Quote:
Originally Posted by Knalus
If, in some perfect world, you managed to cut out the hinges to perfectly match your existing opening, the rest of the door won't fit either. You'll find there might be some binding, which will need to be planed down or machined down, there will be some twisting, where one corner makes contact with the doorstop, but the other corner does not, , you'll find that the strikeplate and latch might not line up well with your slab details, you'll find you have to push harder than expected to make it latch, you'll find that there may be large gaps at the top, or the base, or the sides, you'll find that the door may scrape along the ground.
The doorframe was built to fit the door that is in there. Even the prehung doors are adjusted to the opening and the door that is inside it. Swapping out the door slab can work, but you may find a series of issues you may not know how to deal with. One way to possibly test that, is to take another door in the house that is there already, and install it in the frame you want to replace. Just keep that in mind. Getting a prehung door and frame is likely the easiest and fastest way to get a decent job done.
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While you are correct for a "lazy man" swap out, (FYI I tried doing my own replacements with a jig, DO NOT DO THIS - endless issues as you mentioned above), as someone else mentioned, Timbertown does a "machine to match" service where they'll have the new door's hinges, width/height machines to (you guessed it) match exactly to the existing door.
I think its a great service, but personally, I'd never do it for exterior door. Weatherproofing and security could be questionable so usually just easier to do a nice new prehung and not have to worry about it not closing perfectly.