Exterior Door Installed Backwards
Вставка
- Опубліковано 7 лют 2025
- This video explains how to determine if your exterior doors are installed correctly. Often times I find pre-hung exterior doors installed backwards when inspecting homes.
So whats the big deal with which way my doors opens?
Well, it is kind of a big deal because the door may fail prematurely if its installed backwards because this means the door is installed wrong. The manufacturer designed the door to open inward when entering the home.
This means the door has certain features that keep the weather out of your house and keep the 5 sides of the door and the door jams protected from moisture damage.
Another important point is the door hinges may be standard type hinges. This means you can knock out the hinge pin with a screwdriver and a hammer from outside the house which allows someone to enter your home illegally by removing the hinge pins and removing the door!
Another fun fact about exterior doors! The manufacturer requires that all 6 sides of the door be painted in order to not void the door warranty.
John Laforme
CREIA Certified Inspector
Home Inspection Authority
BUYING A HOME? DON'T PANIC! Just Visit my podcast for some straight talk about home inspections. www.homeinspec...
Podcast episode 5: podcasts.apple...
Visit my Website for more helpful home inspection information: www.homeinspec...
Follow me on IG for video shorts: https:
// authorityinspector
Thank you. Currently building a large expensive house and my builder didn't understand what I meant. This breaks it down to elementary school level.
LOL good luck with your builder. Tell them do not forget to subscribe! 😎
I think you nailed it. I also think it is a training and nationality thing as well. They just have not been taught the right method.
YEAH! as soon as you tell the door store that you want "Outswing doors" they say That is commercial and those are at minimum double the cost. And that is why people opt
to alter an inswing door.
@@2drsdan I don’t know why they are double the cost but they are. It’s just crazy. That’s why they always use the wrong doors.
@aaronp7872 You better look for a new builder then if he/she didn't know what you wanted or else they knew you were wrong about what you wanted and wouldn't do it. No idea why he pinned your comment without knowing the issues.
Thank you, this allowed me to illustrate to someone who told me that a backwards installed door was just the knob.
Most don’t know what to look for. My husband is an installer.
10/10. Bravo.
Going to search for your podcast.
LOL it was just the knob installed backwards! Classic response. Thank you for your comment made my day.
@@Therealhomeinspectionauthority your comment made mine!!
I love your content, however I am in Canada. Do you know anyone or what I should search for to get good relevant information here? Thank you in case!
Yeah, my house was built back in 2006 and I wondered why my garage side door was moulding and rotting at the bottom. It's backwards. Dirty crooks. Builder not in business anymore either. Thanks for the video. I learned a lot. Subscribed as well.
Can u please do the video showing how to properly fix this just said swap but didn't explain. Steps To correctly fix.
To fix this is typically as easy as removing the pre hung door and frame assembly and turning it around (if the swing works with your interior layout). If i get the chance to perform a correction of this condition i will make a video for you.
The obvious is that, one reason a door is installed backwards, is because someone wants an outswing door ... what would be helpful is also talking about how to install an outswing and what the properties/differences of an outswing door are
YEAH! as soon as you tell the door store that you want "Outswing doors" they say That is commercial and those are at minimum double the cost. And that is why people opt
to alter an inswing door.
@@2drsdan Then end up with what the inspector said will happen.
Excellent presentation!
Wow this clarifies everything. Thank you.
Your Welcome
Can a landlord refuse to change your door if it is like this? I have made a police report form someone trying to break into my home? And told my landlord they will not do anything about the door I change the broken hinges from the break in they never came and did it. The hinges didn’t have the safety security or anything to keep burglars out!
Hello, sorry to hear about your security issue. Unfortunately i cannot give you advice on the laws and department of building requirements in your area. I would suggest contacting a door installer to further evaluate your door to make sure it is secured properly.
The jamb on an exterior door is not thicker on the outside for security reasons(to stop people from chipping away to gain entry🤔) it's thicker because the door needs a stop and it's where the weather strip is installed in a Groove to create a weather Tight Seal. Burglars don't chip away the door they get in and out as fast as possible. The door would actually be much stronger if the thicker part was on the inside so when burglars tried to kick it in the thicker area would be a lot more material they'd have to go through!
Well in regard to your last sentence you would have to have an outswing door then if the thickest part was on the inside. I don't think there are many residential houses with out swinging entrance or back doors. I have never seen any. I was kind of confused about what he was talking about. Most burglars try to kick in a door or i have heard some carry hydraulic rams and spread the door jams apart. The last one would be more than your average burglar.
