Door
This time we are Installing Exterior Pre-hung Door on an older sugar house, or sometimes called a shanty. Its a building where maple syrup is produced here in southern Quebec.
Barn Door
The original door on this building was more like a barn door, with the steel wheels that roll along a track. These were not overly efficient at stopping the breezes from blowing in. This door had one wide board across the top and bottom and then various widths of boards nailed on the vertical. New rules and regulations for maple syrup production said it had to go.
Framing For Installing Exterior Pre-hung Door
Anyway I just lifted the old barn door off its track and laid it on the ground. Left the track on the old building as it seemed to add a little to the looks of the place. Then measured the opening for the new pre-hung steel door, the same that many homes have. Of course the opening was way wider then the new door, so would have to build a rough frame inside the opening and used two by sixes for this.
Fitting Door
Installing the door would be fairly easy as it came already in a frame pre made. I had to shorten the door and frame by about five inches, and as the door had a metal covering I used a metal blade in the saw to get it to size. Then a little filing to smooth the metal out and was able to reattach a weather strip on the bottom of the door. Also had to cut bottom of frame to match up with door. Now it was ready to install in opening I had made with the two by sixes.
Leveling and Squaring
I usually leave about a half inch around door frame for levelling and squaring it into place. Place three sets of shingles around sides of door and a couple on the top. Then when level and square you can screw through the door frame where shingles are located into your two by sixes of the rough framing. Also try to make sure to put shingles where the latch will be, as this will prevent any movement in the future and keep the door latched properly.
Finishing Opening
After this you can finish filling in the rest of the opening where the barn door came off. In this case I used the old boards from the barn door and cut the nails holding them on with a metal blade so I would not totally wreck the boards. The old boards really came in handy as they matched up with the look of the place. Then added a pine trim around the door to finish it off, and well it looked quite good when all finished.
If anyone ever gets a chance to do a project like this, then I hope some of these ideas will help you out. Wish you the best of luck with things.
Any comments are always appreciated. Have a great day.
Wayne.