Exterior Door Threshold/Door Sill

[Matt Wolboldt]

Recently I've had to remove a rotten wooden door sill so I need to replace it. My plan is to remake it with a more durable wood to match the door, how would you go about designing the door sill. Also would I think I need to remove the door stops to slide it in (am I on the right track?) Also what is a typical thinkness above the floor? I can't seem to find a standard measurement. Any help would be awesome. Thanks in advance.

[Tom M King]

I always made the sills out of White Oak and the top was flush with the finish floor on the inside. Thresholds were as thin as possible. Most of the time I used the stock available white oak ones with the slide in weatherstripping. I framed the houses and never used a prehung door though, so it was all planned to start with. I never built a house where the entry door wasn't protected by a porch, so have never heard of a sill needing to be replaced.

I see two million dollar houses built here on the lake where the prehung entry door is just set on top of the subfloor. I can't stand those, but they weren't built by me.

[Mel Fulks]

Mine has a sill with a little slope for run-off, mahogany threshold with matching slope . Large ogee mould on top , also mahogany.
Brass piece about I/8th hangs over on inside and has brass screws . Commercial brass piece has a bent cup lip that goes over the
1/8th brass and stops air.

[Kevin Jenness]

ADA guidelines call for a maximum 1/2" stepover height at thresholds with a chamfer if over 1/4". Whether it is necessary to remove the stops to slide the new sill in depends on its profile. White oak is a durable rot-resistant choice for exterior sills.

[Mel Fulks]

White oak is excellent ! When the guys of old found mahogany they made some great ships with it….but ,sadly, it was just too
expensive , so they went back to white oak.

[Joe Calhoon]

I use white oak and sometimes mahogany. White oak is long wearing. For ADA I usually buy aluminum or bronze pre made ADA. For historical ADA I use thicker White oak if it can be buried beneath the finish floor. Normally on residential I use a 2 piece threshold with 1 1/4 max above finish floor.
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[Tom M King]

I have been replacing old window sills with cast in place concrete for a while now. If the door is not protected from the weather, it might be worth considering.

Sorry about the iphone picture orientation, but hopefully you get the idea. Once the concrete has cured for several months, I coat it with West Systems epoxy, and then paint it.

The pan is folded from vinyl coated aluminum trim coil that is sloped a little to shed any water that might get underneath the concrete.

I'll see if I can find the picture of the first one I did. That one was done because they were so close to brick pavement below that water splashed back onto them. Everyone was so satisfied with those that I started doing regular old window sills like that with molded pulled off of "weathered" wood so they look just like the old ones.

[Tom M King]

Here's the first one. This is on an 1850 house. Those sills had been replaced so many times that there was no clue other than the thickness left to know what the original ones were like. After the epoxy sets, a thickened layer can be put on and sanded smooth if you want a smooth, level surface.

These still look just like this after the 7 years they've been in place. The top of the line SW exterior paint is still good. That house is pressure washed every year.

Splattered paint was from times before we ever worked on that house and picture was taken before cleanup

[Mel Fulks]

Just measured mine, height over floor is 1and 3/8ths….but wait ….indoor fabric mat makes it legal ! I will acknowledge that some
have looked at my set up and stopped short , outside . I just tell them “step on whatever place you want , so I won’t lose all my heat!
“The big Ogee is what they want to see ,for for its BEAUTY and UTILITY “

[Matt Wolboldt]

Thanks everyone for the replies. I'll take your knowledge and give it a try this week.