International Residential Code 2000 Section R309 Garages and Carports R309.1 Opening protection. Openings from a private garage directly into a room used for sleeping purposes shall not be permitted. Other openings between garage and residence shall be equipped with a solid wood door not less than 1 3/8 inch in thickness, solid or honeycomb core steel door not less than 1
3/8 inches thick, or 20 minute fire rated door.TB
It is a DIY job for anyone with minimum experience and a reasonable assortment of tools. Hacksaw or recip saw, hammer, nail set(s) (maybe), screwdriver, level, square. Instructions will be (or have in all mine)included with the door. Someone else has layed out the basic procedure very well.
Harry K
I have a wood door between my garage and my basement. Why and how the previous owner was able to put a wood door there instead of a steel one is debatable but I'd like to replace it with a steel door.
As I'd like to try and tackle this myself, what is involved in removing the door and frame and installing the steel one? I plan on going to Home Depot and purchasing the door. Don't know if I should get a pre-hung door or what.
Thanks for your assistance.
Walter
Wood is cheaper and either he did not have a permit or it was before that was part of the code.
This is a DIY job. Is there molding around the door? remove it and measure the opening. Buy the same size pre-hung door. Remove the old by prying the casing and maybe cutting a few nails with a reciprocating saw. Put the new frame in place and fasten it securely. Be sure it is plumb and square. Use shims as needed. Replace the trim.
Be sure you have the new door in hand before removing the old one. There is a chance in an older house that the existing door is an odd size and you need something special.
Yep. The garage door the leads to my family room is solid wood, and heavy as hell. Most of the houses I've been in that were built at the same time use solid wood doors for that purpose. My entrance doors are steel, but this door has the same look as all of the other interior doors.
Yep, my house was built in 1976. Doors in houses built at that time that I've visited (at least here) were all undersized by 1/4". I also purchased some doors at an auction (door knob holes were at the wrong height) and they were the same. I'm replacing doors (already purchased) but all that I looked at were full sized, i.e., a 30" door was actually 30" whereas my 30" doors are
29-3/4" wide. As a result, I will have to trim all of my doors by 1/4" or 3/16". If the OP runs into that problem and the door casing is tight against the door frame and he installs a metal door, he may need to reframe the door which will be a lot harder than just replacing the door or using a prehung door.BTW, terminology can be confusing. In all the books I read, the door frame is part of the house frame and is the 2x4 opening for the door. The part that comes with a prehung door is the door casing. Same is true for windows, i.e., window frame and window casing.
I had thought that steel would be required due to a potential fire originating in the garage area. I suppose local codes dictate what is necessary and acceptable.
The door now is solid wood. The main problem I really want to address is that there is no bottom saddle/threshold to the door and cold/warm air (or even auto exhaust fumes) passes freely underneath the door in the 1/4" or so space between the cement floor and wood door.
As far as putt> > International Residential Code 2000
That's hardly a reason to replace a whole door or door unit.
So get a sweep for it. Or a threshold and a sweep if need be.
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