Replacing exterior doors with rotted sills

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Yeah, It doesn't really seem to have dents so much as scratches. Worst case I can spray it on and if it doesn't work I sand it off and try something else. I got the caulk put around both sides. I'll have to check it tomorrow to see if it cracked overnight. It should have dried before it got cold.
petdr-caulk1.jpg petdr-caulk2.jpg
 
No pictures, but I put 2 coats of the filler primer on now-- waited 24 hours in between. 1st coat went on dark but was so light when I checked on it that it didn't even hide the discoloration on the door. I'm going to have to do some sanding on it today to see if it helps. I'll need a better mask though since I don't have good ventilation and the stuff is strong. I sprayed some a little too thick so it pooled & I tried to wipe it away & it just smeared-- but it covered some of the scratches better. I'm going to see how it looks after sanding. I'll probably put the door down flat instead of upright & use a brush or roller to spread the stuff for the next coat. Worst case if it doesn't hide stuff, the door is steel clad so I can put a decorative magnetic sticker over the biggest scratches. LOL. Maybe I can pull the whiteboard sticker off the side of the fridge & my brother & I can leave each other notes.
 
Just sanded the last coat of filler primer and sprayed on the white primer. For some reason the white primer came out inconsistently & was very splotchy. I'll take pictures probably tomorrow. I'm going to go over everything with a tack cloth before I do the top coat. I'm not really concerned about the primer being splotchy because there is primer underneath (that I lightly sanded and wiped off prior to adding more coats). At one point a bug somehow got in and landed on the fresh paint so I had to remove it and it messed up the smoothness of the primer, but it's on the side that will face the outside & I don't really care much. From videos and pictures I've seen, the Behr Marquee can cover flaws somewhat decently anyway. I just wanted to make sure the color underneath didn't have too much contrast between gray & white. Hopefully I'll only need one coat of the Behr paint.
I'm thinking I might actually do the paint on the door frame before I do the paint on the door or I might do them both the same day. I just need to grab another cardboard box to put underneath the threshold. The drop cloth I got from Walmart was friggin' useless because they somehow glue it to itself so it wouldn't unfold. Not sure how they did it but it is more like a tube that can go around something & won't come apart to fold out & wasn't even a full 10" wide.
The tougher thicker weeds in my yard have dried up more so I can snap them off & other weeds have died (although the blackberry bushes are still just as thorny as ever).
 
Since I'm forcing myself to not procrastinate as much, I fought the urge to wait until tomorrow & made myself go down to the workshop to take some pictures & do the topcoat on the side of the door that dried for 48 hours. There were a few mishaps- random hair got on the paint, a bug landed on it, & at one point the moving blanket (in a plastic bag) that I used to protect the door from the sander (which is too heavy for me to move) fell on top of the fresh paint so I had to fix it. I never used a foam roller before so there was a bit of a learning curve. I didn't have the best prep area so I dripped a little on the floor & some plastic boxes but it doesn't bother me. I got out a new paintbrush, unwrapped it from plastic, then set it down and have no idea where I put it, so I'll have to do touchups tomorrow. The color is very nice & I'm OK with how it turned out with the 1st coat.
I showed pics to my mother but only thing she noticed was that I missed a spot on the side. I pointed out that I'd get that later.
BEFOREDoorprimed6.jpg Doorprimed2.jpg

AFTERDoorpainted1.jpg Doorpainted2.jpg
 
Have been following this thread. It's been a long haul for you, but you've done a great job!
 
Thanks, Piper. It feels good to actually be making progress. It's slow, but at least it's progress.
 
Thanks, Jeff!
I went down and painted the other side, but I will have to do a 2nd coat on the first side. I'm still trying to work out the best technique with the roller. Hopefully a 2nd coat will make it look better. I didn't get around to painting the frame yet-- I want to make sure there was no wet blue paint in the area to contaminate the white because I'm a monkey. I'll need another painting pan as well.
 
