Stage 1 Measure the Door.
Before starting the fitting of the door a little bit of prior preparing should be carried out. Do not attempt to remove the existing door without first checking the new door will fit!
Remove the new composite door from its packaging now check that the width and height are correct and that you stand a fighting chance of fitting the new door. Give the new composite door a quick visual inspection are you happy with all factors prior to the removal of the old door? A quick item check would be
Are you happy with the door delivered compared to the door ordered
Are all the keys there? Normally three keys are given and can be located screwed to the outer frame or more commonly with composites located inside the letterbox
Is the letterbox installed? is the letterbox the correct colour shade ordered?
Are the handles correct in colour and type ordered from the supplier?
Is the Sill correct Low Threshold on top of a plastic sill or stand alone low threshold.
Check that the new door will fit with the addition of the sill
Is the frame widener or knock on present.
Having made sure that you are happy that the new composite door will definitely fit into the existing aperture check the existing aperture has sufficient structural integrity in the form of an existing lintel. Often lintels can be hidden by architrave or an add on strip which the original joiner may have installed, you should spend a little time looking for the lintel (on the outside of the door only at the head or top of the door) as a door is not designed to take the weight of masonry rather a lintel should be present for all good building practice to be followed.
However in older properties often wooden lintels were used in the old days with a header course or soldier course giving further strength. In no circumstances remove a wooden lintel this is the structural strength of the building removing it can cause structural movement and damage to the property.
Should a lintel be present always?
In the twenty years plus the author has been fitting doors the simple answer would be yes, however in some circumstances where the removal of the old door has been carried out well and there is no structural movement to the property there is a case to say what isnt broken doesnt need repairing, however to be totally professional and to have no worries in the future a lintel should always be installed.
Stage Two Removal of the existing Door.
Without doubt this is one of the most important stages where a great deal of care and attention should be exercised! In the ideal world to remove an existing door is a two man operation. This is not to say many professional fitters can't install any composite door on their own, however as any good fitter will tell you its nice to have another pair of hands especially from a health and safety point of view with both weight of the new composite doors and an extra set of eyes paying attention at key points of the installation always helpful.
Having assumed that all tools are present and dust sheets have been laid out, the rip out process is now ready to begin. Ideally two people should undertake the operation The trades person and for want of better words his apprentice.
The first operation is to unscrew all the screws in the hinges connecting the door opener (sash) to the outer frame. A word of caution here some older doors are extremely heavy and care should be exercised when removing the last screws as often when the sash is removed from the outer frame it will drop all of a sudden with an awful lot of weight about to have no where to go other than the support the tradesmen or apprentice are applying.
TIP Make sure the door is supported when the last screw is removed
Once the old door has been unscrewed and taken away from the door entrance what we are left with is the old outer frame and sill which is attached to the property.
Now this is where the skilled part comes in, from experience do not go bull at a gate trying to wrench the door out, all that will happen is that you will irrevocably damage brickwork that cannot be repaired or cause major damage to plasterwork thus causing lots more work.
The first step to successfully removing the outer frame is to look for frame sealant around the perimeter of the old door, this should be neatly cut using a sharp Stanley blade so that the old outer frame is no longer sealed to the existing brickwork. The inside of the frame should also be scored with a sharp Stanley blade to remove any sealant on the inside attaching the frame to plasterwork
The next step is to look for existing fixings that are holding the old frame in place these need to be removed, usually using a battery powered electric screwdriver. It should be noted that it is all to common for some of these screws too not want to be removed and cause the tradesmen's patience to be tested severely. This again where a cool head must be applied, if some of the fixings just simply dont want to be removed dont worry they will be taken out by a method I shall shortly explain.
Lets now assume all fixings have been removed, with lets say one awkward one that couldn't be removed, no problem! a saw cut now has to take place with the first cut been half way down the frame and at a forty five degree angle.
TIP Always saw from the inside out never outside in.
Care must be taken now not to damage any brickwork by sawing through it or damaging the plasterwork
TIP Ask the apprentice to watch the other side of the outer frame and ask them when to stop sawing gradually decreasing saw speed until you can saw no further.
Once the saw can go no further without damaging the brickwork or outer frame the existing door frame has to be prized using a crow bar. Insert a chisel first to loosen the outer fame then once a gap appears use a crowbar on the outside of the door between the brickwork and the old door frame (this should ideally be operated by the apprentice), Jam the crowbar approximately 4 inches or 100mm below from the cut.
TIP Make sure the crowbar is sufficiently behind the door frame use glazing packers behind the crowbar to protect the external brickwork from crush damage.
