Ok, here’s the deal…
I tend to overthink things and I probably would be done by now if i had just done it instead of thinking about it.
I need to replace the patio door to our backyard. I can’t decide if I should just put in another patio door of the same size or replace the whole thing with a French door with sidelight.
The problem I’m having with the patio door is that it doesn’t line up with the window on the second floor. I know it’s not a big problem but bad design choices like this just get under my skin.
If I replace it with a French door and sidelight, I would have to infill the resulting hole with plywood or something else until I redo the exterior sidiing. I don’t think I can find siding to match unless I take it from elsewhere on the house.
So what should I do ? Put in the French door I really want or just replace the patio door and get it over with ?
Other than look from the outside, does any one have other reason why I should go with one over the other ? One thing that comes to mind is the door swing for the French door. Anything else ?
My wife thanks you 🙂
Replies
What are you calling a "french door".
To me a french door is TWO swing doors. And to that you want to add sidelights.
That would be way too big for that space.
.
A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
Just a single 36" wide door with multiple "lights".
Well, if you can find a door and side lights that are the same dimension as your patio door you can just......
-carefully remove your existing siding
-center your door opening in the wall ( to match the above window)
-cut your siding in half and reinstall on either side of the door
Of course this all is IF you can find something to match your opening.
Or, if you can find a door and sidelight combination that matches the dimensions of the window above, you could do that. You'll nedd some matching siding and trim to go with it, but it's certainly doable.
Politics is the antithesis of problem solving.
The current door is 60"
The window above is 50"
My problem is not how to do it but rather deciding which one to do:
1. Replace with another 60" patio door and live with the fact that it won't line up with the window above. It bothers me everytime is sit in the backyard.
2. Replace with a 50" French door and side light and infill the remaining 10" with painted plywood or other exterior panelling. If i can't find a 50" unit, I have no problem making it myself. If and when I redo the exterior siding of the house, I'll then be able to cover that 10" infill to match.
#1 will be easier and faster. #2 will take longer, be more complicated, but will satisfy my visual senses.
If it were your house, which one would you do ?
Build a porch roof/awning over the door and visually separate the problem.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
They kill Prophets, for Profits.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dj_oEx4-Mc4
The world of people goes up and
down and people go up and down with
their world; warriors have no business
following the ups and downs of their
fellow men.
Actually that was one of the options but there is a window on the side wall (about 12" away) and it partly be under the roof/awning. Running joke with my wife is that i'm buildng a two level deck with a door off of our bedroom. The door is where that second-storey window is now.
Move that chair from the picture..LOL I see you sit and stare at the problem ( or she does).
So, you mean the trip unit on the second floor is now a door?
Build a pergola, they make everything look planned out..Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
They kill Prophets, for Profits.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dj_oEx4-Mc4
The world of people goes up and
down and people go up and down with
their world; warriors have no business
following the ups and downs of their
fellow men.
No deck and no door on the second floor. It's just something i tell my wife i'll start doing when she asks me when i'll finish the other things I started.
A pergola...hmmm!! I'm eventually going to build a deck there anyways so a pergola above the sliding door and the triple-unit window would not be a bad idea.
Is this your own house?If yes, how long will you be living there?And if you do it the way that you don't want to, are you willing to put up with it for that many years?
Politics is the antithesis of problem solving.
Yes, my own home and we'll live there another 20 years until we downsize.
Yes I can put up with it another 20 years but it doesn't mean I should :-).
I can put up with the aluminum siding too but will probably want to change that eventually. In any case, I'm not convinced that the replacement vinyl windows were properly installed so i will want to remove the siding and properly flash them before putting new siding on.
>>"In any case, I'm not convinced that the replacement vinyl windows were properly installed so i will want to remove the siding...."If they are in fact 'replacement' windows, then they now exist inside the frames/jambs of the old windows; and were installed without any need to flash them.
Politics is the antithesis of problem solving.
Old units were completely removed and new units put it place. All that was left when old ones were removed was the stud frame and header. New flashing on top and j-trim on sides. I'm fairly certain that some water is getting in between the siding and the tar paper if any water runs down the j-trim. I'm not sure where the is water supposed to go from there. but that's a discussion for another thread.
I know that this is how it should have been done. The flashing on the bottom should go over the nailing flange of the siding so that any water will drain from the weep holes on the siding or at the edge. Unfortunately, i don't know if it was originally installed that way.
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How big is it now? 60"
12"36"12" or 42"16" or custom to whatever you want.
Put in a door, the same size as the window above.
Center it on the window.
Remove all the siding beside the door.
Now treat the wall completely differently.
Run trim all the way across the expanse at the top of the door, and cover the wall on both sides of the door with something different from the original siding.
Click here for access to the Woodshed Tavern
good idea to remove the siding on both sides.
Thanks
What is that room there that the door is off of?
Meaning--what's the point of the entry/exit now? Is the kitchen close enough that you traipse back and forth, out and in, int he summer when you bbq or eat outside?
If so, then I'm with Sphere--replace the slider with a french door (that's two doors, one operable and one with bolts that stays put and the other closes against it unless you ant both open--then build a pergola to hang out under, and wrap some type of stair/deck around the entry so that you're not coming in and out up/down that little set of stairs.
