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Q.
I would like to put French doors onto a second floor deck in a barn that I am
building. The doors will be set back 10 ft from the end of the gambrel roof and
the deck isn’t accessible from the ground, thus, neither direct weather or
security are big issues. Although we are planning to heat the upstairs studio
in the barn, it will only be heated during cold weather when we are there so
the doors don’t really “have” to be high R rating. Due to the metal gambrel
roof with minimal piercings for windows we would like the doors to be mostly
glass for light. Further, if at all possible, we would like some minimal amount
of carving in the glass for the special artistic “feel” this gives. We find we
can purchase such doors from mainstream outlets, but only for a few $1000. Is
there a less expensive way to go? What would you suggest? For instance, are
there places that make simple French door frames and drop in beveled glass?
P.S. We found storm doors at Home Depot that have exactly the type of glass we
would like – but they are storm doors. I have toyed with the idea of purchasing
two and dropping the glass into hand made frames … I dunno.
A.
You don't say if you
are thinking that each door will have one lite (glass panel) or multiple lites
(for example a 15 lite door would have 5 rows of 3 lites each). When people
talk about "French doors" they are frequently thinking of a pair of multi-lite
doors, but you could also be thinking of a pair of single lite (frequently
referred to as "Store") doors. Either way, this information should be
applicable.
Exterior doors are normally 1-3/4" thick and interior doors are normally 1-3/8"
thick. Other than that there is not a lot of difference between the two, so you
could use interior doors on this protected deck location. That would make the
doors a little less expensive and they would come with single pane glass. You
would pay a bit more for a slightly custom jamb set that would fit in an
exterior wall and have weather-stripping.
However, I think that your best bet would be to contact a door retailer (here
in Seattle I would recommend The Door Store, a.k.a. Frank Lumber, in North
City). You should be able to purchase door blanks...doors built for glass but
with no glass installed. You can then buy the glass of your choice, flat,
beveled, etched, colored or whatever and simply stop it in. You will want to be
sure to get tempered glass and set it in a bead of caulk so that the door does
not rattle or cause drafts. I purchased my glass from Courtesy Glass in
Woodinville, WA. I'm not sure if they cater to the general public or just
contractors, but any glass company can provide you with a wide selection of
glass in any size including beveled glass with your choice of bevel dimension.
The glass is cut and tempered by others so you get to pay the retail mark up so
you may want to shop around.
You can always have the door outlet pre-hang the door (I always had this done)
and they could purchase and install the glass as well, although you may prefer
to handle that part yourself. If the doors are going to swing out, you would
normally have at least two of the hinges on each door (three hinges are
standard on an exterior door) be N.R.P. (Non-Removable Pin and sometimes called
"nerp") hinges. This type of hinge has a set screw that can only be accessed
when the door is open. The set screw fits into the side of the hinge pin so
that it cannot be removed allowing the bad guys to come in and rip you off.
Finally, don't forget to seal all the surfaces of the door including the top and
bottom. This should be done as soon as you get the door. A door should be a
perfectly flat planer object, but the nature of wood makes it hard to keep it
that way. Wood will always take on moisture if it is present and give it off if
the air is dryer than the door. Thus, a door with one surface exposed to the
exterior air and the other surface exposed to interior air is subject to wide
variations in ambient moisture level.
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