Cut the bottom, seal with a urethane caulking and attach a door bottom that is a "U" shape and sleeves the door.

A dealer in commercial doors or "hollow metal" can probably do this for you. A MIG welder would be an important tool for the job.

We have doors that are custom cut down to size.

Our doors are tab and slot construction so it's easy to shorten it.

do you own the door? if not, simply order a cut down size.

Normal upcharge is around $85.

Michael

I realize I can get this type of work done for me at an added expense. My question was, has anyone done this themselves, and if so, how do you do it?.

My past experience (with luan pre-hung doors) has been to shorten the door by cutting the door and jamb from the top, that way the lockset stays at the correct height. The jamb is repaired by using a router to make a new dado joint and the door top is repaired as listed in my original post entry. I was thinking of installing a pre-hung steel door, if no one knows how to do this then I'll probably go with a solid core wood entrance door. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to modify a wooden door, but personally, I really would like a steel door instead.

I have done it with a "good" circular saw with a metal carbide blade. I use a worm drive saw. It is best to clamp a 2x4 to the door and use as a fence(or a guide). Set the blade depth to the width of the door and not much more, to reduce vibration on the blade.

Please wear safety glasses. It's hard to get through life when your winking all the time.

I have the tools that can cut through a steel door. I know how to cut through it. What I don't know, is how to repair the cut end of the door once I have cut it. I don't want to buy a steel door to experiment on, only to cut through it and find out that it's impossible to repair.
Can the part of the door that you cut off (ie. top or bottom) be reworked so that it fits back inside the cut end so that the void is sealed and the strength of the door remains intact (like I have done with a luan door)?

I have never cut off the end of a steel door and I,m not sure how the door is made. Is it a foam core wrapped in metal? Does it have wood bracing at the sides and ends? Is it welded, glued, nailed, or riveted? Does anyone know?

What does your steel door have on the bottom? Is it a slip door bottom, or like a U-shaped channel? You can re-use it on the cut end.

Well, I have not purchased a door yet. I was going to buy a steel door if I knew I could modify it. That's why I was asking. If shortening the door was going to be a complicated procedure that only the manufacturer could do, then I would bypass steel and go to wood.

My parents had a steel door shortened and put in.IIRC they salvaged the wood from the cut top and put it back into the door. All they did was disaasemble the frame and rabbet the edges and reassemble the frame. Cut the gasket to fit. I will take a closer look at it over the weekend.

You have to have confidence in yourself, you can do it. You say you got the tools to do it, just double check with the sales person on the procedure they might recommend. Every steel door I have ever purchased was "trim-able".

So, instead of a "steel entrance door", your speaking of a "steel clad" door, as opposed to a hollow metal door.

In part it depends upon the MFG., some come pre-preped, which usually are foam filled, wood frame.

So let me try again;"Cut the bottom, seal with a urethane caulking and attach a door bottom that is a "U" shape and sleeves the door."

Maybe that will work.