I’m looking for suggestions on how to go about re-hingeing a door into a garage so that it opens into the house so that we can put a screen door opening into the garage so that we can watch the grandkids in the garage or in the driveway and not have to battle the flying “critters” that want to come in. I’d ask my dad, but sadly he’s no longer with us.
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Need to know more about the existing door and jamb.
Kind of door, steel or wood. Is jamb on inside same dimensions as oputside or does it have a solid stop. What are your carpentry skills?
Answer will likely be to find a finish carpenter to deal with it. As a DIY with very limited skills, you could easily do more damage than good.
1. The garage door and jambs are wood.
2. The jambs have a slight concave bend on the strike plate side.
3. The garage floor is level with the interior of the house. (hey this is Arkansas and the place was built in the late sixties, I think).
4. The whole purpose of the exercise is to provide a means of watching the grandkids (my sister's grandkids, not mine) and also to keep the cold air out in the winter and not have a view into the garage "all" the time.
5. We'd like the exixting door to swing into the house and the screen door to swing into the garage. At present, if you are in the house going into the garage, the door is left hinged.
Hope this clears up any confusion. BTW, my father was a finish carpenter and I worked for him during the summers while I was in high school and college. He passed away in '85. So, like I said, I can't ask him any more.
The best bet would be to replace the whole unit, door and jamb, with a prehung exterior steel door with a lite. You could get it all with the screeen at HD for about $400 I bet.
You are supposed to have a fire rated door between the garage and the house and it doesn't sound like yours is.
Plan B if there isn't enuf money would be to carefully remove the casing on both sides, run a sawzall blade down the crack between jamb and framing to release the nails and pull the unit out and re-install it with the door on the inside. If it was installed right, the threshold is caulked down and you'll need to slide a blade into the joint under it (to the concrete?) to free it up too. If you haven't access to a sawzall. find all the finish nails that hold the jamb in place and use a 1/32" (small) nail set to feed the nails through the wood of the jamb and into the framing.
There could be a number of reasons for the jamb cupping now but this should solve that as you re-install or install the new.
Now if the door is hinged on the wrong side as you swing the jamb around, you'll just have to get out a sharp chisle and remount the hinges to the other side of the jamb. Measure, mark, and cut slow and carefully.
Excellence is its own reward!
Thanks for the suggestions about the steel fire door. Will have to find one that is fairly good looking since it opens directly into the living room. (Like I said, this is Arkansas, and what the code restrictions were when this place was built, I have no earthly idea.) We do have a screen door on hand so that part is easy. At present the garage is not used for automobiles. It's used for storage (sound familiar?), although a future owner may want to put a vehicle in there. At any rate, if we put in a steel door would probably be best to go with new jambs etc. Also there is no threshold, carpet was laid directly up to door with edge strip to finish. The place was built monolithic-slab-on-grade. Inspite of all that there does not appear to be any differential cracking or settling. Must have been one very good concrete job or we are extremely lucky.
Thanks to all who replied. For the present we may go with resetting the hinge mortises on the door since the door stop is simply applied molding and not built in. Thanks guys.
Sounds to me like you're existing door is swinging out? And your garage floor is probably lower than the house? That means you push the door open onto a landing? (usually two steps down to the garage floor.)? If this is true why not just get a new steel door that swings in like it should? They're not that expensive.
I'd replace the door with a solid steel fire rated door, and get a new storm or screen door, assuming you have the money to spend. Otherwise forget it. The door can't be modified that easily, and would be butchered up, lots of work for little gain. The new door would be a improvement in security and fire safety.