Doors and windows
Door frame replacement cost
A new exterior door frame around the existing door costs about $1,201 — $1,611 if the floor under the threshold has rotted — and an interior one about $606. A split jamb is an hour's repair, $272–$320 with the trip. Before rebuilding a frame, price a new pre-hung door: $1,486 exterior, $617 interior.
Written and edited by Pablo Ruiz Quintero
Last reviewed 2026-09-30 · Nothing you type leaves your browser
Door frame repair and replacement calculator
The door, the damage and the fix
Most frame work is a carpenter’s hours and a trip charge. From a split jamb to a whole new frame around the old door.
A front, back or side door: jamb, threshold and brickmould, and the weather sealing that fails at the bottom corners first.
The old jamb cut out of the rough opening, a new jamb kit — or an exterior frame with threshold and brickmould — set plumb and square, the door rehung on it, and new trim.
On the same visit.
Probe it with a screwdriver.
A carpenter.
Used only to pick a regional labour rate. It stays in your browser.
Replace the whole frame, keep the door, exterior
$1,201
$660–$2,310 · 5.5 hours
A new pre-hung door: $1,486
Priced by the exterior door page (steel, single) — the number that tells you whether the old door is worth keeping.
Repair, rebuild or replace
Exterior door, 1 door, hired.
What the carpenter charges for
- Carpenter, 5.5 hours
The old jamb cut out of the rough opening, a new jamb kit — or an exterior frame with threshold and brickmould — set plumb and square, the door rehung on it, and new trim.$495 - Trip charge
Once for the visit, however many doors.$140 - Exterior frame kit
For 1 door.$300 - Sill pan, flashing, brickmould and casing
So the new frame does not rot the way the old one did.$226 - Paint
The new wood primed and painted.$40
What it costs
National average. replace the whole frame, keep the door on 1 exterior door, keeping the door, painted. Not included: a new door, a new lockset, drywall repair beyond the casing.
The carpenter’s rate and the trim are the door pages’; the framing behind the jamb, if it has to be rebuilt.
Worth knowing
- Replace the whole frame, keep the door: The old jamb cut out of the rough opening, a new jamb kit — or an exterior frame with threshold and brickmould — set plumb and square, the door rehung on it, and new trim.
- About 5.5 hours of a carpenter's time at about $90 an hour, plus the trip ($140), which is most of the bill on a small repair — a second door or a few other jobs on the same visit cost little more.
- A new pre-hung exterior door would be about $1,486. Rebuilding the frame keeps a door worth keeping for less.
- Rot at the bottom of an exterior jamb means water got past the threshold or the brickmould. Check the subfloor under the threshold with a screwdriver: if it is soft, the sill plate and the bottom of the studs are rotten too — add the framing repair, and the new frame needs a sill pan under it so it does not happen again.
On this page — 3 sections
From a split jamb to a new frame
The short version
- New exterior frame: $1,201. $1,611 with rotted framing.
- New interior frame: $606 — about the price of a new pre-hung door.
- Split jamb: $272–$320.
- The trip is most of a small repair.
| Interior | Exterior | |
|---|---|---|
| Repair a split jamb | $272 | $320 |
| Rebuild the rotted bottom | — | $475 |
| Replace the casing | $330 | $435 |
| Replace the whole frame | $606 | $1,201 |
| New pre-hung door instead | $617 | $1,486 |
Almost all of this is the carpenter’s time and the trip to the house. A split jamb is an hour; a rotted jamb bottom two or three; a whole exterior frame around the old door five or six, because the door has to be rehung in it square. That is why a whole new frame costs about what a new pre-hung door does — which comes with its frame.
$1,201
Exterior frame
Keep the door
$1,486
New steel door
Pre-hung
$606
Interior frame
Keep the door
$272
Split jamb
Interior
MaterialsEstimator, Door frame repair and replacement price survey · checked 2026-09-30
Rot at the bottom
Exterior frames fail at the bottom corners, where water runs off the door and the brickmould and sits against the end grain. If only the jamb is soft, the bottom foot is cut out and replaced with a composite section — about $475. If a screwdriver goes into the subfloor under the threshold, the sill plate and the bottom of the studs are rotten too, and the frame comes out: $1,611.