HELP! I live in south Florida and BY LAW all exterior doors MUST open OUTWARDLY. My Aunt is moving into a new apartment (older building) on the ground floor and the hinges of the front door are on the outside! I saw your demonstration in the video on how it should not look but you said that a door can swing outwardly, but how should the door frame look with an outward swinging door? What is the weather stripping be on the inside or the outside with an outward swinging door? I understand what you said about the hinges, but how do you do the seals and all of that stuff with hinges going in the opposite direction on the door swinging out? She went to the city clerk's office and the county clerk's office and no one will help her. I don't live near her so I can't just go over there and help her and try and figure this out for her other than seeking guidance from someone. She cannot afford to keep paying people for stuff if it's not installed right and she's in a lot of trouble right now and I'm very worried for her safety she's going to be living all by herself. Is this the responsibility of the landlord? What if the landlord refuses to fix the door "because it's always been that way" and pushing the issue would create animosity on her first day moving in? How do we deal with this?
Well the first thing i would check is to see if the hinges are security hinges. Without seeing the door i really cannot try to advise you about anything.
Might help more if you show what a correct installation looks like vs just sharing what a incorrect one looks like.
Thanks for your input.
Where is the properly built OUTSWING door?....... Florida wants to know! ......should have had both examples on hand for this demonstration.
I am not aware of florida door code or requirements. Florida may be requiring out swing doors because of hurricane's
My son had a new door installed and it was installed backwards. The installer told him it was made to installed this way. When I saw it I thought it was wrong. This video confirms it. How hard is it to fix this? I think it would be worth fixing this.
Hi, not sure about your exact door situation, however most of the time when i see this condition it looks like removing and spinning the frame around will fix it.
Can be fixed if you want to keep that exact swing?
Also, in video like other per@fairspace said plz include proper examples of outswing doors and hardware that are correct and how to identify them the differences in cost etc . Thank you very much. Please mention me on your podcast and i will give u plenty of content suggestions.
Can a French glass door inswing installed as outswing also lead to window seal failures because of the backwards install? In addition to water damage getting in.
Do you have any videos on step by step instructions on how to switch out an outswing exterior door to an inswing exterior door?
Not at the moment, typically it is just a matter of removing and replacing the complete door and frame to a new door and frame. Pre-hung is the door you want to install.
Straight talk about home inspections link to podcast is broken.
Podcast #5 works. Thank you.
Advising so you can fix the link.
Thank you for the information.
Thank you i will check it out
Where's the video on moving the lights switch
Ok questions:
The door that opens between mudroom (interior of house) to garage. Which way should that swing?
Also, the pedestrian door from the inside of the garage to outside (exterior)- which way should that swing?
The door between home and garage can open either way, typically it opens inward toward the home. The man door from garage to exterior should open inward unless your door is specifically designed to open outward.
I just recently purchased a slab and frame. I want to paint each side differently. Can you tell me how I determine what side would face exterior?
I cannot tell without seeing your door.
I ordered a out swing door. It was installed backwards. It is a prehung door. Can it be removed and reinstalled correctly.
It can't be. It looks and is built identically to an in swing door. You paid through the nose for what is actually an inswing door. Until this guy shows you otherwise, he'll have you thinking it's the installed backwards.
@@xr500t This happen months ago. The door was took out , turned around and reinstalled correctly. It was leaking before. Now even heavy blowing rain does not get through the door. Thanks for responding though.
@@stephencullum8255 Hi sorry for not responding sooner your comment was overlooked, my apologies. Removing a door and re installing it should not be difficult however depending on what siding you have may make it more time consuming. If the door and pre hung frame was installed backwards you should be able to remove it and re install it fairly easily.
@@Therealhomeinspectionauthority Thanks. That is what I ended up doing. Once put in correctly the leaking stopped and the door is snug in the frame. Has gone through two hurricanes already, The handyman I hired to do the job was confused because the hinges were outside if installed correctly. Which is how a swing out door is now made. The older ones apparently were not that made like that.
A crack house counter measure against intrusion.
Wow so much misinformation here.
The only difference between an inswing and outswing door are the hinges and bottom threshold.
It has absolutely nothing to do with the thickness of the frame “for security reasons” and the reason the frames or doors rot is because of lack of maintenance. Doors need to be painted on all 6 sides not just the front and back. Door jambs come primed in white and still need painted but most do not get painted after they are installed.
Outswing doors are actually more secure (with the proper hinges) and more efficient when it comes to keeping drafty air out. Next time educate yourself before trying to educate others.
Somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed today! Why don't you make a better video and share it with us dummies. Don't be such a dick Richard!!