As a mobile homeowner, you should have noticed that exterior doors can get damaged easily due to constant use and weather changes.
Therefore, it is crucial to replace or repair your door immediately after you notice that it longer functions properly.
If you have money to spare for replacement, you can hire a technician to do the work for you.
However, you can cut this cost by doing the replacement work yourself.
Three Signs That Indicate You Need To Replace Your Mobile Home Entry Door
There are three factors to consider before replacing your mobile home door.
- Firstly, check if the door alignment is still in place.
- Secondly, check the functionality of your door hardware such as hinges and locks, and check if they are worn out hence prime for replacement.
- And lastly, you will have to replace your door if the weatherstripping does not work properly anymore.
See Also: Should You Add A Storm Or Screen Door To Your Mobile Home?
What Are The Benefits Of Replacing Your Front Door?
Now, as a homeowner, you may have desired to improve the overall look of your home and therefore you may consider replacing your defaced door and giving a fresh look with a new one in place.
Besides adding aesthetic value to your home, there are other advantages you gained by installing a new door to your home such as improving the structural strength of your building.
A new door is stronger than a rusty one and therefore having a new one in place will add to your security and the quality of insulation.
As you have realized there is a lot to gain by replacing your entry door.
See Also: How Many Locks Should An Entry Door Have?
This is also a home improvement project and with it, you can recoup up to 80% of expenditure on the door.
Doing the work by yourself will bring you personal satisfaction once the job is done. You will surely look back and admire the works of your hands!
What Tools Are Needed To Do The Door Installation?
To get you started, you need to plan yourself properly by assembling the right tools you will require to get the job done.
These are the tools and materials you will need:
- A new mobile home door
- A power drill and drill bits (preferably a ¼ inch hex head)
- Hex head screws
- Screwdriver
- Tape measure
- Flat pry bar
- Carpenter’s leveling tool
To execute this job properly, you will require an extra pair of hands to help you handle the work otherwise it will be clumsy and cumbersome to juggle between tasks.
You will surely need somebody to hand you some material, pass tools or even help you perform some minor tasks.
What Are Some Front Door Shopping And Installation Steps?
Step 1: (Beforehand) Measure Your Door
This is the most important step in the entire process.
You have to get it right when it comes to measurements.
Taking the wrong measurement will lead you to buy a door that will not fit.
You will be forced to redo the measurement; an activity that eats into your precious time and energy.
Avoid this trouble by taking your time to get the right measurements.
There is no harm in taking extra precautions, right?
Now, getting to the real deal, close the door and measure the width and the height of your door opening. This is pretty easy since most mobile homes conform to standard pre-set sizes.
There is no need to include the measurement of the door frames.
After taking the measurements, record them down as precisely as you correctly measured.
Be as accurate as possible in every step.
If your measurements are not whole numbers, you can round them off to the nearest whole number.
See Also: How Can You Prevent Door Frames From Rotting?
Now that you have taken your measurements, you can now proceed to your mobile home supplier to secure your desired door that fits your mobile home measurements.
Step 2: Buy Your Desired Door
As you are aware, mobile home doors have different conformations to typical immobile homes.
Therefore, the right place to find your mobile home door is from a mobile home supply store.
Sizes
As noted earlier, mobile home front doors are available in standard pre-set sizes.
The most common sizes available are:
- Six/eight measuring 30′ by 80′, 32′ by 80′, and 36′ by 80′ inches
- Six/six measuring 30′ by 72′, 32′ by 72′ and 36′ by 72′ inches
- The most common standard measurement is 32 X 76 inches.
Apart from measurements, you will have to ascertain if your door is left or right hinged.
To note this, stand at the doormat from outside and simply take a look at the door and see which hand the hinges are on.
Swing Direction
Also, take note of the door swing direction.
Check if it is in swinging or out swinging. Again, viewing from the exterior of your door, open your door and see the direction it swings into.
In most cases, front doors are designed swinging inwards viewing from outside while screen doors are out swinging just like external windows.
See Also: How Often Should You Replace Mobile Home Weatherstripping?
See also if you need a screen door attached to your main door or independently connected to the wall.
In that case, do you need a screen door or no screen? Screens will help you keep off mosquitoes and pests depending on where you live.
Windows In Door?
Lastly, do you want windows in your new front door?
Having a window included include in your front door will confer you the fun of seeing who is outside before opening the door. This will, however, increase the cost of the project.
Step 3: Remove Your Old Door
Before you remove your old door, ensure that you have all the tools and materials in place including your new door.
You don’t want to start removing the old door and hang in between before completing fitting the new door.
Steps to remove your old door:
Remove the screws on your old door using your power drill then lift the door out from the frame. This will detach your old door from your home.
Insert the flat pry bar on the back of the frames at the top of the door and take the frame from the door opening. Do not use excessive force lest you will pull off the siding of your house.
Scrap away any sealant or putty that may have remained intact on the frames. Use a putty knife.
Step 4: Install The New Front Door
Now that the old door is out of your way, take off the paper backing on the new door and check if it is the right fitting by placing it in the door opening.
Check if it is of good fit before you proceed. Keeping the door intact in the frame, use the carpenter’s level to check if it is straight. Make the necessary adjustments if need be.
Remove any obstructions from the door frame and attach the frame to the door.
Fix the flanges on top and the two sides of the frame. Use warm putty tape.
Now lift and attach the door into the frame.
Use the carpenter’s level to ensure it is straight.
Drill the screws and fix the door hinges. Once you are certain that the door fits evenly, fix the remaining screws.
Finish it up by removing the shipping screws and ensuring that the hinges and locks are working properly.
Apply silicone caulk on the outside flange and the bottom threshold to ensure smooth operation.
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Reference
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