Install a Sliding Door | How to Easily Remove an Old Door and Install a New One!

this week i am finally tackling the issue these double doors have burdened me with but have frustrated me with since buying this house the function of double doors is wonderful but they are notorious for causing problems for me the reliability of this door opening or staying closed is all dependent on how much rain we've had meaning sometimes it will open easily other times it won't open at all i finally had my fill and i'm replacing it with a more reliable door which is the classic sliding door [Music] in case you have the same issue let me show you the process and shorten your learning curve as it's really quite simple and an easy fix that will save a ton of headache first thing i needed to do was remove the outside trim i used a box blade to score a line on the inside and outside of the trim to cut through the caulking joints next i used a variety of prying tools to pry up the trim on each side i was attempting to remove the trim in a single piece because the trim will have to be reinstalled after the new doors go in but if it's easier to break it in pieces then alternatively you can just put down a new board in the end all right break it off let's do it the easy way the main thing is to not chip the siding as that's a bummer and isn't an easy fix okay next step is to remove the doors this is simple enough now without the trim i just had to take out all of the screws holding the hinges to the doorway for the meantime i just set mine aside but i recommend donating your old doors to habitat restore so that they don't have to go to a dump or you can always up cycle them to another structure you have like a shed next i moved to the inside and repeated the scoring action on the inside trim my goal is to try and leave the inside trim in place because looking at my doors i don't think i'll have to remove it but if you have to remove yours it's the same process as the outside next i looked for screws sometimes installers hide screw under the weather stripping which is a great install tip actually but if you were taking a door out remove the stripping to see if there are any i only had one since i wasn't able to get it out i just cut it off with the trim joint cut i next cut a line with my putty knife through the spray foam along the outside in my case i only have it along the top but if you had a better builder you might have it around all three finally i used my same prying tools to slightly pry up without removing the inside trim the trim nails attaching the trim to the door are the last things holding the store in place i used a multi-tool to cut through the nails then a pry bar to work the door completely out and hold it away perfect now i have a great big opening to work with now i do recommend looking at the weather before tackling this project as you will have your whole house open for at least an hour if not a few once i removed my door i noticed that my builder didn't do any flashing around the perimeter i do have a large overhang but since i'm down to bare i went ahead and applied the correct protection i started by applying a strip of flexible flashing tape to the bottom lip then folding the excess up and over the threshold next i came back with flashing tape that went from the corner to corner only peeling back a little bit of paper backing at a time and applying a good amount of pressure as i went once the entire piece is laid down i came back with a roller to apply more firm pressure and work out any creases now corners are the tricky part here this huge roll of flex flashing is 18 but a roll of this special flexible wrap made for corners is closer to 180. that's because instead of making choice cuts in order to get it to form around an inside corner you stretch it and literally just stretch it down and out to fit it's magic and worth the money however a tip here is to use the cheaper stuff on the long bottom stretch of the doorway than the expensive stuff just on the corners okay and now continue with flashing working upwards i repeated the process to flash the sides going from the inside corner to inside corner now bring in the door first thing to do is apply a continuous bead of caulking around the back side of the nail flange just right inside the screw holes i did this on the left top and right but not the bottom this is so that if water does find a way in it has a way to get out and i'm using dap's dynaflex 230 here this is a premium interior or exterior sealant that is 100 waterproof the sealant combines durability adhesion and flexibility plus cure sealant is mold and mildew resistant with that applied you just need to find a strong friend and set the door in place we aim to get the bottom end first then tilt the top of the door in now the door can be attached with a few screws all along the nail flange i first made sure the door was level and it was however if it wasn't then i would have used shims to make it so next i plumbed the door and it's actually just plumbing the side of the frame as it's pretty flexible i held up a level as a straight edge reference and made sure that the frame was touching everywhere along the line before screwing it down it doesn't have a handle on it yet but let's go ahead and test it out perfect let's continue the next step is adding back trim these doors aren't as deep as the french doors so on the inside this left a blank space i simply put in some trim to fill it in after popping it in place i reattached the inside trim to it first then i came back and attached the fill trim to the header i repeated that on both the left and right and bottom now to make it go away and look seamless i clocked all of the seams i'm using dap's alex fast dry here this stuff is ready to paint in 20 minutes so it's great for projects where you don't want a lot of downtime next i move to the outside and button that side up since i broke most of my trim boards on the tear down i just reinstalled new ones this is simple enough after getting them installed then i clocked all of the seams and then also applied some wood filler this is dab's premium wood filler that will be very durable over time regardless if it's inside or outside this isn't so pressing on the outside but it does really clean up the inside trim so that once you paint everything blends together and looks wonderful and do you hear that great seal when it shuts that's another huge advantage to a sliding door over french doors it creates a much better era moisture seal if you're installing a sliding door know that there are adjustments on the bottom of the door you can turn the bottom bolt clockwise to raise the door up which pushes down the wheels so if your door is difficult to open you can make adjustments here you can also open the door just slightly to quickly check how straight it's sitting in the bottom of the track now real quick know that whenever you're purchasing a door you can have the option of it either opening from the left or the right my advice would be to look at the situation and see which one would make most sense for you i chose for my door to open from the right to the left because my breakfast bar is on the left and the open territory is on the right but just know if you're looking that you do have the option either way also you have the option of blinds i went ahead and chose the kind of upgradeable option to have the blinds built in this will not only give me the ability to completely raise or lower them but then also just open and shut them now if i had small children that would find these fun to play with i probably wouldn't get them because once the mechanism breaks which they can do then you're just stuck with the doors until you replace it however since i don't have kiddos i went ahead and opted for the feature again just know that you have an option there in my case the fluctuation was so much that any fix i made only lasted until the next rain okay and that is another project complete i really hope that if you have a sliding door on your to-do list that this shortens your learning curve and kind of prepares you for what you can expect from the project i personally think the effort was 100 worth it i love these doors i have links to everything i use down in the description and i'll see you on whatever i'm working on next guys thank you so much for checking out this video be sure to also check out my website because i sell lots of useful things such as these fraction and decimal charts they're not only cool shop decor but they're also functional if you're interested in getting yours you can click right here

Channel: April Wilkerson

Views: 270,162

Rating: 4.9324689 out of 5

Keywords: april wilkerson, diy, wilkerdos, wilker dos, how to, home improvement, wood, diy project, woodworking shop, outdoor project, female builder, diy shop project, female woodworker, female carpenter, diy projects, women who build, do it yourself, woman builder, sliding door, door replacement, glass door, new door, door installation, sliding door install, how to change door, sliding door diy, home repair, exterior door, replace exterior door frame, exterior door flashing tape

Id: zISAzshnvnA

Length: 8min 48sec (528 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 14 2021