How To Make An Exterior Door Frame Smaller

Measure the doorway where you ll be installing your door.

How to make an exterior door frame smaller.

If you re narrowing the frame by more than an inch remove the hinge side. You will need to add 1 2 of plywood between the 2x4 s to get the right wall thickness of 3 1 2. Cut the door header. It s important to make improvements that fit harmoniously with the size of the home s front windows and porch components however.

To make the door header the top of the door frame cut two 2x4s to the same length as the width of the original opening and nail them securely together. Find the height and width of your empty doorway by running a tape measure down one side then stretching it across the top. By increasing the size of the front door and adding special touches you can change a plain entry to one with pizzazz to spare. If a door is not planned determine the size of the finished opening and add 5 8 of an inch for drywall at each side of the opening.

Pry off the door casing and the knob side and top jambs with a pry bar if you only need to fur out one side of the frame. Before you get to sawing gluing and sanding you ll need to know exactly how big your door needs to be. The larger door space should look as if its design is original to the home s construction.