Entry Door

Mr.Phillips · 12-30-2009, 07:16 PM

Hi the pictures I posted are of the entry door of a house I purchased from HUD and I'm replacing the door and door jamb I can see that the house once had a security door up and I'm also replacing that.My question is why is there an empty space between the door jab and where the security door goes?, and what should I do about that? The gap is 3 to 4 inches wide and about 4 to 5 inches deep on both sides of the door.Could someone PLEASE help me out with this one.

Ron6519 · 12-30-2009, 07:22 PM

The current door has the wrong jamb width. They probably just bought a standard door instead of the correct unit.
Ron

Scuba_Dave · 12-30-2009, 07:56 PM

Yup, what Ron said

Standard door for a 2x4 wall installed & you probably need one for a 2x6 wall
Could be 2 layers of sheetrock etc inside too

Mr.Phillips · 12-31-2009, 01:44 AM

Dave I truly admire what you're doing to your house, or should I be saying what you've done to the place? Now Ron thanks for the comment, well both you guys.Ok if the door jamb is the wrong size when I replace it do I place 2x4 in the gap or what??????? I see Dave you mentioned "Could be 2 layers of Sheetrock inside too"
What do you mean by that? Well I know sheet rock is dry wall but what do you mean by two layers inside.
And, again Thank You both.

bob22 · 12-31-2009, 09:24 AM

Measure from the finished wall inside the house the where the cement block edge is on the outside; that should be close to your jamb width. You will likely have to order the door with an extension jamb (wider than "normal").

Ron6519 · 12-31-2009, 10:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr.Phillips

Dave I truly admire what you're doing to your house, or should I be saying what you've done to the place? Now Ron thanks for the comment, well both you guys.Ok if the door jamb is the wrong size when I replace it do I place 2x4 in the gap or what??????? I see Dave you mentioned "Could be 2 layers of Sheetrock inside too"
What do you mean by that? Well I know sheet rock is dry wall but what do you mean by two layers inside.
And, again Thank You both.

To understand the issue, look at the door frames in the house. The frame(jamb) reaches from finished wall to finished wall. You have another egress door in the house, look at that. Assuming it was installed correctly and it was the right door for the space. The frame extends from the interior finished wall all the way out to the exterior finished wall in a sided house. The frame will extend less in a brick or stone fascade. It will extend an inch or so past the brick edge.
If you're putting on a storm or security door, you need to have the door frame sit on top of the stone, not butt up to the stone or you won't have room to fit the storm frame on the main door frame.
The previous owner could have bastardized the space by installing a fascade of stone around the house exterior, which might be the reason for the narrow door frame. It allowed him to install the security door.
You might be dealing with a series of issues with this opening.
Ron