A new front door enhances your home’s curb appeal, and many attractive prehung front entry doors are on the market. Many homeowners can successfully follow the steps for how to replace a front door. You should enlist a helper for the job because lifting the new door into the frame is cumbersome.

How to Replace a Front Door Step By Step

1. Pry off the outside door trim.
   1. Your new door might have new trim, but you can reattach old trim if the new door does not have it.
2. Use a hammer to tap a nail on the bottom of the hinge pins to loosen them and pull them out with your fingers.
3. Remove the old door.
4. Unscrew the old hinges from the frame.
5. Remove nails or screws holding old door frame to rough frame opening.
   1. If you can fit the reciprocating saw blade between the frame elements, you can cut through nails.
6. Extract any wooden shims that you find in the old frame.
7. Once all old door elements are pried free of the rough frame, do a dry fit of the new door.
   1. Lift and slide it into place from the outside.
8. Confirm that the bottom sill of the door is level.
9. Open the door to confirm that it does not hit the floor.
10. Slide out door and spread beads of caulk under the sill.
11. Put door back in place.
12. Nail down the sill.
13. Using the level and wood shims, square both sides of the door.
14. Place shims behind hinges and screw through them to secure that side of the door to the frame.
15. On the opposite side, place shims near the top and bottom and put screws through the frame and shims.
16. Confirm that door opens and closes properly.
17. Cut off shims that are extending outside of the door frame.
18. Stuff insulation into the gaps between the rough frame and door frame.
    1. You may use an expanding insulation spray if you want.
    2. If using foam insulation, let it dry and trim off excess.
19. Put on new door trim or reattach old trim.