I've replaced all the interior doors in my house, but when I went to replace the first of the exterior doors I made a dumb mistake. When I ordered the door I wasn't given an option for thickness - I guess the guy at the yard assumed being an exterior door it would be 1 3/4" thick. I didn't ask, or even think to look until I got the door home, morticed it, and hung it. YIKES it's 1 3/8", so it stands 3/8" proud of the frame. That's not acceptable.
Seems I have three options: throw the $275 door away and get one the right thickness; move all the stop strips out 3/8" and hope that I can get the latches to work, inasmuch as the existing latch plates are configured for a 1 3/8" door; or hire a contractor and write a big check to let him worry about it.
Find a really good finish carpenter and pay him to do it. You definitely will be much happier with the more robust exterior door. You don't need a contractor, just ask at your local lumberyard for the qualified expert you need.
Me, I'd make a workbench out of the door, and go buy a steel prehung to replace the whole thing. Not a fan of wood weather doors, unless they are under a deep porch overhang, and have a storm door in front of them. (Yeah, I know, on some old and/or fancy houses, ya gotta have wood the match 'the look')
Anything you do to existing frame and new door is gonna end up looking like a kludge. Go back to door place (or even the Borg) and buy a jamb kit and threshold for a 1 3/4 " door. It'll fit better and seal tighter anyway. It'll add up to what you would have paid for a prehung, but since you already whittled the hinge mortises and can't return it, it is the cheapest best solution. Note that old lockset/deadbolt may or may not work on a thicker door. Some go both ways, some don't, and some can go from thick door to thin door by snapping stuff off, but once snapped, they will never work on a thick door again. Since you have it all apart anyway, I'd splurge and buy new hinges while you are at it, as well as the usual longer screws to go through the shims into the stud, so the new door never sags. Assemble the jamb kit and threshold and test-fit the door before you install it- it really is easier, IMHO. You can use the door in the frame to scribe where you need to mortise for hinges and lockset, for an exact fit. If the jamb kit isn't pre-primed, do that before you install it, especially the end grain on the bottom. Sometimes you have to trim the bottom and top of the side jambs to fit the rough opening, so dry-fit it once before opening a paint can.
Hey, we all screw up once in a while- don't sweat it. But I bet you'll never make the same mistake again.
Your advice is sound, but after staring at it for an hour, I decided to forge ahead on my own. I'm under a bit of a (self-imposed) deadline with some travel coming up, and didn't want to take the time to seek out a carpenter. So what I did: using my router, hand saws, and chisels, I removed 3/8" of the stop strips of the existing frame. (The stop strips wouldn't just pop off like you'd expect; they appear to be molded out of the frame itself, so I had to carve off 3/8" with the router). I'm cleaning this up now, and it came out fine - nothing a little putty won't fix here and there. Then I'll move the hinges, re- hang the door, and then worry about how to get the latches to go in the holes left behind by the 1 3/8" door. It should work fine.
I suggest you glue in fillers in the old latch locations and when dry, just drill and mortise for the new hardware. If you need to, you can route out a section so it is easy to fit in a patch. If you just try to enlarge the openings, you will end up with a weaker job, and on an entry door, you want it solid. Moving everthing 3/8 is probably easier than moving it 1/8...
I almost had this happen as well. But I caught it in time to use my new exterior door in another exterior door frame that needed a new door anyway. Then I ordered a solid core interior door to use as an exterior door which fit just fine (also put a security storm door in that location as well).
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