Add door to steel siding???

[RoosterR]

Any good ideas on adding a patio door to a house with steel siding. I'm not removing siding to do it because its a two story, and door is on first floor. I can cut it and slide J channel in but don't want to because then can't get to nailing fin. Also can't window wrap it.

Thanks for the help.

[minneman]

Could you add 2+" to the 2 sides and top to your siding cuts for a vinyl brick mould to fit in after the J channel goes in to cover the nailing fin? Might look a bit different than the other openings...

[Surface Tension]

You don't "need" the J channel and a siding job that takes into account of using the least amount of J is a better one.

Cut out the siding, its going to be close to the RO, you will understand later. Slip Flex Wrap behind the siding and then the drip cap (and over the furring strip which is the next step). Fur out the jamb to 1/8th" past flush to the siding. Width of cut will butt to the jamb/furring strip taking the tolerances in mind. On top of the furring strip you'll add your trim. That will overlap the the siding by 3/4" forming a pocket. Wallah no J channel.

Wrap the trim, if you've familiar with a brake you know that the profile and inside bend to cover the backside of the trim is easy as long as you stay at least 1/2" thickness for trim.

[buckeyes08]

It's not hard to remove the siding you just need to unlock the siding on the roll that is high enough to put the door in. you be glad you did it and looks nice when you done.

[Surface Tension]

Sometimes I'm hesitant to reply because to make a short reply doesn't do much good. A good reply will need to get into great detail. Details that are hard to explain, tricks, tips. situations that happen and you deal with them on the fly.

The above way is typical when you don't want to disturb the exterior. To get studs, jack studs, and the header in one or the other will need to be opened up, in this case the interior.

More then likely you'll have wiring on that wall so you'll be doing patch work anyway on the interior.

I wouldn't shy away from removing the siding if need be.

As said above you'll be unlocking the row above the door. Depending on where your laps are that could be as much as or more then 24' in width. There are tricks to that. You'll also have to get that top row locked back in when siding so that lock is getting abused twice. Kinks, bends, and locks that stretch are hard to avoid. There is another option. Cut the siding 2" below the lock across the entire length. Since you don't have electric metal shears use a circular saw with fine blade flipped to make the rip. Remove the siding from the cut down leaving narrow strip with lock. When you reside you'll remove the nailing strip/lock off the new siding. That last row will slide over the 2" strip and under the lock but first you have to open that up enough for it to slide in there. Use a wide and stiff blade putty knife to do that. Without its own nailing strip that piece is going to need some type of fastener. You can nail through the weep hole. I run a bead of adhesive along that slip joint first. Not just any caulk though. A polyurethane adhesive like 3M 5200. If it were my home I'd leave it like that feeling comfortable that I can keep an eye on it and if need be use the stainless nails at the weep hole if the adhesive failed.

I can go on and on but hope this much helps.

[buckeyes08]

As a contractor its not that hard to remove the siding they make a tool that is about 10 bucks or less to unlock the siding which is easy to do. After removing the siding remove the sheeting add the header and cripples and install new door. Then reside at the last one take the siding tool and pull down on the bottom of the one above and re-lock it. The time to do it will be the same as doing it the way above.