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French Doors with Sidelights - Where the Heck Do I Buy Affordable Doors?

Lee

Lee

Guild of Calamitous Intent
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The Natural State
And is there a standard rough opening size?

I want an exterior double door, French Doors, with sidelights or "sidelites," I've seen it spelled both ways.

Why don't folks put their damned prices on things? I don't want to contact you for pricing, or have you contact me, just tell me the price on your website.

I'm not looking for anything special, Lowe's Benchmark doors are close to what I'm looking for are ~$2K so call that the threshold. I've seen $8-10K doors, in my research, I can't figure out why they cost that much, I'm obviously not their market demographic.

I built the ideal door on Menard's website, the closest Menard's is 2+ hours away, but they seem to have more/better options than the big box stores around here. With the current coupon it's a $2,500 door.

72x80" steel double door with 14x80" sidelights. Left hand out swing, if you are standing outside the right hand door swings toward you.

Any recommendations of where I should be shopping for something similar?

photo18640.png
 
Last time I ordered one up, it was similar to what you're looking for. Exterior clad, from DixieLine; $3400 otd.

Interior rated would be 60% the cost. Not saying to use interior, just that ext rated 1-3/4" is where 40% of the mark up is.
 
They arnt "affordable" and I swear they design the "base model" ass backwards so that they can upcharge for every little detail you want changed.
really the design people in the door department are pretty good at what they do and will sit down with you for free and be able to go through all the options and you will be able to see what every change looks like. I'd start there to really get it figured out and then take your quote and design elsewhere if you want.
 
There are a lot nicer options than steel. Have you looked in to fiberglass or even vinyl clad wood? It's like anything in life, you get what you pay for. I tell customers "it's low end to no end"
 
dave_dj1 said:
There are a lot nicer options than steel. Have you looked in to fiberglass or even vinyl clad wood? It's like anything in life, you get what you pay for. I tell customers "it's low end to no end"
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Do I want fiberglass? I ASSumed that steel would be a stouter door, no?

I guess I'm going to have to actually go to a home store and interact with "door people." :rolleyes:

I configured a fiberglass Therma Tru door pretty close to what I want on doormoore.com, I know Therma Tru is carried at Lowe's too.
 
2big bronco said:
They arnt "affordable" and I swear they design the "base model" ass backwards so that they can upcharge for every little detail you want changed.
really the design people in the door department are pretty good at what they do and will sit down with you for free and be able to go through all the options and you will be able to see what every change looks like. I'd start there to really get it figured out and then take your quote and design elsewhere if you want.
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That's my understanding as well.


The inexpensive 'door' version is the sliding glass door.

The french doors are doors of higher standards.
 
If there is any part of my house I don't go "cheap" on it's exterior doors. That said, if you want inexpensive, watch 2nd hand sources and get something that is well made and close to what you want and just frame to fit it.

If you want a decent site to price stuff, I've found uberdoors.com to be pretty decent. If you can pick it up, they are priced OK, bu their shipping is silly.
 
junkytj said:
If there is any part of my house I don't go "cheap" on it's exterior doors. That said, if you want inexpensive, watch 2nd hand sources and get something that is well made and close to what you want and just frame to fit it.

If you want a decent site to price stuff, I've found uberdoors.com to be pretty decent. If you can pick it up, they are priced OK, bu their shipping is silly.
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Building a metal building, so I need all of the rough opening sizes when ordering the building, not likely to find a used/surplus door exactly the size I need in this scenario. Mostly the reason I was asking if there are standard rough opening sizes in the OP.
 
Don’t do steel.

I build the exact doors your looking at for a living (we are wholesale, supply pre-hung exterior doors to door/window shops, local lumber yards, and HD/Lowe’s in our area)

Steel sucks. It’ll dent if you look at it wrong, it will rust out on the bottom edge and around your knob and dead bolt, and even with the insulation between the interior/exterior, they still transfer more cold and heat.

At at least with the Therma Tru brand, the fiberglass doors have double the warranty length, for a reason. They are a longer lasting door, and will be just as sturdy as the steel door, for not much more price wise. Only reason I would ever go with steel is if you need more than a 20 minute fire rating.

Rough opening size will depend on the door. New construction rough opening height will be 81 5/8”-82” (depending on manufacturer) for a standard 6’ 8” door. Your widths will depend on slab width 3/0, 2/8, 2/6, etc, and the number and size of your sidelites.

