Step by step: Patio door upgrade
Photo by Roger Yip
The final product
Energy-efficient and reliable—you hear those words a lot these days, and they perfectly describe most sliding patio doors. But what about “modern and updated?” Well, then, you’re probably talking about hinged double doors, also known as french doors.
If you’re lucky, your patio door opening will be a standard size (and most are). You will find a prehung unit at your local home-improvement centre, and you’ll be able to pick up the doors off the shelf for less than $750. The prehung unit installed here was a standard unit from Masonite.
You’ll find that most of your time with this project will be spent ensuring the door is level. In fact, we had the old door out and the new one in place in less than 90 minutes. Most of the time was spent shimming and levelling. As you might expect, an uneven frame makes for a sticky door. Solve that with a bit of patience and a lot of cedar shims, available in bundles at most hardware stores.