Sliding Glass Doors - Installation Process:

Homes for decades have been made with sliding glass doors that often lead from a dining room or family room to the backyard. Sometimes you'll even see a master bedroom with exterior sliding glass doors that lead to a patio or balcony. A sliding glass door is a nice option over a traditional door that offers no view to the outside world. Sliders, as my they are often referred to, run on tracks and "slide" on rollers. Gliding patio doors are not cheap, but they make a great addition to any house and allow easy access through wide doors. If you go to a home improvement store like Home Depot or Lowes you can see the models and manufacturers they carry. Also, those stores can set you up with a professional installer who can come out beforehand, give you an estimate, and suggest the type of sliding glass door that would look best in your home.

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When searching for a new patio sliding glass door you have a few options when it comes to materials. The least expensive are often the aluminum doors but keep in mind they are easy to maintain and don't rust. Vinyl sliding glass doors are nice and require little upkeep as well. The vinly doors are much more energy efficient than aluminum and vinyl patio doors will keep their new look for many years. Look for those with insulated glass and factory installed weatherstripping. Andersen offers the nicer wood framed sliding doors which are priced at about $1350 to $1500. You will get a high quality door that is well insulated and adds that decorative feel. There are also wood clad sliding doors that have aluminum, fiberglass, or vinyl coating on the outside but still have the refined wood look on the inside. The protective layer of coating on the exterior will help the wood survive longer in harsher weather. More homeowners are choosing folding doors or larger sliding patio doors in climates where the weather is more temperate. Essentially the entire back of the house opens up when the sun is out and the evenings are mild. Some people shy away from sliding glass doors for security reasons as they are fairly easy to break into (shatter the glass). You can get more secure locking mechanisms and reinforced glass. As far as repairs go, sliders have always had the tendency to get off their "tracks" and become a little rough when sliding open or closed. Take care of the rollers on the underside of the doors and keep leaves, debris, and other items out of the tracks so that the mechanism remains smooth and easy. For an innovative look to interior sliding doors, check out the website at Slidingdoorco.com for their selection of wall slide doors, swing doors, and room dividers. Andersenwindows.com is another excellent website with lots of choices and prices included. Pella, Jeld Ven, Milgard, and Marvin are other manufacturers of sliding doors and definitely worth checking out. Home Depot and Lowes are a great place to start your search or go online. We had 2 doors recently replaced in our house and we went with Milgard white vinyl sliding glass doors. The installation process was much simpler than I had originally thought and the 2 guys were in and out of our house within an hour or 2. They took away the old doors and installed the news ones without a problem. It's the type of project that a more experienced DIY homeowner could do themselves. Replacing a sliding glass door is not that hard, but installing a new one where a door didn't exist before can be a bigger project and probably better left to the pros.

Sliding Glass Door Prices:

How much are sliding glass doors? Our 2 doors from Milgard were $1570, so each was about $785. The 400 Series Frenchwood Gliding Patio Doors from Andersen run closer to $1600/each and the 200 Series Perma-Shield Gliding Patio Doors from Andersen are closer to $900/each. We went with the Milgard since they were cheaper than Anderson and their vinyl patio doors are considered very "solid" in the industry. The doors won't crack, peel, or warp and one of our main reasons for buying them was because they don't absorb moisture. Living in the Pacific Northwest that was a huge plus for us where it rains quite a bit. The full lifetime warranty and energy efficiency also helped nudge us towards the Milgard patio doors. You can check out their inventory online at Milgard.com. Installation for labor was a few $100 more but again it could be done by a handy homeowner to save a few bucks.

Patio Doors - Exterior Sliding Glass Doors:

In the past few years more options have evolved for exterior sliding doors and patio doors. Hinged patio doors are very popular with the doors either swinging in or out. Gliding patio doors can have multiple panels extending the glass door beyond a normal size sliding glass door. You can also go with sidelights or stationary panels to create a bigger view and allowing in more light. French doors are more expensive, but a great alternative to sliders and adding at touch of class to any houses exterior/interior. Lanai Doors offers an innovative bifolding sliding system where the doors fold and slide at the same time. Some restaurants that offer outdoor seating have these types of doors and homeowners are starting to use them as well. Don't feel like you have to go with a typical sliding glass door as now there are countless options and styles to choose from.

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