Whatever size your dooor is, and 1/2” to the height, and 1/2” on each side of the door for your rough opening.
 
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jeeptj19992001 said:
typical.....i want the best, but don't what to pay the price.
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Hi, thanks for contributing, you've set me straight, I'll go buy the $8K door right away, thanks for showing me the light!

Read the OP again, or more likely for the first time, "I'm not looking for anything special."
 
cannot price doors
on line
too many variables
jamb depth
jamb thickness
jamb material oak or pine
primed
sill type
door insulation type
pre drilled?
hardware set up?
mortise or cylindrical
hinge type, plain ball bearing
hinge material and finish
exterior casing? none, brick molding? flat stock?


all goes into pricing of pre hung door

rough opening size
frame witdth plus 1/2"
height can very due to sill and jamb thickness.
 
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Lee said:
I'm not looking for anything special, Lowe's Benchmark doors are close to what I'm looking for are ~$2K so call that the threshold. I've seen $8-10K doors, in my research, I can't figure out why they cost that much, I'm obviously not their market demographic.

I built the ideal door on Menard's website, the closest Menard's is 2+ hours away, but they seem to have more/better options than the big box stores around here. With the current coupon it's a $2,500 door.
Click to expand...

i am confused. lowes has almost what you want for $2k, menards has your perfect door for $2500 and you are still looking for cheaper?
 
Others have already said it, steel sucks. Therma Tru sucks too. Jeld Wen fiberglass is the way to go.
 
mobil1syn said:
i am confused.
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Me too, that's why I'm asking.

I didn't know I didn't want a steel door before about 6 hours ago.

Lowe's swing the wrong way & Mendards are steel...

So I'm looking for other options, and I know diddly about doors, that's why I'm asking.
 
smracing said:
Others have already said it, steel sucks. Therma Tru sucks too. Jeld Wen fiberglass is the way to go.
Click to expand...

I contacted them, their website only shows wood for "dual swing patio doors," but they have a lot of fiberglass options at Lowe's.



Am I even dumber than I (and at least 2/3 of you reading this) already thought? Can I just add sidelights to a prehung French door, I was thinking that you wanted the doors & sidelights all as part of one assembly.
 
You can add sidelites to any door, either built as one unit, or with the sidelites built separately (boxed system) and attached to the patio/French door to make one unit. All depends on who builds it.

Boxed systems are easier to build and transport, you move the pieces separately, and assemble at the job site. You can also build wider units by adding spacers between the units if your hole is on the big side.

Continuous (built all as one unit) units are stronger and easier to get hung correctly, but are a bigger pain to transport, and your unit widths are more limited compared to the box system. Depending on who builds it, they may build both styles, or only the boxed system.
 
mobil1syn said:
if it is not at a big box store, by definition what you want is special.
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Maybe, Jeld-Wen was pretty quick to response, I may be able to get what I want from Lowe's after all, though "special order," so you're right, I guess it is special.

I know a lot more now, than I did this time yesterday though.
 
Lee said:
Maybe, Jeld-Wen was pretty quick to response, I may be able to get what I want from Lowe's after all, though "special order," so you're right, I guess it is special.

I know a lot more now, than I did this time yesterday though.
Click to expand...

seems like awfully fancy doors for a metal building.
 
Thanks for the Jeld Wen comment smracing their area rep has been a lot of help so far.

Crankylove said:
You can add sidelites to any door, either built as one unit, or with the sidelites built separately (boxed system) and attached to the patio/French door to make one unit. All depends on who builds it.

Boxed systems are easier to build and transport, you move the pieces separately, and assemble at the job site. You can also build wider units by adding spacers between the units if your hole is on the big side.

Continuous (built all as one unit) units are stronger and easier to get hung correctly, but are a bigger pain to transport, and your unit widths are more limited compared to the box system. Depending on who builds it, they may build both styles, or only the boxed system.
Click to expand...

The Jen-Weld guy is recommending separate doors and sidelights because according to him, it's easier to get the door square and then add the sidelights too it. He mentioned being able to space them out too.
 
Doors are expensive. I suggest you go to a building supply store. I like Marvin and Anderson. Don’t get knock off no name doors or windows. Small Door and window companies are notorious for going out of business thus making the warranty junk and no parts available. They will also change their name, brand, and ownership often the kill the warranties.

most French doors leak air. It’s a design hard to get so right you won’t have leakage.
 
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