MaterialsEstimator, Exterior door installation price survey · checked 2026-09-23
What goes wrong
Before calling a carpenter
- Probe the jamb bottom and the floor under the threshold.
- Check whether the door itself is worth keeping.
- Count every door that needs work — one trip.
- Note the door's hand and size if the frame is going.
01Filling rot with putty
It hides soft wood that keeps rotting.
Instead — Cut back to sound wood and replace.
02Short screws in the strike
The next kick splits it again.
Instead — A reinforcement plate with 3 in screws into the stud.
03A new frame without a sill pan
It rots the same way.
Instead — Pan and flashing under the threshold.
04Rebuilding a frame around a cheap door
A pre-hung unit costs about the same.
Instead — Compare first.
- 01Find where it failedA split at the strike, rot at the bottom corners, or trim pulled away.
- 02Probe for rotA screwdriver into the jamb bottom and the floor under the threshold.
- 03Choose the smallest fixRepair, rebuild the bottom, new casing, or the whole frame.
- 04Price a new pre-hung doorIf the frame is going anyway, the door may be cheaper to replace with it.
- 05Batch the visitThe trip charge is once; a second door costs less.
- 06Seal itA sill pan and caulk so an exterior frame does not rot again.
Pre-hung exterior doors by material and style, with the frame included.
A new door instead- Jamb
- The two sides and the head of the frame the door hangs in and closes against.
- Strike side
- The jamb the latch and deadbolt go into — the side that splits when a door is forced.
- Casing
- The trim around the frame, covering the gap to the wall on each side.
- Brickmould
- The heavy exterior trim around an entry door frame.
- Threshold
- The sill across the bottom of an exterior door frame that the door seals against.
- Sill pan
- A flashing tray under the threshold, turned up at the ends, that carries water out instead of into the floor.
- Pre-hung door
- A door already hung in its frame, sold as one unit.
- Rough opening
- The framed hole in the wall the door frame is set in, with room to shim it plumb.
Common questions
- How much does it cost to replace a door frame?
- About $1,201 for an exterior door frame — a new frame with threshold and brickmould set around the existing door, with a sill pan, flashing, new trim and paint — and about $606 for an interior jamb and casing. It is 5.5 and 3.5 hours of a carpenter's time.
- How much does it cost to replace an exterior door frame?
- About $1,201, or $1,611 when the subfloor and the bottom of the studs under the threshold have rotted as well. A new pre-hung steel door would be $1,486 — worth comparing before rebuilding a frame around a door that is not worth keeping.
- How much does it cost to repair a door frame?
- About $272 for a split interior jamb and $320 for an exterior one with a reinforcement plate — most of it the carpenter's trip (about $140) and an hour or so of work. Rebuilding the rotted bottom of an exterior jamb is about $475.
- How much does it cost to replace door casing?
- About $330 for new casing on both sides of one interior door, painted, and $1,008 for five doors on the same visit ($202 a door). New brickmould and casing on an exterior door is about $435.
- Is it cheaper to replace the frame or the whole door?
- For an interior door it is nearly the same — $606 for a new frame against $617 for a new pre-hung hollow-core door — so the frame alone only makes sense for a door worth keeping. For an exterior door the frame is $1,201 against $1,486 for a new steel pre-hung unit.
- Can I replace a door frame myself?
- An interior jamb is about $144 in parts and 3.5 hours. A split jamb or new casing is a good first job; an exterior frame has to come out plumb, square and sealed to the threshold, or the door binds and leaks.
- Why do exterior door frames rot at the bottom?
- Water runs down the door and the brickmould and sits where the jamb meets the threshold, with no sill pan under it to carry it out. The fix is a composite or PVC section at the bottom of the jamb and a sill pan when the frame is next replaced.
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About the author
Pablo Ruiz Quintero — Editor
Editor of MaterialsEstimator. Decides which documents count as a source, what every default value is, and where the line sits between what the reader parses and what the engines compute.
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