I forgot to get pictures before doing the 2nd coat on the inside half of the door but it looks great after drying. I did get pictures of the other side with just 1 coat on. It doesn't look as bad as the other side, but you can still see the color is uneven. I should have flipped over the cardboard I used because it had dirt that stuck to the door (will probably wipe off with a damp cloth). Had the same situation with something that stuck to the wet paint pulling paint off when I plucked it off so I did a tiny bit of touch-up (after I took photos). I also found that the cardboard on the other end slipped and let something metal scratch the paint a bit but I touched it up. I'm going to wait for it to dry before doing the full coat tomorrow.
I got pics of the mold or whatever the schmutz is on the door frame. Tried to spray it with Killz but at first it wouldn't come out and then it dripped from the sprayer all over my hand while I was spraying & didn't spray evenly. Either I just suck with spray cans or I've been having bad luck with the sprayer nozzles. I've sprayed stuff in the past and not had these problems but they are different types of nozzles on these ones.
Mold or whatever it is on the door frame: drframemold1.jpg drframemold2.jpg drframemold3.jpg

1st coat of paint after drying: drpaintrollermarks1.jpg dr1stcoatouter1.jpg dr1stcoatouter2.jpg dr1stcoatouter3.jpg

2nd coat on the other side after drying: dr2ndcoatinner.jpg dr2ndcoatinner2.jpg

If the tape comes off of the nuts & bolts I will spray them with the metal primer & then paint over them with the same paint I'm using for the door trim (a semi-gloss white).

Any suggestions on how long I should wait to remove the painter's tape? I don't want to pull it too soon and have it peel paint off but also don't want to leave it too long and have it mess things up.
 
Kilz has a mold killing primer, FYI.
You might do just as well with a wipe down with Tilex, or bleach and water, careful not to wipe anything that will show later.

Ace Hardware near me in Chicago suburbs carries it.
I think it cost me about $15.00 for a quart.
 
Yeah, I've used the can type of mold-destroying Killz before. I used it liberally in my bathroom after some plumbing leaks. I used to have a 5 gallon bucket of the stuff-- used it on my friend's kitchen in the house that eventually burned. I may go grab some of the paint on Killz prime for mold since the spray kind is wonky. I believe we painted the entire workshop in Killz before.
There's no Ace Hardware in my area but Walmart tends to carry Killz. I can try some clorox wipes on the mold as well.
 
Last time I went down to the workshop I did another coat on the exterior side of the door but accidentally scratched the inside part which had been finished (I was trying to flip the door over on it's side and it slipped and fell and hit something-- scraping paint off). I'm going to get my 2nd moving blanket and carefully wrap the door in it before I try flipping it again. Some of the paint peeled off when I removed the tape from the pet door so I did some touch-ups. I used the white paint over the dremel marks on the pet door. I'll probably paint the exterior pet door white as well just to protect the plastic from the sun. It's been cold and rainy so I haven't gone back down to the workshop. Got a bit of a virus my brother brought home from work & have been trying to stay hydrated. I've been cleaning up inside the house instead, but I really need to get to the back door area.

Looking at the pictures I realized I don't have enough room to sister up new king studs like I wanted.
tumblr_on6m5uBdA91qkwd9ao5_1280.jpg

So, I'm wondering if I need to replace the existing ones entirely or if I can build up on top of them using 2x4 blocks.
Question: Do the king studs have to go all the way up to the header uninterrupted or can I have a 2x4 brace for the top of the door frame sandwiched in between? So, I'd have it like the current situation where the king studs go up to the 2x4 but then I'd have another 2x4 on top going up to two 2x6s sandwiched together as the header.
doorframeplan1.jpg
or should I slightly notch the king studs (less than halfway through) to fit the 2x4 in- creating a large dado)?
doorframeplan2.jpg

Or should I just make the header wider and trim the studs that currently go all the way to the ceiling to put the header in?

