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Steel Door Guides: Buying, Installation & Care

Compare door styles, understand what affects a custom quote, and prepare for measurement and installation. Once your door is in place, use the care and troubleshooting guides to find the next step.

Start with the question you have today. For a specific opening or product, confirm the details with OMG Steel Doors before ordering or making adjustments.

Most read

How to Measure for a Custom Steel Door

Our crew takes the final measurements on every door we build, so you are never on the hook for a wrong number. What you measure is for the quote, and for checking that a replacement will fit before you call. This guide walks through it the way we do it on site, in the order we do it.

  • Width, height and jamb depth, and where on the opening to take each one
  • Checking the frame for square, plumb and level, and what to do when it is not
  • Handing, swing direction and the hardware details to write down
  • Getting the opening and the house ready before the truck arrives

Pairs with the measurement worksheet

Read the measuring guide

The guides

Pick the one that matches your question

Installation

How a Steel Door Is Installed

What our crew does on install day and why, so a builder can plan around it and a homeowner knows what a correct job looks like.

  • Setting a pre-hung frame with anchor brackets
  • Shimming, thresholds, sealing and flashing
  • Why we do not recommend a DIY install

Read the guide

Troubleshooting

Steel Door Problems and How to Fix Them

Eight problems, each with what you are seeing, what usually causes it, what you can safely check yourself, and when to call us.

  • A door that will not close, latch or lock
  • Water at the sill after rain, and drafts
  • Fog on the glass, and how to tell a failed seal

Read the guide

Care and maintenance

Steel Door Care and Maintenance Guide

A schedule written for Central Texas sun, sprinklers and the odd hard freeze, followed by how to do each job without damaging the door.

  • Monthly, seasonal and yearly checks
  • Cleaning Low-E glass and caring for powder coat
  • Rust, hinge and lock care, and when to replace weatherstrip

Read the guide

Before you buy

What to Know Before You Buy a Steel Door

The questions people ask before they order, answered plainly, with a link to the product page that has the detail.

  • Low-E glass and thermally broken frames
  • Steel against fiberglass and wood
  • What moves the price, and choosing hardware

Read the guide

6 to 8 weeks in fabrication once you have approved the drawings How the timeline runs
1 day on site for most single and double entry doors What install day looks like
50% deposit, and nothing is cut until you have signed off the drawings Drawings and approval
3 to 6 months between checks of the weatherstrip and threshold weeps The full schedule

Printable

Four checklists you can take to the opening

Tick them off on screen, or print one and clip it to the clipboard. Each print button prints just that list.

Open the checklists

Quick answers

The questions we get most, in a sentence or two

Do I have to measure the opening myself?
No. Someone from our team measures every opening before a door is built. Your own numbers are for the quote, and for checking that a replacement will fit. How to take them
How long from order to installed door?
A little under two months in most cases. Six to eight weeks of that is fabrication, after you have approved the drawings. The install itself is usually a day. The full timeline
Can I install a steel door myself?
We would not. A single entry unit with insulated glass weighs several hundred pounds, and once a welded frame is anchored there is no adjusting it afterward. Installation is already in our price. DIY against professional
Why is there fog on the glass?
Where it sits tells you what is happening. On the outside face on a humid morning is normal. Between the panes, where it will not wipe off from either side, is a failed seal and the glass unit needs replacing. Condensation explained
How often does a steel door need attention?
Clean the glass and clear the threshold monthly. Check the weatherstrip and weeps every three to six months. Look over the sealant, finish and hardware properly once a year. The schedule
Is a steel and glass door energy efficient?
It can be. Compare the complete frame, glass and seal system, its available performance ratings, and the installation details. How to compare energy performance

A steel door does not ask for much, but what it does ask for matters.

From the care and maintenance guide

Help with your project

OMG Steel Doors is a family-owned business serving Austin and other Texas communities. These guides explain the decisions involved in buying, installing and caring for a custom door. For product-specific dimensions, specifications and installation requirements, contact the team with your plans or photos.

If a guide is missing something, or you think we have got a detail wrong, tell us. Your question can help us make the guidance clearer.

Have a question the guides did not answer?

Call, or email a photo of the opening or the problem. We would rather answer a question before an order than fix a problem after one.

Contact Us

Let OMG Steel Doors BRIGHTEN your days

Call OMG Steel Doors

+1 (512) 773-4192

OMG Steel Doors location in Austin, Texas

16908 Sanglier Dr. Austin, Texas 78738