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Home Repair Design Dilemma

Replacing an exterior door with an awkward size

Jason, zone 7A, near Greensboro NC

2 years ago

I'm helping my mother in law remodel her 1950s era house. The structure is cinder block, so it's next to impossible to do anything other than what's already there.

In replacing the front exterior door, I discovered that it's really just a wooden slab that's just been cut to fit. It's an odd size of 32x77", and the shortest door I can find is 80" :-O

I emailed a few wholesale suppliers that said they can build something, but it would be like $3k... umm, we have a $400 budget on this, and even that makes her cringe! LOL

Refinishing the original really isn't going to happen, either. It's been knocked off the hinges a dozen times and barely stays in place, it's in pretty bad shape.

Is it possible / normal / sane to buy an 80" fiberglass door (or similar) and then cut off 3" at the bottom? And then, I guess I'd have to add some sort of structure to the bottom to hide the rough edge?

Any other suggestions?

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Comments (5)

PRO
HALLETT & Co.
2 years ago
Call your local lumberyard- they can order a door any size. It will likely be twice your budget though. My office in a 1850 brick building has a 78” door…
tozmo1
2 years ago
I'm not recommending this, but offering a suggestion on how to reduce size of materials. I learned this when I was doing a lot of drapery work. Here goes...if you need to reduce the size of something, don't take the total reduction off one end or one side. Split the required amount in half and reduce two sides or top and bottom. Doing it that way, it's not as visually obvious that you have made a reduction. So in your case, you need a 3" reduction. Take 1.5 inches off the top and 1.5 inches off the bottom. This only works if you aren't damaging the structural integrity of the thing you are cutting.

The best solution is the one put forth by Hallet & co but in a pinch, go to Habitat Reuse in Greensboro https://habitatgreensboro.org/restore/, get a used door and give cutting it a try. If you get a used door, then I would line up the existing hinges to your frame's existing hinge cutouts (assuming there is a frame you can use) and then cut off your amounts top and bottom to work with the existing hinges.
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Making a door smaller is dependant on the way in which it was built. Some doors are a sandwich on a frame---the inside or 'core' is filled with a softer wood/other material---and the frame is hardwood suitable for attaching hinges. If that frame is cut off, the hinges generally will not stay tightly attached. Cutting off the hinge side of a door is preferrable, since the handle side has a hole that has to be cut a certain distance in from the side. Shortening a door is generally done in referrance to the hinge location. Cutting a little off the top and the bottom to get the hinges close to the location on the door jamb.
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They are full of uneducated baloney, IMHO. Those sizes are normal sizes and offered on HD websites. (Added). Rough openings for doors are usually 2" higher and 2" wider than the intended door size. That puts your RO's at 83" high and 40" or 4" wide. Wall thicknesses are varied. Normal 2" by 4" exterior walls are 3&1/2"(lumber), plus 1/2"(sheetrock), plus at leas 1/2" sheathing for a total of 4&1/2". My house(built in 1965) has exterior walls of that thickness. $500 a door is a bit high. Look elsewhere. Like contractors or even experienced handy persons. Doors were one of my favorite jobs and I seldom charged more than $300(which included getting the door from the store if necessary). And what goeffrey_b wrote is excellent. That was the minimum I did.
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PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
2 years ago
No you can't remove that much material from any door other than a solid wood one which BTW will cost more than the budget. I agree phone to see how much for a custom door from a big box store and I guess i am curious why the door you have has been knocked off the hinges so often so maybe share a couple of pics . In my experience those doors from the 50's were often solid so can be repaired and painted
Jason, zone 7A, near Greensboro NC
Original Author
2 years ago
I guess i am curious why the door you have has been knocked off the hinges so often

@Patricia Colwell Consulting... when I met them some 27 years ago it was already in bad shape. But I think it's a combination of an abusive husband, countless neighborhood kids that considered her to be family, and at least twice that someone broke in.

We're currently remodeling everything, and this isn't a particularly attractive door anyway; no windows, no decoration, just a slab of wood. All things considered I really want her to get a steel door, but at this point I'm afraid it's just not practical.

Thanks to all of you, though! I'll be addressing this one on Monday, so wish me luck :-O
apple_pie_order
2 years ago
32 by 78 inches is a standard size according to a quick google search. Have a carpenter look at the opening to see if you can use a pre-hung door of that size if you remove the current door and casing. If not, you may be able to have a plain wood door of that size cut down to fit.

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