If I do the first one, I will sister the king studs to the main studs that support the ceiling since they are right next to one another.
 
zannej said:
Last time I went down to the workshop I did another coat on the exterior side of the door but accidentally scratched the inside part which had been finished (I was trying to flip the door over on it's side and it slipped and fell and hit something-- scraping paint off). I'm going to get my 2nd moving blanket and carefully wrap the door in it before I try flipping it again. Some of the paint peeled off when I removed the tape from the pet door so I did some touch-ups. I used the white paint over the dremel marks on the pet door. I'll probably paint the exterior pet door white as well just to protect the plastic from the sun. It's been cold and rainy so I haven't gone back down to the workshop. Got a bit of a virus my brother brought home from work & have been trying to stay hydrated. I've been cleaning up inside the house instead, but I really need to get to the back door area.

Looking at the pictures I realized I don't have enough room to sister up new king studs like I wanted.
The new threshold will sit on the subfloor, not like the old one.
tumblr_on6m5uBdA91qkwd9ao5_1280.jpg

So, I'm wondering if I need to replace the existing ones entirely or if I can build up on top of them using 2x4 blocks.
Question: Do the king studs have to go all the way up to the header uninterrupted or can I have a 2x4 brace for the top of the door frame sandwiched in between? So, I'd have it like the current situation where the king studs go up to the 2x4 but then I'd have another 2x4 on top going up to two 2x6s sandwiched together as the header.
View attachment 23202
or should I slightly notch the king studs (less than halfway through) to fit the 2x4 in- creating a large dado)?
View attachment 23203

Or should I just make the header wider and trim the studs that currently go all the way to the ceiling to put the header in?

If I do the first one, I will sister the king studs to the main studs that support the ceiling since they are right next to one another.
Click to expand...
This will work fine and there is something goofy about that light box too.
BTW, the king studs are the tall ones on each side and the ones supporting the header are jack studs.

doorframeplan1-jpg.23202
 
Last edited:
nealtw said:
This will work fine and there is something goofy about that light box too.
BTW, the king studs are the tall ones on each side and the ones supporting the header are jack studs.

doorframeplan1-jpg.23202
Click to expand...
Oops. I've been using the wrong term. Thanks! King studs for all the way to ceiling-- jack studs for the header. I'll try to remember that.

Goofy? Reminds me of an off color joke about Mickey Mouse divorcing Minnie Mouse. LOL. It's a DIY job. I'm not sure what sort of box should be there. Worst case scenario, I can replace it with a different type of box. I'm going to have to bump it up a bit for the 2x4 to be adjusted.
I need to measure again to see if both of the jack studs are too short or if it's just one of them.
 
zannej said:
Oops. I've been using the wrong term. Thanks! King studs for all the way to ceiling-- jack studs for the header. I'll try to remember that.

Goofy? Reminds me of an off color joke about Mickey Mouse divorcing Minnie Mouse. LOL. It's a DIY job. I'm not sure what sort of box should be there. Worst case scenario, I can replace it with a different type of box. I'm going to have to bump it up a bit for the 2x4 to be adjusted.
I need to measure again to see if both of the jack studs are too short or if it's just one of them.
Click to expand...
Don't start on the header, you may have things to fix at the floor that would or could change measurements for the door.

Goofy light boxes. It is facing in but looks like it is for an outside light.
For the outside you drill a 4" hole just thru the siding and use a flat box and drill a hole thru the plywood for the wires and clamp.
shopping


 
Neal, Ah, Ok. I thought the box being plastic was a problem. The light that used to be there was fine but it got destroyed by flying debris during a hurricane. Never got around to replacing it. I'm seriously thinking of just replacing it with a solar powered light instead.