If the existing door is far from thekitch and only used occasionally to get to the back yard--then my vote is block it in with a window that mirrors your others, and above, and put a real set of french doors off the kitchen somewhere to get you utilizing your outdoor space as real extended dining, living, hangin' out area.
Cheers!
Pat
The existing patio door is in the family room. If you take a look at the picture, the eat-in kitchen is just above that step. We have a table just in front of the window.
Your last paragraph is dead-on. The current door is too far from the kitchen and down a step so it is only used to go in the backyard. We rarely eat outside but probably would if we had a deck and easier access.
Building a deck, replacing the existing patio door with a window, and replacing the 3-unit window with French doors would be the best thing to do. We'd probably need a smaller table in the eat-in kitchen but that would force us to use the dining room more often.
The only reason I would not do this is because the 3-unit window was replaced just 4 years ago when i bought the house. The original wood windows were rotted through and i had to change some of them without knowing how we would use the space. If I take it out to put French doors, I can't use it elsewhere and I'm out $1500. Plus the cost of the new window and doors.
Would you have the French door swing in or out ? Or maybe quality sliding doors with the French-door look?
I'll have to sleep on this one and think long-term.
Thanks for the ideas.
"Building a deck, replacing the existing patio door with a window, and replacing the 3-unit window with French doors would be the best thing to do. "
In between bigger jobs I install quite a few patio doors as an installer for Pella. MOST of them are to convert a window(s) to patio door for access or replace/increase an inferior door to allow more access outside.
As to swing, if you have room, swing in. If not Out's fine--and can be more weather resistant.
hope I haven't made your plans more complicated! (sorry wife...)
Actually, you did complicate things somewhat :-)
I mentionned it to my wife and she was open to it....until I mentioned that we would waste the new window we put in a few years ago. I need to work on her a little more.
Thanks for the suggestion though. It would certainly improve the flow.
It's getting late in the year to start this project so I'll have the whole winter to think it through.
It's been almost one year since I asked this question. Finally finished replacing the door and window this week.
Went with a Andersen Frenchwood glider. It's a really nice door. Heavy as hell and a pain to install. It was my first time installing an exterior door. I used Blue Skin and tried to tuck it in behind the siding. Very hard to do since this stuff sticks to everything. Was working in the hot sun too so I getting impatient.
The window was easier to install. I will re-side the house eventually so I'm not too bothered with the painted wood panel under the window. I was able to salvage the horizontal siding from under the old window and reuse it on the left of the new. Unfortunately, I could not find a match in aluminum siding so I went with the wood for now. At least its the same color.
The landing and stairs are temporary. Next year I will build a deck, possibly with a pergola.
Almost ready to install the hardwood floor and finish this family room once and for all.
The flow to the outside has really improved with the new door location. I'm really glad I decided to move it.View ImageView ImageView Image
Hey! Looks great!
Good things come to those who wait I guess.
One suggestion on the pergola.
Go to a good nursery and get some nice climbing plants.
Some are to aggressive and take over unless you are after them.
Find one you like and can live with.
I think pergolas without a climbing/ flowering/ fragrant flowering plant aren't complete.
I think part of the pergola charm is to have a fragrant plant climbing it.
This year I planted 7 climbing plants around the house.
In a couple of years the place will smell and look great! "There are three kinds of men: The one that learns by reading, the few who learn by observation and the rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves."Will Rogers
IMO your bigger visual problem is the top of the window to the left doesn't line up w/ the top of the door or the other window around to the side. The visual of the window above bothers me a lot less. While there are exceptions to the rule, yours doesn't appear to be one ... not sure why the window doesn't line up.
The hint by the one guy to change your finish material all around the door is a good one. Gives you a chance to flash it right, too.
What kind of siding do you have? Looks like you could find a match, but can't see the detail.
The tops don't line up because the door is in the sunken living room. That bothers me too but there is not much i can do about it. The pergola would fix that problem as well.
It is 23-year old aluminum siding with full-sun exposure. I would not even try finding a match. If i really had to, i'd remove the siding from the back of the garage wall (6 ft wide by 8 ft high) and then patch that wall with something new.
another idea: when you change it ... put a wide band board (not sure what they call it) above the door for trim ... this can realign visually w/ the window to the left ... AND maybe it will give you enough siding to fill in the new gap??
This will make your wife happy, why not put a window where the doorwall currently resides then put the french door (my suggestion) on the longer back wall?
Where the door currently sits, it looks like it was an after thought. You could put quite a grand door on the longer wall though.
Family.....They're always there when they need you.
You mean put the door at window A or window B ? At window A would be my choice and that is what Waters suggested in a previous post. At window B, it would be even further away from the kitchen. And the deck on the outside would stick out too much and be in the way of the pool we plan to have.
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I meant position B. But you've now given my a bunch more information so I would think position A would work well too. The bottom line is that the door looks out of place where it is now.
At least it should be centered.
Family.....They're always there when they need you.
first i will say it wouldn't bother me that the window and door are different sizes,but that said and since i don't have to do the work.
i would tear out the triple window in the wall of the living room,put in a nice 6' door,the go buy another window that matches the top and replace it where the door is today. might get enough siding to get patched in???
then a deck off the whole thing. cmon quit thinking about it ,your only there another 20 yrs. larry
if a man speaks in the forest,and there's not a woman to hear him,is he still wrong?