In most houses, interior doors are hollow-core, meaning that they consist of a wood frame with flat veneer glued on the front and back. As a result they are lightweight and, quite frankly, flimsy. Typically the veneer surface has been either stained (if it’s neutral wood) or painted.
You can easily switch to solid-core wooden interior doors, which come in a wide variety of styles and are readily available in standard indoor sizes. You can purchase an excellent interior wood door, unpainted and unstained, for around $150. (By contrast, a hollow-core door costs as little as $30.)
Unless you are experienced, you are best off getting a prehung interior door, with hinges already attached to the jamb. Again, remove the existing door (by punching out the hinge pins) and then use a crowbar to remove the jamb and surrounding molding, being careful not to damage the wall on either side.
Once the old door is out, you fit the new one into the jamb and, using wood shims (available where the door is sold), set it in place and then nail the jamb in. Finally, put on new molding (unless you were careful enough to save the old).
Don’t overspend on interior doors. While replacing them will add to the value of the home, it won’t add much. More than anything else, the new doors simply lend an indefinable (but real) elegance to the interior.
The entire replacement process shouldn’t take more than a few hours; once you get good at it, you’ll need much less time than that.
Changing Sliders
Many homes come with sliding glass doors leading out to the patio or backyard. After a time, the metal wheels on the sliding door wear out and it becomes hard to move. Further, the metal itself can date a house. The usual course of action, therefore, is to replace the doors.
You can replace sliders with wooden, metal, or vinyl doors. A recent trend is to install French doors, the kind with lots of small windows.
A standard replacement slider for a 5-foot door can cost $200 or $300. Change that to plastic and the price goes up $100. Move on to wood—particularly a door with true French windows—and you could easily pay $1000 or more, depending on the design.
Dont’ use wood exterior sliders. Moisture will damage the wood and virtually every year you’ll need to spend hours repainting or restaining.
The usual removal procedure is to lift out the slider. Yes, the door is heavy, so get help. Just slide it all the way open and then lift it off its track. To lift off the static portion of the slider, simply remove the two or three metal screws that are holding it in place. Then lift off the metal jamb by unscrewing it from the studs on the sides and the header above.
Remember that changing the slider means replacing an exterior door. Usually removal of the old door will involve some damage to the exterior facing and the interior drywall. If you’re careful, however, you can limit the damage to less than an inch around the opening.
If you are installing another slider, you simply reverse the process. Afterward, you will probably need to do some repair work both inside and out. If you are replacing the slider with a wooden door, follow the procedures described above. The trim or molding that comes with the new door will often cover all or most of the damage done when removing the original slider.
Some vinyl sliders come with overlapping strips on the exterior. If you’re careful, they can cover the outer wall damage incurred when removing the old slider.
After reading this, you would also like to learn how to build a screen door and also how to build a fiberglass box which will help you save some money.