Discussions

Hi all,  
 
any feedback would be muc appreciated. I'm looking at changing my back door to a steel insulated door and possibly a storm door.  
 
The house I have is over 100 years old. the door currently is 29 inches wide and 72 inches tall. There may be room for maximum 2 inches at the bottom.  
 
anyone have anyone that does good work at a decent price?  
 
my price is about $500 max installed. Nothing fancy just a regular steel insulated door.  
 
34 or 36 inches wide by 72-74 inches high.  
 
thanks in advance.

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500 bucks won't cover the doors you want and installation.  
 
A plain entry door with no windows in a frame is 200 bucks. Glass in them 250 to obscene amounts depending on styles. If you want one manufactured to the existing frame it would be at least 200, likely more.  
 
Storm doors are 150 - 300. Plus you'll likely need new brick mould (35), then in replacing that you find the frame is rotted then you have to replace that then at that point it would have been a lot cheaper and better to have gotten the door in frame.  
 
You also likely need a new lockset (50+) and interior trim (20+), plus the sprayfoam (15) when you install the door, paint, nails/screws too.  
 
So, done properly the minimum cost for materials is 450. Figure the same for labour so expect the job done right for about 900 bucks, maybe a few hundred more if you want a little nicer looking stuff.

PJC said "500 bucks won't cover the doors you want and installation.     A plain entry door with no windows in a frame is 200 bucks. Glass in them 250 to obscene amounts depending on styles. If you want one manufactured to the existing frame it would be at least 200, likely more.     Storm doors are 150 - 300. Plus you'll likely need new brick mould (35), then in replacing that you find the frame is rotted then you have to replace that then at that point it would have been a lot cheaper and better to have gotten the door in frame.     You also likely need a new lockset (50+) and interior trim (20+), plus the sprayfoam (15) when you install the door, paint, nails/screws too.     So, done properly the minimum cost for materials is 450. Figure the same for labour so expect the job done right for about 900 bucks, maybe a few hundred more if you want a little nicer looking stuff. "

Not only that - your door is not standard - so add $$ there for custom order. The 29" exterior door we just replaced in our old home was over $800 (it has a window with the blind in between the glass panes)  
 
New jamb kit if necessary (and in old homes they are as there is so much extra fiddling around with old construction) will run you over $200 - heck interior jamb kits meant for 2"x4" constructed walls are about $75.  
 
As for storm doors - wow are they over priced. We bought one that we thought was pretty pricey - nearly $300 - and it is the cheapest piece of crap there is. You really need to look at the brand and do some research because there are a few stores out there marking cheap crap up huge, then putting them "on sale".

If you don't want anything fancy, then go to Home Depot. Our house is 111years old and we needed a cut down door a couple years ago. I got a quote at a window and door place and it was something crazy like $2000. I went straight to Home Depot from there and they happened to have their window and door sale on. The actual door measures 29 and 3/4 x 73 and 1/2 inches ( I can't remember the rough opening). I think that we got the door cut as short as they could go. It cost under $500 and we installed ourselves.  
We customized our storm door ourselves, I bought a storm door that was made of press board inside and plastic laminate on the outside and cut down the length and width of the door and hardware.(if I was to do this again, I would buy the same type of door at the re-store instead of buying new)  
Good luck!  
 
 
Edited by Sarah&Derek, 2015-06-04 15:00:13