Patio Door Replacement in Wilmington, DE
- Sliding Patio Doors
- Hinged French Pairs
- Brick and Framed Openings
The opening and the floor at the sill are checked at the estimate.
A patio door fills a wide opening in the back wall, and it moves far more than a window does. A slider rolls on its track every time someone lets the dog out, and a French door swings heavy glass on its hinges. When the panel grinds along the sill, the pair stops meeting in the middle or the glass fogs between the panes, the door has worn out where it works hardest.
We replace the whole unit with a new sliding door or a French patio door. The old unit is removed with its frame and sill, and the new one is set into the same opening.
Your Patio Door, Set by a BBB A+ Business
Doors from six makers
Pella, Andersen, JELD-WEN, Therma-Tru, ProVia and Masonite.
Screens that run in their own track
On a slider, the screen panel glides outside the glass, allowing the door to remain open to the air.
Inside trim cut to the new frame
Casing is fitted around the new unit so the opening looks finished from the room.
Sliding Panels and Swinging Pairs Wear Out in Different Places
A slider and a French door fill the same kind of opening, but they move differently, and the parts that give out wear depending on how each one moves.
Sliding patio doors
A sliding door is one fixed panel and one panel that rolls on wheels along a track built into the sill. The rollers carry the full weight of the glass, so as they wear, or as grit and a bent track work on them, the panel drags, and its latch stops meeting the keeper on the jamb. The seal is a strip of weatherstrip the panel slides against, and it wears with every opening. A slider needs no swing room at all, because its moving panel glides behind the fixed one inside the same frame.
French patio doors
A French patio door is a pair of hinged panels. One panel can be the active door with the other held shut by bolts at its top and bottom, or both can open. The active panel latches to its partner, and some doors use a multipoint lock that throws bolts into the head and the sill as well as the side. Heavy glass on hinges pulls at the top hinge, so over time a panel can drop and rub at its latch corner. A French pair opens to the full width of the doorway.
Changing from one type to the other
Swapping a slider for French doors, or French doors for a slider, can work in the same opening, because both are made in many of the same widths. What changes is the space around the door: a French pair needs room to swing inside the house or out on the deck. And the new unit's sill height and depth have to suit the floor inside, and the deck or step outside, and the measurements are settled before anything is ordered.
The sill and the framing under it
Rain that runs down a patio door lands on the sill, and wind pushes it against the weatherstrip at the bottom of the panels. When an old door's sill seal fails, water gets under it into the subfloor and the framing at the bottom of the opening, where it can stay hidden under the flooring. Soft or stained flooring inside the door is one sign of it. With the old door out, that wood is checked for rot. Any soft framing found there gets its own price, and the new sill only goes down on wood that holds a screw.
Whether the new sill gets a flashing pan under it, so water that gets past the weatherstrip drains back outside, is something Jimmy goes over at the estimate. The door itself is shimmed level and plumb and fastened. Level matters on any opening, and a moving door shows it first. A slider set out of level drifts open or shut on its own, and a French pair out of square won't meet in the middle or latch at the top and bottom.
Patio doors set into Wilmington brick back walls
Where a back door was added to a brick or block wall after the house was built, its opening was cut into the masonry with a lintel over it, and the wall set its size. A new door has to fit the opening as it stands, since widening it would mean cutting the masonry again. The replacement unit is ordered to the masonry opening, and any gaps left around the frame are closed with framing and trim as needed.
On a brick house, the outside of the new frame meets masonry, so the joint between the two is sealed where a sided wall would take a strip of trim nailed into wood. The brick step or landing under the door counts as well: if it has settled or tipped back toward the house, rain runs to the sill. The new sill is set to the floor inside, so a step or a deck that crowds it stays that way unless that part changes.
Loose boards or soft framing on the deck right outside the door can be repaired.
deck repairSetting a Patio Door Square, Level and Sealed
Door type, kept or switched
Say which door it is and whether you want to keep the same type or switch from a slider to French doors or back. A text with that much is enough to set up the visit.
Measuring the opening
The opening is measured inside and out, and the slide or swing is discussed with the deck or step outside in mind.
Choosing the door
You pick the maker, frame material, glass, and hardware finish. The door is ordered to the size of your opening.
