factory made pre-hang entry door installation

New exterior entry doors are typically factory-made and pre-hung units; they are easier to install than ancient site-assembled units, but their installation requires technical knowledge and expertise.

You may customize your door, in order to respond to the dimensions of your rough opening and some preferences of yours, according to the features and combinations offered by door manufacturers. But even in that case, the final product will always be an industrialized one, part of a very large scale production, embedding tested elements and features, designed to last and to have a high performance. Door building is not any more a handicraft business.

An accurate installation is critical for energy savings and efficiency. The door should fit snugly into the frame and the rough opening should be properly insulated.

See: Exterior Door Types

Minimal tolerances

New doors are typically factory-made and core insulated (with a polyurethane core or other efficient insulation material).

Most are also pre-hung units, and the installation obeys to strict procedures and fine tolerances, defined by the manufacturer… The frame has to be installed with minimal tolerances, to get a tightly sealing to the jamb and maximal air sealing.

The fact that the door is pre-fabricated allows a tighter air sealing, a better alignment, and durable and sophisticated weatherstripping.

Door frames

When installing a door, pay close attention to their frames. Hollow metal frames should be well insulated. Thermal breaks can also be important to reduce air infiltration in materials like aluminum.

Factory-made Entry door installation

The installation of prefabricated doors takes less time than site-assembled doors, and should follow the manufacturer's directions.

To install a pre-hung door you have to remove the existing frame from the rough opening - an excellent opportunity to insulate it with a good foam and to air seal the new frame to the rough opening (and threshold) before adding the interior trim. That’s important for energy savings.

For a glimpse of the technical steps of a pre-hang door installation, you may take a look at ThisOldHouse.com.

Lowe's and Home Depot (and many dealers working with the major door brands) offer installation services: you will have to pay the delivery of the new door if you are, say, more than twenty miles of their store, and pay the new door hardware, or the new trim, or dump fees (for the old doors), but part of the installation services are free and the final cost of the installation will be relatively low.