I have french doors that open out to a deck, they are old as dirt and required replacement a long time ago. They are 36 in wide each, and close in the middle totaling 72 inch wide. They are double pane all glass.

Since I've never purchased french doors before, here's what I need advice for:

1. Better vs lesser brands ? Any particular brand you've had success with ?
2. Something in the upper middle line of quality that is durable and long lasting.
3. More secure is better, but I know there must be limits by nature of their design.
4. Nothing fancy, I'm not wealthy, but nice enough for a big house with a picky spousal unit.
5. No kids, they are grown, but no grand babies either, if it makes a difference.
6. Should I just go to my local big box hardware store like Home Depot or Lowes and just pick out something that looks decent and let their contracted installers install it, or hire a handyman, independent carpenter, or some kind of door installation company that specializes ?

Any other advice very much appreciated. Also, how much would something like that cost including product and installation, more or less ? I don't shop for lowest cost, I go for the best tradesmen that are honest and pay good money for good value, but I'm not rich nor live in an expensive city, if that helps.

Just want to say those doors with the mini blinds built in between the glass with a little slider button to open/close and raise/lower them look really cool. If you go to a go to a big box store find and play with one... Problem is what do you do if one breaks?

The two times I bought french doors I went to a local door place where I picked out the two doors I wanted to use and they put them together as french doors. The first time was over 30 years ago when we were building our house and the contractor installed the doors.

The second time was a couple years ago for my daughter's house. This door place built the french doors as take-apart sections that made it easier for me to truck them over 300 miles to her house, carry the sections myself to the back of the house, put them together and stand the unit up into the rough opening.

If getting the doors from a big box store probably best to get your own carpenter rather than using whoever from the box store.

Do not buy at the box stores, I made that mistake. Jeld-Wen had good reviews at the time and Lowes sold and installed them. I paid for them to come out, measure and install french doors with the blinds in the middle of the glass. I had problems for months with the doors. Finally got a guy that was a Jeld-Wen manager and he said the ones they sold at the box stores were lesser quality and that was why I was having issues.

I also paid for some anti-rot wood that was guaranteed. When my sill rotted I thought I would get it fixed under warranty. Nope, the sill, which is the most prone to water, was not covered.

Also, the Lowes installer were the Chuck in a truck guys. I'd avoid using box store for this.

Just a thought to replace the French doors with a slider.

We had a single side opening french door from the living room to the deck. I hated that door. Waste of space as you needed to have room for the door to swing open. The door never stayed fully open and would gradually close a little. The slider also provides so much more light.

Our local door and window companies have installers that work with them.

So many choices and materials.

Marvin, Anderson, Pella, and Therma-tru are some good brands.

Went thru this last year with 3 doors. Contact me if you want to talk by phone as I type so slow.

I had two sets of Anderson French doors installed almost 15 years ago. They have locking points at the top, middle and bottom that actuate via the door handle. I like them a lot. You can stand right next to the glass in the winter time and not feel a thing. Not inexpensive but worth it in my opinion. Every once in a while I have to adjust the hinges a bit as the seasons change. Otherwise no issues. I had a contractor install them who was also doing some other work at my house at the time.

South facing doors are subject to warping and cracking. I would go with a specialty place to have them installed. Be sure there is extra bracing. Hurricane force winds discover that is a weak point along with your garage doors.

find someone in your area that has specialized in doors for a longer period of time. They will know which brands will be best suited for your needs and also will be around when service is needed. As mentioned, stay away from big box for an item such as this

I am in the same boat as the OP. I too need some new French doors and deciding what to get has been a headache.

Milliken Millwork!
We have some French Doors out back to our patio these have been great.
They have the blinds inside the glass we have dogs and kids so they are a must.

There is no dust dirt condensation in the glass and we have had them 7 years now.
I broke (or thought I did) I called Milliken and they had a rep out the next day and he fixed it though it was not exactly broken.
He was great and said if I have an issue with the door for the life of the door call him directly and he’ll take care of it.

I don’t know if they are nationwide or not.

http://www2.millikenmillwork.com/

I was going to say this. Much more secure than a set of live and dead bolts in the middle.

