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... to an existing metal skin exterior door with a full length glass section.
The idea is to pull the "full lite" glass, then add a rail (of some sort) ...
to fit 1) a "half lite" glass section then 2) install a doggie door in the remaining area...
which might require other rail/stile adjustments to get to the correct RO.
The Q is has anyone done (or known anyone else) who did it before?
Any ideas will probably be helpful. Thanks.
Last edited by MrRational; 07-12-2022 at 07:25 AM..
... to an existing metal skin exterior door with a full length glass section.
The idea is to pull the "full lite" glass, then add a rail (of some sort) ...
to fit 1) a "half lite" glass section then 2) install a doggie door in the remaining area...
which might require other rail/stile adjustments to get to the correct RO.
The Q is has anyone done (or known anyone else) who did it before?
Any ideas will probably be helpful. Thanks.
Faced with this exact problem (and complicated with the interior blinds) when we bought a new house in 2011, I found the manufacturer of the door and bought a new half glass unit to put the doggie door in. Kept the full glass unit so the next owner could put it back in if they didn't want the dog door. Seemed like the simple fix to me at the time.
I'd just buy a 12lite door slab (in otherwords, not a prehung unit)- put-in the doggie door. Easier, faster, and when there's no more doggie- put the old door back in.
I also bought the 1/2 glass slab only, not the whole prehung door. Check the hinge spacing. The manufacturer of mine used non-standard spacing. None of the box store brands would fit (and I didn't want to mess with hinging it myself).
Frankly if the frame around the door is in good condition, fitting a new door to the existing frame hinges and lock is extremely straightforward and easy. You need two sawhorses, a circular saw with correct blade, measuring instruments, a pencil, a block plane with a sharp blade, and a sharp chisel with a hammer. Oh yes, a drill and the appropriate hole saw for your lockset(s). Measure thrice, cut once, and leave youself a little extra stock.
Of course since you're going to want to cut a rectangular hole for the dog door, get a solid core door (do wooden exterior doors exist any other way?)
Last time I did this I used a bunch of pieces of cut up shirt cardboard as shims to get everything positioned right; of course a real carpenter would probably use real tapered shims. I don't know if those wooden shims they sell for short money at the Despot would work - at any rate they're real cheap and you can use them for kindling when you're done.
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