Learn how to do an easy patio door replacement with this tutorial. From measuring your opening, to ordering and installing your new doors.
Our rear double patio doors had been in rough shape since we moved into our home 3 years ago. The doors let in a draft, didn't close great, were restricted by the new interior flooring, had rotten areas, and the finish had seen better days. It had been on our to do list for a while but this summer we finally bit the bullet and decided to replace them. The original doors were actually bought used and installed by my parents when building the home over 17 years ago so they definitely got there money out of them!
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The photo above is the doors that are going to be replaced (before we painted the exterior). There are several reasons, that we wanted to change the French doors. You can see how much rot there was in the bottom of the doors, even before we ripped all the way into them. These doors actually swing into the the house ("in-swing") and we loved the idea of having out-swing doors instead. The doors also had a decorative trim inside the glass, which we never loved. And finally, after replacing the flooring inside the house the door on the left couldn't actually open anymore! The new flooring was 15mm thick compared to the old 8mm thick flooring and it blocked one of the doors.
We were beyond excited when the opportunity came up to partner with Complete the same measurement from the top of your sub floor (where your door will sit on) and to the bottom of the horizontal header and again record it. These measurements will give you the rough opening for the size your patio door can fit in. Next is to measure the thickness of your wall. Again with your moulding off you can measure the distance from the face of your drywall to the outside face of your exterior sheeting of your home (not to your siding). I was able to measure the existing door casing width but you cold also use a small rod or paint stick and push it up against the existing brick moulding (in between the door frame and house stud) and measure the width that way. Our measurement was 8 ½" which made sense as we had: With all these measurements you can go to your local hardware store and order/pickup your new door. We had to order a custom door due to our jam width being uncommon (due to 2x8 framing) but you might get lucky and be able to pick a door right from the store. You are going to want your door to be slightly smaller than your rough opening to allow for shimming to level/square the frame to ensure for smooth door operation. When it comes to picking up your new replacement patio door your are going to have a bunch of options to choose from. First is the way the door swings. Whether your patio door swings in towards the interior (in swing)of the house or out towards the exterior space (out swing) will determine if you need a in swing or out swing door. There are pros and cons to both types. Our door was originally an in swing but we opted to change it to an out swing type door. Here are the pros and cons of both Pros Cons Pros Cons Once you have your new door you can start the process for the replacement of your new patio doors. I started by making sure all the moulding is removed to expose the entire door jam. Before you start you may want to check that everything looks ok on your door. Once we removed the plastic coverings on the new patio doors and took them off their pallet skid we noticed the bottom sill was 2 ½" short (missing one piece). This ended up causing us a 3 week delay before we had the right piece from the door manufacture and could install everything. With the new patio door replacement ready and all the moulding removed I than removed the old doors. With the doors off I took my sawzall with a bi-metal blade (so I could cut the screws holding the old door in place) and cut between the door jam and house studs/header. This allowed the old door frame to be removed from the house. With the old door frame off you are going to want to remove any old foam and/or screws and check for any issues within the rough opening. We found some rot in the section of wood the door was sitting on (under the sill) so we replaced this rotten board with a new piece of pressure treated wood. In the video below we show the full patio door replacement from start to finish, including measuring, removal, and installation. Don't forget to The first step I took to install the new double patio doors was to lay a couple beads of I took a level to ensure the door was sitting level/square and used Once I was happy with how the sitting I installed the new patio doors into the frame. I added holes in the bottom sill and top part of the frame for the door that is pinned closed and installed the door hardware. If you want to see a post/video of installing a door handle and deadbolt you can check out I added Now I added the bring moulding to the exterior and flat moulding (to match out existing trim) to the interior to finalize the installation of the door. I used Learn how to replace your exterior patio doors with this tutorial. From measuring your opening, to ordering and installing your new doors. We also transformed the entire exterior this summer, by 
Patio Door Options
In swing vs out swing
In Swing
Out Swing
Removing your old Patio Door
Replacing Your New Patio Doors
Video Tutorial of How to Replace Your Double Doors
Step 1 - Silicone:
Step 3: Level/SquareFrame
Step 4: Install Doors
Step 5: Add Moulding
Patio Door Replacement
Materials
Instructions
Regina
Wednesday 4th of May 2022
I like this guide! Yes, updating a patio door is a great way to give the area a new look, especially if the existing one is too small, outdated, or unsightly. The right patio door can upgrade the patio from a basic outdoor area to an extension of the home’s interior and help create a proper outdoor living space.