new door/frame into steele frame

[crooner]

Hi, i am wanting to replace my front wood door with a upvc frame / door,
i stay in a steele house, the existing door frame is steele,which means i have to fix the new frame to the existing steele frame, (which will make new door smaller) how do i go about fixing the frame to the steele,
would self taping screws be okay?

 

[Burnerman]

Self tapping screws will work well enough, so long as the existing steel frame is thin enough for you to physically turn the screw to get it to bite.....if the frame is too thick the best option is to drill the existing frame and cut screw threads using a tap....often 8mm diameter threads are fine.
You would place the new upvc frame in the opening, drill through that and 'spot' with your drill where you wanted the new threaded holes.
A time for considerable patience and accuracy, I think!
John

 

[crooner]

thanks burnerman, i will drill a hole to test a self tapping screw,can you get countersunk self tappers,i was wondering if the normal one's would be all right, what size screw should i use,

 

[Burnerman]

You can get countersunk self tapping screws, certainly. I think you need to do a test drill to find out how thick the frame is - if its more than 2mm thick there's no way you'll get a self tapper in. Screwfix 11016, for example.
If you have sucess, hunt around for some quite substantial screws, maybe 4 to 5mm in diameter, and choose a pilot drill about 1mm less.
This isn't the easiest task to do, but with care and patience it should go ok.
Check out Wing screws, which have a pozi drive head - similar to Screwfix 16652 and see what you think. These are self drilling.
John