help installing a new back door in a twisted house

[megansny]

I am attempting to put a new pre-hung back door in a 100+ yr old house that is not plumb, level, square, or anything else that would make remodeling easy... yesterday we set a new back door into the old rough opening. it fits pretty tightly on one bottom corner because the framing on the sides is like this: \\ / on the outside, the j-channel of the siding follows the same funny-shaped opening, and there is a couple inches of underlayment exposed for the brickmold to sit against. after we levelled and plumbed everything, we noticed that the door was not closed properly (large gap between weatherstripping and door on top of latch side jamb); in order to un-twist we had to kick the bottom corner on the latch side out away from the house by about an inch. over a couple feet (going up) the gap narrows until the brickmold is against the house again.

has anyone encountered this problem, and if so, what did you do about it? should i live with it and try to fill the gap between the brickmold and the house? or should i (groan) trim back the framing around the rest of the opening so i can push the whole unit in? thanks in advance for your advice!

[tinacci336]

As I see the picture, regardless of whether the house is plumb or not . If you intend to install a door frame , then you should be sure that your frame fits into the wall opening freely and plumb even if you have to trim out part of the wall. .

[Harry K]

It is a problem, BTDT on a couple houses. The drill is to set the door square and level then do what is necessary to cover up the mis-matches. I have had to cut tapered shims on the outside and on my own back door heave doses of mud on the inside when taping the new sheetrock. There is no simple solution as racking the door is not an option.

Harry K

[scott21230]

I really need a picture.

However, I thought about doing this to my house, but ended up just buying a door slab and replacing the door only. Once I removed all the paint from the old door frame, I found they they were actually in pretty goos shape too. Only in one door did I replace a piece of wood (a threshold that had rotted).

[Harry K]

Seems I overlooked an obvious fix on my two problems. Set the frame to the opening without regard to plumb (align to siding/intererior finish). Then reset the stops and hinges so the -door- will be plumb. Might look a little odd with one or two tapered reveals on the casing but...

Harry K