Gently ask the apprentice to apply pressure to the crowbar moving the old door frame inwards away from the brickwork.
TIP Don't apply too much pressure to quickly gradually prize the door frame away from the brickwork talking to the apprentice saying ok go on ok whilst checking for plaster damage on the inside.
At this stage the goal is simply to move the outer frame slightly in order to increase the angle the saw can work at. As a team with the apprentice applying pressure and the tradesman sawing cut all the way through the door frame. Once the cut is all the way through check for movement to brickwork or plaster damage if everything looks fine which it should if you took your time and didnt wrench the frame you are now ready to try to remove the lower part of the old door frame.
With care again insert the crow bar as described above between the door frame and the existing brickwork again ensuring the crowbar is behind the door frame sufficiently and that glass packers have been placed between the brickwork and the crowbar to protect the outer brickwork. In new properties with modern building material you will find the door frame will come out very easily but with older properties a much heavier outer frame is often used as the older doors are normally far heavier than their modern counterparts.
Often with older door frames it is necessary to cut one side of the door frame three times to prize the door frame out with minimal damage to both brickwork and internal plasterwork. The two further saw cuts should utilise exactly the same technique illustrated above with the second cut located half way between the first cut and the sill, and the final cut been located halfway between the first cut and the head of the door.
After gently taking the door frame out and you find a really awkward part of the frame just will not come out then time and care must be taken not to damage the inside plasterwork or the brickwork, obviously the author can only advise and not foresee every situation suffice to say patience is a very important part of any door fitting and the use of a sharp chisel to cut through a really awkward door frame has often come into timely use.
The key to a successful rip out is care and patience not loosing your temper and using brute force or worse hammering or pulling the frame out with lots of external or internal damage resulting in lots of residual work, exactly what was not wanted in the first place.
The operation to take the opposite side out is then repeated with due care and attention again taking priority. Assuming that both reveals (areas by the brickwork) are now free from wood the only other possible obstacle left could be an old fixing that needs to be removed. The quickest method of removal being the use of a crowbar again taking care where leverage takes place so not to damage any areas already covered above. If a fixing still prevails and is really awkward to take out a simple hacksaw cut flush with the brickwork will suffice or if you are better equipped a 4" angle grinder with a steel blade will make very short work of any stubborn fixings. The brickwork should now be clear, if there is a vertical Damp Proof Course present which looks like a black heavy gauge plastic cut it neatly at the base and top to remove completely. The vertical damp was put in place exactly as the name suggests to stop damp rising in the old wooden frame, however we are now installing a plastic composite door with a UPVC outer frame suffice to say the DPC (Damp Proof Course) is now of no use and should be completely cut out and made redundant.
Once both sides are clean of obstructions its now time to take the sill and the head of the door out. Firstly check the sill has no sealant around the front face or rear edge these must be sliced if visible with a sharp Stanley blade, Now look into the two corners of the sill if they continue past the brickwork this is what is known as being horned. In this scenario the sill needs to be cut in half and gently prized upwards using the same techniques as above chisel first then a crowbar, please note a working chisel used for leverage and cutting out awkward to get to nails etc should be used with a secondary chisel kept for best, if the sill is not horned and simply stops abruptly at the reveal a couple of light taps with a lump hammer will suffice to loosen the sill out.
Once the sill is removed often a DPC is present and again should be removed, sometimes underneath the sill there is old sand and cement (compo) that needs to be cleaned off to give the new plastic sill a flat even surface to adhere to. Clean this old compo of by bolstering it off with a lump hammer and bolster to give clean brick work for the new sill to be put on level.
The only remaining part of the original door is the head or top of the door, which should be removed exactly the same way as the sill with the head simply being gently prized downwards again in a folding manor. In older properties in some cases the door may have a quadrant to the head of the door ( not to be confused with a fully blown arched door which normally have close on semi circles to the head which are specialist doors) this must be kept intact as the new DIY composite door will have only been measured to the corners of the quadrant leaving an arc above the door to be filled. The original door will already have a quadrant fitted to the old door frame which will provide a pattern for the new quadrant so therefore must be kept and not sawn through, put this quadrant carefully to one side and do not throw it away as it will be used in later stages to fit the new door.
The aperture should now be clear of all obstructions the final operation is to prepare the aperture for the new door by hand brushing the reveals head and sill to free them from dust dirt and often cobwebs a final vacuum to all areas gives a final clean surface free from dust which would of created problems when sealing the new door.
Remove all pieces of door frame to the rubbish tip and generally clean site you are then ready to start installing the new composite door.
