We are looking to add some french doors to an opening. The contractor that gave us a quote said "Do NOT get them from Lowes or Home Depot as they are crap" Get them from our local lumber dealer or another local company X&Y doors.
Is he saying this because it's true or that he may have some connection to the local dealers? I understand it's good to support local business but when the price is almost double that speaks volumes.

So are doors from Lowes or HD fine to use? These doors will be interior with very limited use, mostly left open all the time.
Thanks

 

Well...some places actually make their own doors...others may get them off the same truck that delivers to the Big Box stores. I've seen the inside of the delivery trucks and spoken to the drivers and they may have a delivery for HD in the back..then Lowes next..then 84 lumber...then X&Y. These would just be stock basic doors...not custom stuff..though it applied to the Boxes for custom. Same exact door...diffent labels.

Are you talking about actual wood interior french doors with glass? Will they be stained or painted? Fancy wood or just pine?

Now...are you providing material or are you just paying for it? One way to look at it is..if there is a problem with the install of the doors..you know he will say " I told you not to get the cheaper ones"! and walk away.

 

The doors at Home Depot or Lowes are just as good as any lumber yard doors. Now, saying this, let me go another step further. Lowes and Home Depot and others are just retailers. Just like a grocery store carries many different brands of food they are the same but with building materials. There are many grades of doors. Your french doors can range from $600 to $1800 depending on which one you choose. I buy doors for customers at big box stores all the time. However, I tell them to never buy the cheap ones. For instance in the range I gave you, I would expect to pay about $900 to $1100 for a good set of french doors. These are good quality in looks and construction and last for years. Now for your contractor to tell you not to buy there was not a good thing. I would maybe be leary of his advice. Good Luck

 

Or he gets a kick back or he has had trouble picking them up from BigBox. The latter may be the case. Never picked up an order where the customer paid in advance that went smoothly. Having worked BigBox that is not totally unexpected. One problem is if it is in the overhead. Trying to find someone with store certification to operate the equipment can be difficult, then you need to find gates, the gates could all be in use or just vanished. Then you need flaggers. By now the equipment operator has vanished and by the time you find him one are more of the gated may be gone....

 

Yes wood or fiberglass depends on the availability of material at the size we need, (48" double door.) It will be glass double pane. Needs to be 2xpane to suppress noise. Going to be a workout room or theater entertainment room at some point. There is some framing and sheetrock work to be done. I found some really nice doors at Lowes with reed glass

that I really like. I'm not sure yet if they will be painted or not. Either way I will paint them all white.

 

48" is probably going to be wood...can't say I've ever seen FG interior. Good luck on the double pane...can't say I've ever seen it in an interior set. Now...if you want to use an exterior patio French door...like a JeldWen or Andersen...I think they come in 4 footers or about 4 foot. Andersen does have fancy glass like you showed...but you'll be looking at probably $1600-2000 for it.

I've seen the reed glass on regular interior doors..but it's wasn't double pane.

 

Is it two 48" doors? or two 24" doors for a 48" total?

 

My question, too, Marksr. Also, if you do decide to use exterior doors, you will need to remove the threshold, as it will look goofy in an interior setup. OK, I'll wait 16 seconds.

 

reed glass does not come double pane. It's 2-24" doors total opening 48" I have 52 1/2" clearance to work with. So if the reed glass is not going to work we planned on doing exterior doors and yes removing the threshold.

 

I'm not sure you can get an exterior door in a 24" width, maybe custom order

 

Irrespective of where they were obtained, I frequently discover leaking "contractor" or "value" grade door assemblies:



most often the cause is low quality, poorly designed, misaligned and/or damages door gaskets:



and while immediate cause of these leaks are often "installation errors", IMO the underlying causes are often designs which are prone to such problems.

And some of the worst offenders are well known and widely distributed brands.

 

bob,
"Crap" is a matter of perspective.
"So are doors from Lowes or HD fine to use?" Yes, depending upon the application. With the little bit of info you provided for your application, go with it.

Michael,

"And some of the worst offenders are well known and widely distributed brands. "

I will agree with that, Pella, Anderson, etc.. Windows and doors all have close to the same R value, next to nothing and they are usually installed way wrong.

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be. Window and door replacement is not a cost effective method off improving the home's comfort or efficiently level in most cases.

Your picture of that IR reading on the doors is normal, What is your recommended improvement? It was not installed correctly. How would you fix it?
You will see that IR image from any door installed the same way.

 

Good advice, all. I have one question regarding adjustable thresholds. Why do they use rustable screws in the threshold? I have NEVER been able to adjust all the screws due to moisture damage to the screw or receiver. I would be willing to pay more for stainless hardware in order to be able to adjust for air leakage.

 

I probably should have captioned that better: that's not cool air infiltrating at the door (the images were taken on a summer day), that's water wicked into the carpeting (observed during a spray test and verify by direct moisture measurement) due to water infiltration at the damaged gasket shown in the second picture, and flowing along the interior top surface of the doorsill (much more likely on French than on sliding doors).

In my experience some gasket designs are more prone to this type of damage than others, and some sill designs are more likely to correctly drain such water intrusion to the exterior than others.

A lot of these problems are due to "installation errors", but clearly some designs are better at preventing and surviving such defects.

Of course, it's impossible to "idiot proof" anything (the opposition just keeps building better idiots), but to some extent that's what the designers of the better performing French doors are doing.

 

"I probably should have captioned that better:"
Why bother, most would not understand it. I did assume it was a cold weather IR pic, didn't even think you were going the moisture route.
That is interesting and I would still lean towards piss poor install. I do believe a $100 window/door installed correctly is way more efficient then a $800-2500 window/door installed incorrectly.

I have always had trouble with the written word, there is no way to really convey what it is you are trying to saying.
That may explain why I am not welcome on many forums.

If you have the time I would be interested to hear what you have found out about sill and gasket design.

"(the opposition just keeps building better idiots)"
I am still rolling with laughter on that, if you don't claim that term I will.

Chandler, "Why do they use rustable screws in the threshold?"
Money and job production.
The manufacturer knows they are producing a product that will only last so many yrs. Come on get with the program of replacing all the stuff every 3-5 yrs. That's what allows the Chinese to continue there march to world domination.