Entry Door Installation in Columbus

Transit & Flow Group installs entry doors across Columbus and Central Ohio, from a straightforward slab swap to a full frame-and-threshold replacement in a house that has settled out of square. Start in the Estimate Builder: answer a few questions about your current door and opening, and you will have a preliminary online estimate before you shop for the door itself.

Is this what you’re seeing?

Entry doors fail slowly, then all at once. What Columbus homeowners tell us:

• Daylight around the edges. Stand inside on a bright day and look at the door’s perimeter. Visible light means air, and in January that means heat leaving through gaps you are paying to heat.
• A door that scrapes or will not latch without a shoulder shove. In older neighborhoods like Clintonville and the Hilltop, decades of clay-soil settling have racked door frames out of square, and the door itself is often innocent.
• Rot at the bottom of the frame or threshold. Splash-back from rain and snow melt soaks the jamb base. Push a screwdriver into the wood at the bottom corners; if it sinks in, the frame is going.
• A steel door skinned with rust at the bottom edge, common on builder-grade doors from the 1990s and 2000s.
• Drafts you can feel from the couch. Flattened weatherstripping and a worn door sweep, sometimes fixable alone, often a sign the whole unit is at end of life.
• Security worries after an attempted break-in nearby. A modern door unit with a reinforced strike plate and deadbolt is a real upgrade over a 40-year-old hollow setup.

How pricing works

Door projects have two halves: the door unit and the installation labor. We price them separately so you can see both clearly.

• The door unit. Fiberglass, steel, and wood span a wide cost range, and glass inserts, sidelites, and hardware move it further. You can buy the door yourself or purchase through us at documented cost plus a stated handling fee.
• Installation labor is priced by job type: a slab-only swap into a sound existing frame is the least labor; a pre-hung unit replacement is the standard case; a full frame replacement with rot repair or an out-of-square opening is the most involved. The Estimate Builder asks the questions that sort your project into the right tier.
• What changes the price: rot discovered behind the old frame, masonry openings in brick homes, oversized or double-door openings, and sidelite or transom configurations.

You get a preliminary online estimate first. Final scope and price subject to verification when we measure, because a tape measure at your actual opening beats any online form. Permits and inspections may be required for some structural changes to openings; standard like-for-like replacements usually do not need one, and we confirm either way. Financing subject to credit approval for larger door and hardware packages.

What’s included

• Exact measurement of the rough opening before any door is ordered
• Removal and haul-away of the old door and frame
• Pre-hung unit set plumb, level, and square, shimmed at hinge and latch points
• Low-expansion foam insulation around the frame perimeter
• New threshold set and sealed, exterior casing caulked
• Lockset and deadbolt installation, keyed as you request
• Adjustment of sweep and weatherstripping until the door closes with an even reveal
• All workmanship is backed by a 1-year labor warranty on labor, parts, and equipment covered per manufacturer terms.

What’s not included

• Storm door installation, unless added to the scope (a common bundle)
• Painting or staining of unfinished doors, unless added
• Electrical work for lighted or smart-lock wiring beyond battery-powered hardware
• Widening or structural modification of the opening, quoted separately

Why Columbus doors go bad the way they do

Two local forces do most of the damage. The first is movement: Central Ohio’s clay soil swells with wet springs and shrinks in dry summers, so houses here shift a little every year. In the 1950s-to-1970s housing stock of Whitehall, the Hilltop, and Clintonville, sixty-plus years of that movement leaves door openings measurably out of square. That is why so many older Columbus doors scrape at one corner: the frame moved, and planing the door only chases the problem.

The second is freeze-thaw. Water finds the joint between the threshold and the jamb, freezes, and pries the joint open a little wider each winter, which is why frame rot here almost always starts at the two bottom corners. Newer builds in Dublin, New Albany, and Lewis Center have their own version of the problem: builder-grade steel doors and thresholds from the construction boom are hitting the age where rust, flattened sweeps, and failed door bottoms show up on schedule.

Our process

1. Start in the Estimate Builder. Describe your current door, opening, and what you want, with photos. You get a preliminary online estimate and guidance on unit options at different price levels.
2. Measure visit. We measure the rough opening, check the frame and sill for rot, and confirm square. Final scope and price subject to verification here.
3. Choose and order the door. Through us or on your own; either way we confirm the ordered unit matches the measured opening before it ships.
4. Installation day. Most single-door replacements are done in under a day, and your home is never left with an open hole; the old door stays in place until the new unit is on site and verified.
5. Final adjustment and walkthrough. Even reveal, smooth latch, locks tested with your keys, and a bead of paintable caulk ready for your trim color.

Our installers are Bonded & Insured Professionals.

Related services

Handyman Service | Interior Painting | Deck Repair

A well-set entry door seals tighter, locks stronger, and stops the January draft you have been blaming on the windows. Price the project in the Estimate Builder, book a measure visit online, or call Transit & Flow at (614) 382-0000.