How to turn an interior door into an exterior front door?
Question:How can I turn a 15 glass pane unfinished pine interior door into a stained and weather proof exterior door? What products should I use? Anything I should be aware of? Thanks!
Answers:
The biggest problem is all exterior doors have to be solid core and most interrior doors are hollow! If you chose to use that door outside, stain it before you hang it, and seal it with a polyurithan.
Odd for an interior door unless it's a french door. I'll asume the framework is solid,,, or hope so. If not it may not hold up on the exterior face?
Treating the door is important, staining or painting with a quality exterior finish may help. Tung oil and appropriate sealer, Clear coating with marine varnish or polyeurethane may help,,,Seal all the 15 "lights" on both sides,,, ESPECIALLY seal all 4 edges. Seal under and over the hinges as well; add decent weather stripping to the frame, decent exterior grade hardware, and monitor the success, after the fact.
I think an additional thought, though the first one I should have mentioned, is determine if the door will change out with the current exterior door, and if it can be fitted to open in the same direction. Hopefully you won't have to alter the frame and jamb.
Steven Wolf
the door itself isn't particularly strong commonly french doors and other divided light doors that are made for the outdoors are reinforced for strength where as the one to which you are referring can be broken into fairly easily... another thing to consider is that the glass is single pane and wont insulate your house so you will loose heat in the winter and the same for ac in the summer... so unless you live somewhere that's fairly nice year round its something to consider... and other things to consider is that the wooden exterior doors are pressure treated for rot, mold and termites usually where as just paint or stain and varnish will not give you the same protection... if its about saving a few bucks with a door you have its not really worth it in the long run in what you will loose other wise... I highly suggest getting a replacement that is meant to be outdoors
interior doors are interior doors. I'll bet that interior door has no metal on it- the easist way for a layman to see if a door is ex or interior is to check if a side has metal on it (as opposed to wood or plastic for interior).
If you get a piece of sheet metal and some insulation you can industrially apply it to your interior door via a vacuum press and some crazy adhesive.
Basically- take it back and spend the extra $100 for your own security. Or you can check craigslist for a used door in your area to save some money.
Good luck with that.
Well the interior door is probably put together with glue that isn't weather proof.Also pine will swell and shrick with weather changes causing sticking . So any moisture and it may fall apart. Also allot the these have plexyglass sheets for glass. no r value or weather seal.
And these doors will be extremely easy to break into as they are usually thinner than extior doors. . As there is no reinforcment to them.
But if it under a roof , in the sun belt , I would paint the bottom and top edge to seal it then ploy it all over . I use marine grade sealers for out side . And cover with a storm door.
If you`re trying to hang this "slab" in an existing jamb, check the thickness. It should be 1 3/4 thick for an exterior door. If it`s 1 3/8 I would pass on it.
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