Old door out
The inside casing comes off, the old door and its frame are taken out, and the bottom of the opening is probed. Rotted wood is repaired where needed.
New door in
The new unit is set on the prepared sill, shimmed level and plumb, and fastened and sealed to the outside wall. How the gaps around the frame are filled is settled with you beforehand.
Screen and casing
The panels and the strike are adjusted where needed, the screen goes into its track, and the inside casing is cut and fitted around the new frame.
The Old Unit Out and the New One Sealed In
| Part of the job | Sliding door | French patio door |
|---|---|---|
| Old door and frame | Removed | Removed |
| The new unit | One fixed panel, one rolling panel | Two hinged panels, one or both opening |
| Sill | Set level and sealed | Set level and sealed |
| Lock and handle | Handle and latch on the rolling panel | Handle set, with a multipoint lock where the door has one |
| Screen | Sliding screen in its own track | Where the door line offers one |
| Outside trim | Fitted and sealed to the wall | Fitted and sealed to the wall |
| Inside casing | Fitted to the new frame | Fitted to the new frame |
| Painting | Not included | The same for both |
We replace the whole patio door. We don't replace just the glass, the rollers, or the lock on an old one.
We don't paint walls, trim, or the outside of the house. New trim is left ready for paint.
Already bought the fixture or the material? We can usually install it, as long as it suits the job. On customer-supplied materials, our warranty covers the labor only.
Patio Door Quotes Rise and Fall With Frame and Glass
- Work
Sliding patio door, replaced
How it is pricedAt the estimate, by the door you choose - Work
French patio door, replaced
How it is pricedAt the estimate, by the door you choose - Work
Rot at the sill or in the framing
How it is pricedOnce the old door is out and it can be seen
The door itself is the first cost driver. Makers sell the same-size opening at very different levels of frame material, glass and hardware, and a vinyl slider and a fiberglass or clad-wood French pair are different purchases. The opening comes second. A stock size in a framed wall takes a stock door, while a masonry opening that no stock door fits needs a door made to its size and more trim around it.
Jimmy prices every project in person at your home, never from a photo or a text. Project estimates are free and are usually scheduled in the evening.
Our warranty
Our work carries a one-year workmanship warranty, dated from the day the job is finished.
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Getting Along With a New Patio Door
An in-swing pair uses the floor space inside the room, so a table or sofa near the door limits it. An out-swing pair uses deck space instead, leaving the room free, and wind presses it against its weatherstrip, which helps it seal. Out-swing doors also have to clear the deck boards and any railing as they open, so the deck height outside comes into it.
It can. A new frame may be a different depth from the old one, so the strip of flooring that met the old sill can fall short of the new one or run under it. Where it falls short, a threshold transition or a piece of trim closes the gap. Patching the flooring itself is a separate question that depends on what the floor is.
Some door lines offer blinds sealed between the panes, raised and tilted with a slide on the frame. They stay clean and have no cords to tangle. They are part of the glass unit, though, so they are chosen when the door is ordered, and on some lines a failed blind means a new glass unit.
It does. Ask about low-E coatings, which cut the sun's heat coming through the glass, and about the gas fill between the panes. On a door facing the afternoon sun, the coating changes how warm the room gets beside the glass and how much the sun fades the floor and furniture near it.
Keep the bottom track clean. Grit, sand, and pet hair in the track grind against the rollers every time the panel moves. Vacuum and wipe the track, and keep the small drain openings in the sill clear so rain that reaches the track can run back out.
A New Door Out to the Deck or the Yard
Whether a deck sits at floor height outside the door or there's a step down to the yard shapes which door suits the opening. Text Jimmy the door type and what sits outside it, and he will find an evening that suits you.
Precision Home Worx · Based in Claymont, DE · (302) 321-3577 (call or text) · Monday through Sunday, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Delaware business license #223872998 · General liability insurance and RLI surety bond #LMS1971327
Serving Wilmington, Claymont, North Wilmington, Hockessin, Pike Creek, Greenville, Newark, New Castle, Bear and the rest of northern Delaware.
Related services
The main service
Door installation and repairRelated work
Where we work
Outside the door
Where we replace patio doors
Patio door replacement in Wilmington, North Wilmington, Claymont, Hockessin, Newark, Stanton, New Castle and Bear.
