Replacing entrance doors

16 years ago

We need to replace both the front and back doors to our house. The existing ones are hollow core wood with a thin veneer. We have been given an estimate of $3000 to replace both. It seems that doors at Homer Depot (say steel ones) only cost about $250 and if you add the storms it brings the cost for the doors to about $800. It seems that $2200 for labor is a bit excessive. Any thoughts about this out there. I'm tempted to do them myself.

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Comments (4)

ron6519
16 years ago
An estimate is given on a specific door, not a category("say steel ones"). In order for the estimate to be relevant, someone would need to know exactly which entrance and storm door you wanted AND come to the house to see the specific conditions involved in the install.
I typically charge $800.00 for the combo(entrance/storm) to install. Possible added costs depend on condition of framing under and around door.
Just as a heads up about estimates. There are four componets in an estimate. Material, labor ,overhead and profit. Companies that just do estimates with labor and materials won't be in business long.
Ron
chisue
16 years ago
This is not a DIY job for the average person. The new doors will be perfectly plumb. Your openings won't. It can take many hours to hang a new door on an old house. Still, get some more quotes.
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dickross
16 years ago
installing a prehung door is not all that dificult. It does take longer than you would expect. Pick a spell of good weather. You will almost certainly not have your first door installed in one day. fit the doorsil to the frame before you start. You may need to trim off the bottoms of the frame. You'll need a helper to stand on the other side of the door to stop it from falling inward.
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When you're sure the door is right, and is mounted solid, replace some/all of the screws (one at a time) with some 3" stainless steel or coated exterior screws. replace at least 2 of the screws in each hinge with 2 1/2 or 3" long screws into the house frame. If your door is not hardwood, replace a couple of screws in each hinge on the door side with 1 1/2 or 2" long coated steel or stainless screws.

fill in behind the frame with expanding foam, a little at a time! This stuff will expand and warp your frame if you try to fill in completely all at once.

Your door is now pretty much weather tight, break out the beer and let the trim wait til next weekend.
skydawggy
16 years ago
Are you sure you are comparing apples to apples?

Was the $3000 estimate for the cheap 24-26 gauge steel doors they sell at Home Depot which only come primed and without any hardware? Or was it for a better quality like a 20 gauge Precision steel door that comes with a baked on, pre-painted finish w/ steel ball bearing hinges, Schlage hardware, steel security plate etc.?

If $3000 was for 2 quality doors, you got a real bargain at that price IMO.

Replacing entrance doors

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ron6519

chisue

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