Can doors installed brick be reversed

FuLLTiLT

Hi

We are in the process of having a carport built that has an enclosed storage area in the front of it. The exterior construction is all brick.

The enclosed storage area is a relatively small space of 6' wide by 30' long. I specified I wanted 2 doors on the storage area, one door which I specified was to move a motorcycle through.

The contractor installed (2) 30" metal doors. What I have just noticed that deeply concerns me is that the masonry contractor (who is also the general contractor) has installed the doors so they open to the inside.

We are already looking at a small space and with the doors opening to the inside it will create dead space behind the doors as they must be fully opened to use the full 30" opening of the door.

I plan on contacting the contractor about this issue Monday and would like to find out what my options are.

Is it possible to drill new holes for the hinges to reverse the doors or do the actual door frames need to be cut out of the masonry and new ones installed?

Thanks in advance for feedback.

tpolk

doors unless ordered otherwise in residential open into the building space. commercial usually open out for fire egress reasons. even flipping door to exterior part of jamb, which the sill will no longer work for, you will find the brick will not let the door open moch past 90 degrees to wall plane. should have been out swing door set to allow clearance on brick

FuLLTiLT

Thanks for the reply.

How practical would it be to have the door frames cut out of the brick work and have doors that open to the outside installed?

tpolk

you could buy exterior out swing frames and rehang the doors you have as long as there is no reason for the inside to not face out. good carpenter could do this as long as brick is fairly true

FuLLTiLT

Hey thanks again for the reply

So help me understand this correctly...

to change these exterior doors from from inswing to outswing we need to put in new frames?

Scuba_Dave

Usually the frames are different for outswing doors
I have outswing doors on the side of the garage, hinge pins are welded
I suppose you could reverse a normal door & spot weld the pins
Not sure if it would hold up to a good tap from a hammer

Gary in WA

The hinges are usually exterior grade (stainless steel) for the elements. Do not use standard hinges and weld them as they would rust out soon. Remember, when you reverse the door sides, the swing also reverses. It may swing away from the wall now, unless you can swap the two and they were opposite swing. A problem may be in the head flashing unless a roof is in place.

Be safe, Gary

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tpolk

if you want sillout otherwise you can flip what you have