Door Replacement in a Brick House — Sized to the Brick Opening
Your front or patio door sits inside a brick opening with a steel lintel above and a brick or concrete sill below.
Reply within one business day. Or call / text 763-204-2099.
Door replacement in a brick house means the door is sized to the brick, not the other way around. JMB Builders measures the masonry opening, orders an entry or patio door with the right frame and brickmould to sit inside the brick returns, sets it on a sill pan, and seals it to the brick and the step with backer rod and sealant. Across the Twin Cities metro. Priced per door, quoted from photos.
- Priced per door, door supplied or yours
- Sized to the masonry opening
- Sill pan and sealant joint to the brick
In most brick houses the brick is a veneer in front of a framed wall, with an air space behind it, a steel lintel over the door carrying the brick above, and a brick rowlock sill or concrete step below. The door frame sits behind the brick returns with brickmould covering the gap. None of that moves when the door is replaced. A siding house can have its trim cut back to fit a door that is a little off; a brick opening cannot.
So the order of work changes. We measure the masonry opening, the wood buck inside it and the wall thickness before any door is ordered, and the door comes with a frame size, jamb width and brickmould that fit inside the brick. On install day the old unit comes out, the buck and subfloor are checked for rot, a sloped sill pan goes down, and the new door is set plumb and foamed. The joint between the brickmould and the brick gets backer rod and sealant, and the bottom of the frame is sealed to the brick sill or the step so water cannot run in behind it.
Patio doors in brick walls follow the same rules with more width. Before a new door goes under the lintel, we look at it: rust pushing the brick up or cracked mortar above the door is something you want to know about first. Our brick window page covers windows; this page is entry and patio doors.
Get a written quote for this job
Three photos and a sentence is enough: a reply within one business day, or ask for a free in-home estimate. Or text the photos to 763-204-2099.
What you supply
- Your pick of entry or patio door, or the door you already bought, sized to the brick opening
- Photos from outside showing the brick above and the sill or step below the door
- Paint color for the door and trim if we are painting
What JMB supplies
- Measurement of the masonry opening, buck and wall thickness before anything is ordered
- The door, ordered to fit inside the brick returns, when you want us to supply it
- Removal and haul-away of the old door, frame and trim
- Rot repair at the wood buck, sill framing or subfloor, quoted once the old frame is out
- Sill pan, flashing, low-expansion foam, backer rod and sealant to the brick
- PVC or wood brickmould, or aluminum capping over the buck, and interior casing
- Painting the door and trim as its own line on the quote
- Photos of the finished door and any lintel concerns in your job folder
How it is priced: per door
Quoted in writing from your photos, with a reply within one business day. What moves the number:
- Entry door vs. a wide sliding or French patio door
- A standard door size that fits the opening vs. a door ordered to a custom size
- Rot in the wood buck, sill framing or subfloor behind the brick
- Exterior finish: new PVC brickmould or aluminum capping over the buck
- Wall thickness that needs a wider jamb or jamb extensions
- Door supplied by us vs. a door you bought
- Painting the door and trim, quoted as its own line
Send a straight-on photo of the door from outside with the brick around it, a close-up of each bottom corner at the sill, and a photo of the brick above the door.
How long it takes
One entry door in a sound brick opening: about a day. A patio door, or a door with rot in the buck or subfloor: a day to a day and a half.
How your project works
- 1
Send photos, get a written quote
Send three photos of the space and a sentence about what you want. You get a clear, itemized reply within one business day. Prefer a look in person? A free in-home estimate is always an option.
- 2
Pick materials, or bring your own
We help you choose profiles and materials that fit the house and the budget, or match your existing millwork exactly — or you buy the door or trim yourself and we install it. Everything is confirmed before the crew is scheduled.
- 3
Clean, precise installation
The crew shows up on time, protects floors and furniture, and installs with tight joints and consistent reveals. Photos of the finished work go in your job folder.
- 4
Walkthrough and invoice
We walk the finished work with you. If anything is not right, we fix it before we call the job done. Then one invoice, paid by check or direct deposit — no card fees, no payment links.
Situations and options
Front door in a brick opening
A prehung entry door sized to fit inside the brick returns, set on a sill pan, and sealed to the brick and the step. The door can change style and material; the size stays the same as the opening.
Patio door in a brick wall
Sliders and French pairs in brick usually sit on a brick sill or the patio slab. The sill pan and the seal to the masonry at the bottom corners are what keep water out of the floor below. We check the lintel before the new door goes in.
Brickmould or no brickmould
Doors are ordered with brickmould attached or with a flat frame. In a brick opening that choice depends on how much room there is between the frame and the brick returns. We tell you which to order, so the door fits without trimming the brickmould down on site.
Changing the size of a brick opening
A wider or taller door in brick means masonry work and a new lintel, and a new header in the framed wall behind it. It is a bigger job than a door swap and is looked at in person before it is quoted.
Door Replacement in a Brick House — Sized to the Brick Opening: questions, answered
Can you replace a front door in a brick opening without touching the brick?
Yes, when the new door is ordered to fit the opening. The old door and frame come out from the wood buck behind the brick returns, and the new prehung goes into the same space. The brick, lintel and sill stay as they are. The only thing that touches the brick is the sealant joint between the new brickmould and the masonry.
How do I measure for a new door in a brick house?
Measure the width between the brick returns at the top, middle and bottom, and the height from the brick sill or step to the underside of the lintel. Then measure the wall thickness at the jamb. The door is sized to the smallest of those numbers with room to shim and seal. Send the numbers with photos, or we measure in person before anything is ordered.
Should a replacement door in a brick home have brickmould?
It depends on the gap between the door frame and the brick. Where there is room, a door with brickmould covers that gap and gets sealed to the brick. Where the brick returns are tight to the frame, a flat-frame door with aluminum capping over the buck fits better. We look at the photos and tell you which to order, so the brickmould is not cut down on site.
Why does water get in under doors in brick houses?
Most often because the door was set without a sill pan, and the joint between the bottom of the frame and the brick sill or step was caulked once and has since cracked. Water runs down the face of the door, gets under the threshold and into the floor. A new door set on a sloped sill pan, with backer rod and sealant at the masonry, fixes the cause.
Can a patio door be replaced in a brick veneer wall?
Yes. A slider or French pair in brick veneer is replaced the same way as an entry door, sized to the masonry opening and set on a sill pan. The difference is width: the lintel above is longer and carries more brick, so we look at it for rust and cracked mortar before the new door goes under it.
What if the steel lintel over my door is rusted?
Rust swells the steel and can push up the brick above it and crack the mortar. A door replacement is the right time to look, because the door frame sits right under it. If the lintel needs attention, it is masonry work done before or with the door, and we tell you from the photos and again when the old frame is out.
Recent JMB work, from our job log
59 installs recorded across 30 Twin Cities communities since Dec 2025. Window and door installs for homeowners and the builders we work with. Counts come straight from our job log; no customer names.
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Read morePage reviewed October 9, 2026 · JMB Builders LLC, MN license BC809005 · All doors pages
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