Protective door packaging for prehung door assemblies and method of packaging prehung door assemblies

A unitized door packaging of a plurality of single unit protective door packages packaging a single prehung door assembly, the single prehung door assembly comprising a rectangular door frame and a door slab pivotally attached to the door frame, the door frame including right and left side jambs and a header jamb connecting upper ends of the right and left side jambs, the unitized door packaging comprising:

• the plurality of the single unit protective door packages stacked and aligned with each other, each of the single unit protective door packages comprising a single prehung door assembly including a pair of upper protective side caps each configured to be mounted to the single prehung door assembly at one of opposite upper corners of the door frame, a pair of lower protective side caps each configured to be mounted to the door assembly at one of lowermost edges of the door frame and a pair of support spacers each mounted to one of the lowermost edges of the door frame for elevating a bottom edge of the door slab above the ground;
• and
• top and bottom tightening straps securing the plurality of stacked single unit protective door packages together by encircling the stacked single unit protective door packages over the upper and lower protective side caps, respectively, of the stacked single unit protective door packages;
• the single unit protective door packages are aligned with each other so that bottom surfaces of the support spacers of the single unit protective door packages are aligned.

A method of assembling a protective door package of a prehung door assembly, the method comprising the steps of

• providing a prehung door assembly comprising a rectangular door frame and a door slab pivotally attached to the door frame, the door frame including right and left side jambs and a header jamb connecting upper ends of the right and left side jambs;
• mounting lower protective side caps to the door assembly at lowermost edges of the door frame;
• mounting support spacers at one of the right and left side jambs of the door frame so as to extend away from the lowermost edge of the door frame;
• mounting upper protective side caps to the door assembly at opposite upper corners of the door frame;
• and
• securing the upper and lower protective side caps to the prehung door assembly by encircling the prehung door assembly with top and bottom tightening straps over the lower and upper protective side caps.

A method of assembling a unitized door packaging of a plurality of single unit protective door packages, the single prehung door assembly comprising a rectangular door frame and a door slab pivotally attached to the door frame, the door frame including right and left side jambs and a header jamb connecting upper ends of the right and left side jambs, the method comprising the steps of:

• providing a plurality of single unit protective door packages, each of the single unit protective door packages comprising a pair of upper protective side caps each mounted to the door assembly at one of opposite upper corners of the door frame, a pair of lower protective side caps each mounted to the door assembly at one of lowermost edges of the door frame and a pair of support spacers each mounted to one of the lowermost edges of the door frame for elevating a bottom edge of the door slab above the ground;
• stacking a plurality of the single unit protective door packages;
• aligning the stacked plurality of the single unit protective door packages;
• and
• securing the stacked plurality of the single unit protective door packages by top and bottom tightening straps encircling the stacked plurality of the single unit protective door packages over the upper and lower protective side caps, respectively.