor get wider, in effect, jamming itself inside the hole. This anchor should go through the steel and into the concrete.
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5. Add Doorframe and Doors:
- Place the new right side plate against the house. Using a power drill and screws, fasten it tightly into place.
- Once again using the hammer drill, make holes in the side of the concrete and attach the left side panel to the concrete foundation again using the steel masonry anchors.
- Put the new doorframe in place and then install the doors onto the frame before tightening it down to ensure that everything is square.
- There are three things to watch for when installing the new door. First, make sure that the doors open freely and that they don't bind. Second, check that the margin running between the two doors is evenly spaced from top to bottom and lastly, make sure that the bar at the foot of the door is flush with the foundation frame.
- Finally, use self-tapping screws to attach the doorframe to the side panels and to secure the new header to the side of the house.
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Before After
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