Building An Exterior Door Jamb From Scratch

Measure the width and height of the door.

Building an exterior door jamb from scratch.

Determine the size of the door opening. Building your own jambs is cost effective because you can purchase slab doors cheaper than prehung units. Measure your door carefully and cut the opening to fit using a reciprocating saw. Add 1 1 2 inch to the height and cut two pieces.

If you re not using premade jamb material or if your walls are a nonstandard thickness you can buy 5 or 6 inch wide lumber and rip cut it to the width of the wall using a table saw. If you have to replace or repair a door jamb it s most advisable to build an entire new door frame. Hinges usually go 8 inches from the door s top 9 inches from the bottom and at the. Building a doorjamb is a relatively easy project.

I m building a custom replacement exterior door for a roughly 100 year old house out of cedar. The size of the door opening will vary depending on the size of the door you plan to install. The door jamb is the vertical portion of the frame that runs along the sides of the door. You can purchase precut boards for this project or you can purchase trim boards and cut them to size yourself.

How nick makes a custom door jamb step by step. Installing a new door frame is not a difficult task and can be learned by understanding the simple steps involved. Installation of any door goes a lot easier if you mount the hinges on the door first rather than on the jamb. A typical door opening is 2 inches 5 1 cm wider than the door size being installed to allow for the thickness of the jamb material and shims to plumb the jamb.

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