Replacing the Entry Doors

In an effort to continue to improve the energy efficiency of our house, parts of the last two weekends have been committed to replacing our two entry doors. This job was not nearly as huge as the Cathedral Ceiling Insulation upgrade, thankfully!

I did the back door last Saturday, working alone, and it was arduous. Taking the old door out (which is explained online as simple removing the interior trim, cutting the nails, and watching the door fall outward) was a pain because the Dream has no trim on the inside. Instead, there are drywall corners that run up to the edge of the door. Also, instead of having exterior brick mold (which could be pried off to access the nails needing to be cut) our doors had one solid piece of wood that was the brick mold and frame. I ended up cutting the frame into many pieces, and prying each one off the studs, causing more stucco damage than I would have liked. After a mere six hours, the metal door was installed. Only once did I have to fully remove the door after shimming it and setting the screws on the hinge side.

When planning to tackle the front door, I knew that going it alone wasn’t going to be the best idea. With my co-owned reciprocating saw out with its co-owner, I borrowed my Rain Farming Friend’s saw, and about 3 hours of his time. *I co-own a reciprocating saw, as well as a 1984 Chevrolet 1/2 Ton. Almost all the time this is handy - especially when the time came to pay for said saw and truck. In fact, this was the first truck or saw related conflict* The second door went in more smoothly thanks to another set of hands. Now, instead of two circa 1961 wooden, constantly expanding and contracting, doors, we have two Energy Star approved, fully sealing and sealed doors.

Before we call in the Energuide for Houses folks for our follow up visit, we’ll insulate the basement (only about half is insulated right now), seal the electrical outlets on the exterior walls, and possibly upgrade the furnace. Though we need new windows, and could use some extra r-value on our exterior 2X4 walls, that’ll have to wait until we win the lottery.

For now, we have some nice(r) doors.