Exterior Door Replacement on stucco / brick home

[powersuitrecall]

I'm planning on replacing our exterior door.  It's drafty and old.



Here's a crude hand drawn diagram of what I see from the inside.  The door has been installed in a giant stucco opening, with plywood boards installed along the sides to make it fit.



The stucco is wrapped around a 2x4 stud opening, like so:



Here's my question.  The space between the stucco is about 54".  The opening between the plywood boards is 50.5".  I'd really like to install the largest standard door-with-sidelight available, which is 52" wide.  Can I simply remove the existing door and plywood, then install directly in the stucco opening?

Thank you for you wisdom and advice!

[Drifterrider]

IF you have the proper Jack Studs on the sides, you should be able to do this.  Based on your post I understand you to mean the rough opening is 54" and plywood was used to "fill in the gaps" for a door that was too narrow.

I would check the local big box DIY store (doors department) and take your pictures.  Some of those people know what they are doing (some don't).

It appears your rough opening height isn't correct either (the header should be no more than one inch above the door frame so you have something to attach to).

You can "fur in" from the sides and header (this means adding 2 X 4s on the side and 2 X 6s as the header) to make the opening proper size for the door.

You can also see if you can get a bigger door to properly fit the space.

All of the above is based on what I can tell from your pictures.

[powersuitrecall]

IF you have the proper Jack Studs on the sides, you should be able to do this.  Based on your post I understand you to mean the rough opening is 54" and plywood was used to "fill in the gaps" for a door that was too narrow.

I would check the local big box DIY store (doors department) and take your pictures.  Some of those people know what they are doing (some don't).

It appears your rough opening height isn't correct either (the header should be no more than one inch above the door frame so you have something to attach to).

You can "fur in" from the sides and header (this means adding 2 X 4s on the side and 2 X 6s as the header) to make the opening proper size for the door.

You can also see if you can get a bigger door to properly fit the space.

All of the above is based on what I can tell from your pictures.

Yep - the rough opening is 54" wide if I were to remove the "filler" plywood.  My question was if it was standard practice to install a door in this type opening, securing the frame to the studs even though there is the stucco wraparound in between.

Thanks for pointing out the header.  There is currently 4" to 5" of space up there.  I'll have to fix that.

Yesterday I cleaned out the foam insulation and the filler plywood doesn't seem to be attached to the rough opening at all.  Or not at least with shims like I would expect.  Maybe they are fastened at the top and bottom?  They are not level, that's for sure.  Coupled with the fact that the door is not secured on top, it's entirely possible that it's only wedged in the opening, secured only by the flashing on the outside.  I'm going to have to be careful when removing this thing!

Edit: Scratch that. I found a couple of long nails holding the plywood to the rough opening.  So the whole door is held in by a couple of nails, which is better than I feared.

Many thanks Drifterrider!

[Drifterrider]

My question was if it was standard practice to install a door in this type opening, securing the frame to the studs even though there is the stucco wraparound in between.

I am not a carpenter and I did not stay at a Holiday Inn Express but..... having watched DIY shows for over 20 years and doing a fair bit myself.... No, it isn't standard practice (in the US).  Someone did a bad job and then hid it.

[powersuitrecall]

Someone did a bad job and then hid it.

I'm also demo-ing the basement bathroom.  I found a vent installed through middle of a double 2x10 joist, removing 75% of the wood.   This reduced the 2 x 2x10" joist to the strength of a single 1x10".  And this was under an upstairs wall!  Another surprise was an unprotected live wire in the attic, sticking out of the insulation.  I can hardly wait to see what I find next!

[bacchi]

Someone did a bad job and then hid it.

I'm also demo-ing the basement bathroom.  I found a vent installed through middle of a double 2x10 joist, removing 75% of the wood.   This reduced the 2 x 2x10" joist to the strength of a single 1x10".  And this was under an upstairs wall!  Another surprise was an unprotected live wire in the attic, sticking out of the insulation.  I can hardly wait to see what I find next!

I'm demo-ing a small house. The (cloth covered) wires from the panel went behind the shower stall, right next to the showerhead. What could go wrong?