For extra credit (and money) get hurricane glass. This is laminated glass like in a car windshield. can't be smashed through.

quote:

Originally posted by JoseyWales2:
I had two sets of Anderson French doors installed almost 15 years ago. They have locking points at the top, middle and bottom that actuate via the door handle. I like them a lot. You can stand right next to the glass in the winter time and not feel a thing. Not inexpensive but worth it in my opinion. Every once in a while I have to adjust the hinges a bit as the seasons change. Otherwise no issues. I had a contractor install them who was also doing some other work at my house at the time.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
South facing doors are subject to warping and cracking. I would go with a specialty place to have them installed. Be sure there is extra bracing. Hurricane force winds discover that is a weak point along with your garage doors.

I found out the hard way about sun damage on my south facing front door. It's an engineered wood door, meaning made from layers of wood like plywood, and looked great for the first five years. It gets sun direct and reflecting off the concrete driveway. I wound painting it.

I bought it at Home Depot, it wasn't cheap, and I don't remember the brand, so I can't tell you what to avoid. On the other hand, I went with Andersen for the three sliders on the north side of the house. My parents' current house has two Andersen sliders including one with impact glass. Mine are 15 years old while theirs are 20 and we have no complaints.

I owned a high end custom home company for 37 years and I will tell you that you get what you pay for.
My suggestion is to consider Andersen. I have 7 of them in my house and they have been flawless for over 20 years.
I can tell you that true French doors (in which both panels open) are the most expensive followed by hinged patio doors in which one panel is fixed followed by regular patio doors.
Also as was alluded to above getting someone who knows how to correctly install them is crucial. Your Andersen dealer can hook you up.
Good luck!

We had Milgard French doors installed in the vacation home we used to own; having French doors as opposed to patio sliders really opened the place up, it was wonderful. We ordered the custom doors from a local glass place.
The doors were impervious to big storms coming in from the Pacific and hitting directly on the doors. They were fiberglass with interior wood cladding, looked great, very secure.

I have 5 french doors in my house that we installed in a remodel and addition. We followed the contractor's recommendation and bought doors made by a local company that has since gone out of business. 3 out of 5 doors have problems with alignment, latching, and air leakage. I regret the decision to not get the high end doors every time I go through them. As stated above you get what you pay for.

When we built our house, we went with Peachtree for our French door and windows, That was 25 years ago and not one complaint.

We put an Andersen dual-active in at the end of 2019, it's solid & will be around for a long time.
have a single-active from the dining room to the deck that has been in the house since it was built (2004) and only issue is a spring broke in the latch - when it's only in the 'closed' position, the handle droops & is extremely easy to bump open (like a 2yo who wants to go outside to play and can barely reach the handle can get it open). If you put it in the full-latch position (the 3 latches lock to the door frame) it is fine. Looks like I could replace the whole assembly for $150 and 4 screws. Kid is 4 now, he can go outside when he wants.

quote:

Originally posted by smlsig:
I owned a high end custom home company for 37 years and I will tell you that you get what you pay for.
My suggestion is to consider Andersen. I have 7 of them in my house and they have been flawless for over 20 years.
I can tell you that true French doors (in which both panels open) are the most expensive followed by hinged patio doors in which one panel is fixed followed by regular patio doors.
Also as was alluded to above getting someone who knows how to correctly install them is crucial. Your Andersen dealer can hook you up.
Good luck!

Well Eddie, that's a pretty strong endorsement coming from someone like you with your professional background and personal experience with Andersen products.

So I'm going with Andersen french doors. I'll let the spousal unit pick her model, and I found an independent carpenter. I learned that Andersen installs their own doors with their own dedicated installers, but the carpenter I hired I know personally and have seen his work. After he installs it after the Holidays, I'll see if I can report back here on the results.

Thank you friends. The Great Sigforum Brain Trust strikes hot iron again.

If you want top of the line and secure, PGT impact windows and doors. Hurricane impact resistant (bulletproof depending on glass thickness) and very secure latching mechanisms.