Dog Door Installation in Aluminum or Steel Clad Doors With Recessed Panels

If you read these instructions and are still unsure about your pet door purchase, call us! We would much rather get you comfortable with the installation requirements and send you the right product the first time! If you have questions about choosing the proper size pet door, we have a separate blog post for that issue.

Installing a pet door in a wood or steel door is a straightforward DIY job.

Basic installation instructions for any wood or steel door are as follows: Remove door from hinges and lay it down on sawhorses. Position template where the door will be installed. Mark the hole to be cut for the pet door and the smaller bolt holes if they have to be drilled separately by tracing the template. Drill holes at the 4 corners of the rectangle, and the smaller bolt holes. Use a jigsaw to cut out the rectangle. Most dog doors have an inside and an outside frame and they bolt together through the door. Place the frames on the inside and outside, and bolt the pet door together through the door. That's it!

The number one question we get is: How do I install a dog door into a door with recessed paneling?

Lay a straight edge across most aluminum or steel doors, and it becomes clear that they area actually flat. They have decorative panels which are typically a pressed or formed design, and the recessed "routered" part being the only part of the door that is actually thinner. The easiest way to install a pet door in this situation is to straddle one of the panels so that the pet door sits on the flat area in the middle, on the side, and below the recessed area. The dog door frame will cross the recessed areas on the top, and the gaps can be caulked. If the pet door is too large to straddle one or the other recessed panels, the doggy door can be installed right in the middle of the door, and all of the gaps caulked.

Doggie door installations in older wood doors

If the door is older or wood and truly has recessed panels, and those panels are recessed all the way across, a little extra attention is required. The easiest way to fill this gap is to get battens or shims from the local hardware store, and cut them to fit into the gap between the door and the recessed panel. When that gap is mostly filled in, caulk the remaining areas to seal the pet door to the door surface.