Need advice

[irislake]

A fairly hard-up senior with children who disagree with some decisions. I want to replace four sets of French doors in my house with patio doors. My house is small but high-quality log house.

I want wooden patio doors which are much more expensive than vinyl. (But I do have the money thanks to inheriting some from an elderly cousin.) Researching online cannot get much information on relative merits of wood vs vinyl. Some sites recommend fiberglass. Would appreciate any advice.

Help! Need amo against my kids!

[notadmblnd]

1. Wood if it is exposed to the elements, will eventually rot. Vinyl tends to get brittle and crack

if your budget is big, I'd check out the fiberglass. I would think they could make it in a wood finish for you.

[irislake]

5. Going to research fiberglass.

I wish I knew of some good websites where you could get unbiased information about this sort of thing.

[tularetom]

2. We're in a 98 year old farmhouse

We've lived here since 1988 and we're on our 3rd set of patio doors. When we moved in we had an ugly aluminum slider that somebody had installed in the 60's. As soon as we could afford it we replaced it with wood framed french door. It was never satisfactory, it weathered quickly and had to be refinished every couple of years. Plus it absorbed moisture and stuck frequently and you had to force it open. About five years ago I got so pissed I ripped it out and replaced it with a vinyl door and we've had no trouble with it at all. It cost a bundle because I paid extra to have it colored to match the trim on the rest of the house.

Probably not what you wanted to hear but that's my experience.

[irislake]

3. Eeeek!

No. My French doors are wood and the two downstairs doors did rot and warp. Maybe because the storm doors had broken and cracked windows and snow drifted between the doors and piled up. However the two sets of upstairs French doors are fine except that they were not energy efficient and in winter cold comes off them. In addition in summer I cannot slide French doors open and enjoy screen, but have cumbersome doors opening into the room. What was I thinking when I built, not to have had patio doors to begin with? I could have bought patio doors that are made to look like French windows.

I am considering researching the fiberglass option now.

I didn't realize you could have vinyl coloured. That is another aspect that was worrying me. My one daughter, who agrees with me about wood said all vinyl doors are dead white and cannot be painted.

[tularetom]

6. Colored vinyl windows and sliders are widely available now

That wasn't the case when I put mine in (I believe it was 2005 or 06). I looked for some sort of product identification on the door but I couldn't find it.

Fiberglass doors are an excellent option. I wasn't aware that sliding doors were available when I put the vinyl door in or I would have seriously considered it. Not sure about the range of colors that might be available but fiberglass can easily be painted.

[s-cubed]

4. Strongly recommend fiberglass doors.

One reason has to do with heat expansion : vinyl expands and contracts a lot. Fiberglass is very similar to the glass panes in expansion, very little, so leaks don't tend to develop.
Fiberglass will last a lot longer than wooden, and look a lot better than vinyl.
You'll get better seals with swinging doors than with sliders.
We put in fiberglass windows years ago and have been very pleased. Two are very large, one facing west and the other east, so both get a lot of heat from the sun. They look brand new, and open and close very easily. (casements).

On edit: you can get wooden doors which have a cladding on the outside so you don't have wood exposed to the elements, and still have wood inside.
Also, you have more color choice with fiberglass and cladding than with vinyl.

[irislake]

7. Thanks all

very helpful advice. Going to check out the fiberglass options.