Good point about working on the floor first. I really need to replace the light bulb in the fixture in that area so I can see better and work on clearing out the crap in the hallway. I really need to suck it up and stop procrastinating on that front.. It involves a lot of bending and I won't have any help on it-- and it's mostly my brother's stuff. I need to see what to throw away, what to wash & either store in bins or donate. Unfortunately, I won't have any help on it, which is frustrating.
 
zannej said:
Neal, Ah, Ok. I thought the box being plastic was a problem. The light that used to be there was fine but it got destroyed by flying debris during a hurricane. Never got around to replacing it. I'm seriously thinking of just replacing it with a solar powered light instead.

Good point about working on the floor first. I really need to replace the light bulb in the fixture in that area so I can see better and work on clearing out the crap in the hallway. I really need to suck it up and stop procrastinating on that front.. It involves a lot of bending and I won't have any help on it-- and it's mostly my brother's stuff. I need to see what to throw away, what to wash & either store in bins or donate. Unfortunately, I won't have any help on it, which is frustrating.
Click to expand...
A plastic box is okay there too, just don't see them very often.
 
I'm thinking about this again because Mom has been nagging me about getting it done. Still have to get my brother's crap out of the way, get some working lights in the area to see, demo walls on the adjacent bathroom (no plumbing in the walls now to worry about but the room is filled up with stuff so it will have to be relocated. I still need to repair/replace subfloor, but I should not have put it off for so long because plywood prices have more than tripled (in some cases quadrupled) in my area and it's only expected to go up more. Still need to install a proper header, put in blocks for the awning, put in proper supports for the back light, etc.

It may cost more, but I'm thinking of being lazy & using Suresill header and sill pans to redirect water. I never did measure the brickmold on the door frame. I'll have to bridge the gap between the brickmold and the J-channel around the current door trim. The PVC boards went way up in price too, but I think I can get some to put in that spot. I'll likely have to paint them to protect them from sunlight though. Which is fine. I have exterior paint. It won't look the prettiest but it will function, hopefully.

I recently learned about something called J-block for installing a backplate for exterior lights on vinyl trim. I can get one like this https://www.lowes.com/pd/Ply-Gem-8-...ain-Vinyl-Universal-Mounting-Block/1000047167 and drill a hole or get one with a pre-drilled hole (although the one with predrilled hole at Lowes was $30+). https://www.lowes.com/pd/Ply-Gem-8-54-in-x-7-52-in-White-Vinyl-Universal-Mounting-Block/50142084

Amazon has this: https://www.amazon.com/Exteriors-MBLOCKR-PW-J-Block-Mounting/dp/B001AY503M/
and this: https://www.amazon.com/Arlington-Plastic-Surface-Vertical-Mounting/dp/B00VX5CX2E/

I'll have to make sure whatever I get fits the base of the light fixture. I'm trying to figure out the best thing to use to bump out the awning a bit more as well. Some PVC boards maybe. Or even some wood boards completely sealed up and painted white.

I'm also debating whether I should just patch the floor near the door, fix the header, install the door, and then worry about demo and leveling the rest of the floor later. I will need to bring one of the vinyl planks up to make sure the door will clear it. I just hope the walls don't lean inward- which would cause the door to tilt. I suppose worst case I could trim and hide any bumpouts from putting the door plumb/level even if the walls aren't. My 4' level disappeared so I'll have to get a new one.

I'm going to have to use the magnetic whiteboard on a part of the door inside because someone went in to the workshop without my knowledge and put the paint buckets and other metal stuff on top of the door, chipping the paint and denting it more. I don't know if it was my brother or a former friend who was hired to do yardwork & ended up just stealing stuff and leaving and refusing to do more work or repay the $.

As an aside, I'm going to use the Behr Deep River paint on the front door once I get it cleaned up enough. Gonna have to scrub it down, sand it, clean it again, prime it, etc first. It will have to be painted while still on the frame though so I'll have to put down plastic to keep paint off the carpet & threshold. I hope the bugs stay away from it long enough for it to dry.
 
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