I need help to find cheap exterior doors which are not a standard size please.

poohbear59

oz0707 wrote: »

Buy a ply flush exterior door. Get the solid type (perhaps fire rated). Assuming the door opens internally cut the 2" off the top, water wont penetrate there. You're fine to plane 1/4" off either side. If you want any aesthetic detail glue and pine some moulding on the front. Paint all around. Cheap, effective and long lasting.

Thank you for your help. I needed someone who knew a bit more about doors having never had to fit or resize a door. It seems a bit obvious now that it is best to trim the top, not the bottom but I thought it had to be done equally.
I need cheap and weatherproof as it is pointless paying out for an expensive door which will be too heavy for my old softwood frame and also to last forever when we will have to replace the porch in a couple of years anyway. I will look for a cheap flush exterior door.

poohbear59

phill99 wrote: »

Your 'non-standard sized doors' are very much a standard size of 78" x 30" that have been trimmed to fit. 99.9% of doors in this country are trimmed in some way.

Thank you. I must have forgotten to say I know nothing about doors. After trawling the internet for days I had no idea where to go next or how much it was safe to trim off a door. The doors I looked at said no more that 1cm (1/2 an inch) and must be done equally top and bottom. If it is okay to trim 2 inches off then I will be okay.

bobthedambuilder

poohbear59 wrote: »

Thank you. I must have forgotten to say I know nothing about doors. After trawling the internet for days I had no idea where to go next or how much it was safe to trim off a door. The doors I looked at said no more that 1cm (1/2 an inch) and must be done equally top and bottom. If it is okay to trim 2 inches off then I will be okay.

Most of the cheap internal doors you can get from the DIY chains are in fact just a front and back facing made out of very thin ply or compressed fibreboard laid onto a cardboard filling with a very insubstantial wooden frame around the outside (typically a 1" x 1" timber). This is why they recommend only a very limited amount of trimming.

If you buy a solid exterior door, you should be able to trim off what you need in this case. The only downside with trimming 2" off the top only is that if there is any pattern or decorative framing on the door, it will end up looking uneven. You can cut equally top and bottom, but you must seal the cut ends, especially the bottom, with a good wood sealer, then primer, then paint or varnish, whatever you're treating the door with.

If you're only taking 1/2" off the width of the door, it'd be OK off one side - but I personally would do it equally, it's just as easy to plane 1/4" off each side.

poohbear59

I have just been offered two doors on Freecycle. I don't know yet what size they are but now I feel I am furnished with the necessary information to know whether to accept them when we have the sizes. Couldn't have done it without the help on here. Thank you.

ormus

re the height, if you are only trimmimg one edge of the door, trim the bottom one not the top.
most doors have far more meat on the bottom rail.
re the width, trim both edges, as this keeps the proportions right.
(this goes for any large cutting down, say an inch or more)
for minor adjustments, shaving/planing is ok.

oz0707

A true solid blank has no frame behind the veneer. It is all laminated timber sections. That's why i'd recommend this door as you're not compromising any joints by cutting 2" off. Take the 2" off the top if it's a solid blank & opening internally, less chance of water penetration.