Doors and Windows - Installing Double Doors on a Shed

I'm planning on building a 12x14 storage shed in our backyard.

I want to have a set of steel doors and am not able to find any pre-hung sets

The building supplies place sells regular steel doors... 1 3/4 x 32/34/46 x 79". My question is if I buy a righty and a leftie, can they be installed as a set of double entry doors?

If you don't mind mortising your hinges in, yes, you can buy the doors. There's no such thing as a righty and lefty on steel doors, as the hinge mortise usually goes all the way across, so they are adaptable. You will need to apply T Astragal on one of the doors to seal from the weather and assist in closing. You will have to figure out how you will be fastening them to each other and to the building, as one will be semi fixed and the other will be movable.

If you don't mind mortising your hinges in, yes, you can buy the doors. There's no such thing as a righty and lefty on steel doors, as the hinge mortise usually goes all the way across, so they are adaptable. You will need to apply T Astragal on one of the doors to seal from the weather and assist in closing. You will have to figure out how you will be fastening them to each other and to the building, as one will be semi fixed and the other will be movable.

I figure the door I use the least, I can lock with two sliding clasps on the back of the door, one going up into the header, and another down into the floor.

Then door #1 can lock in the lock cylinder of door #2.

Also how big should I rough in the opening. We just poured the slab the other day, so the shed will have a concrete floor, but with an aluminum mud sill in teh doorway.

The guy at the store showed me how to make an astragal from two strips of 1x2" pine (actually 3/4" by 1 3/4"), forming them into a T with glue and finishing nails, and then nailing that to the side of one of the doors, in my case the right hand side door.

For the door jamb I want to use 1" x 5" pine boards. The pre-fab door jamb kits they sell are only for inside doors and a little flimsy. The hardware store can cut hinges on the jamb to match the hinges on the doors. They have a guy there that does that sort of thing and he's always done a fantastic job.

So if both doors are 30" across, if my door jamb is 3/4" thick, and I need to leave 3/4" for the astragal between them, how wide do I need to frame the rough opening? I read somewhere doors need what's called a "reveal" so that the door is not too tight to open and close? Some say it should be a 1/4" all around the door, others say 1/8" to 1/16". Which is the way to go, mind these are steel exterior doors 30" wide.

Your rough opening would be 63". Figure 30+30+.75+.75+.75+.25+.25+ a feel good .25 that you can shim.

Personally...I think I'd build the double doors..then frame it..if at all possible. Then you'll know exactly how much room to leave. Don't forget to take into account the threshold when figuring the height of the frame.

Remember...easy to build down a too large RO...not so easy to widen/raise it.

Your rough opening would be 63". Figure 30+30+.75+.75+.75+.25+.25+ a feel good .25 that you can shim.


What about the door jamb itself? The guy at the store said I should give myself an extra 1/4" for each door, inside the jamb, so the doors don't stick. I don't want the doors to stick but leaving a 1/2" gap seems a little much.


Looking closely at the hinges, it appears that even if the hinge mounts flush with the door and jamb, it leaves about 1/16" offset, between the two sides of the hinge as its folded shut.

The doors I got, I ended up getting 34" doors on sale, I measured them and they're actually 34 3/8" wide in the middle of the door where the wooden frame is..

And instead of 3/4" pine for the astragal, I'm going to use a strip of aluminum angle, 1.5" x 1.5" and 1/8" thick. So the astragal would be 1/8" instead of 3/4".
Aluminum Angle Type 6063-T5 ASTM-B221 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" x 1/8" Thick - SmallParts.com (http://www.smallparts.com/Aluminum-Angle-6063-T5-ASTM-B221-Thick/dp/B001DE28NY/191-5645339-9685705?ie=UTF8&qid=1257111399&sr=1-3&pf_rd_r=1FYZTYBT04EZ6J9056ET&pf_rd_m=AIUBT5HP6PMAF&pf_rd_t=301&pf_rd_i=0&pf_rd_p=467590031&pf_rd_s=center-3)

So by my calculation, the inside of the door jamb should measure 34 3/8 + 34 3/8" + 1/8 (astragal) + 1/16 + 1/16 (two hinges), for a total of 69"

how much should I add to that to ensure the doors will open and close properly?

btw...for this amount of work..you should check into recycled building materials store..if you have them..you might find something really cheap.