I realize this is the political "stream-of-consciousness" group, but I
thought I might ask a question about walk-out basement doors?

Another discovery in my "house-built-by-idiots" is that my basement
door is built into a 2x10 (treated lumber) outer frame which mates with
the concrete wall. The side pair of 2x10's actually go down several
inches into the poured concrete floor of the basement and are below
ground level on the outside, where there is a slab concrete patio
which is poured to the same level as the basement floor. The actual
door frame is NOT treated lumber and is nailed to the 2x10's. To
reach the final level of "stupid" the vinyl siding bottom J-channel
is installed at a 30 degree angle on both side of the door so as to
channel water to the door, and the hollow aluminum adjustable
threshold was installed over the narrow soil gap between the basement
floor concrete and the patio concrete so that insect activity emerging
from the gap would be hidden.

My thoughts are to cut off the bottom several inches of the 2x10's and
fill that with something like polyurethane caulk. Then install a new
threshold on the basement-side of the floor crack, and then a new door
frame.