Entry & Patio Doors · Guelph
Entry and Patio Door Replacement in Guelph
A door is the one unit in the house that gets opened a few thousand times a year, so the hardware, the threshold and the way it was hung matter at least as much as what it looks like from the street.
Door problems in Guelph tend to be about air and water rather than looks. A front door that lets a draught under the sweep in January, a patio slider that has worn its track and needs a shoulder to close, a steel door rusting at the bottom where the paint failed, or a threshold that lets meltwater in during a February thaw. Replacing the door is the chance to fix the opening as well, and that is where the install earns its keep.
Entry doors: steel or fibreglass
- Steel is the lower cost, insulated, secure, and fine when it is kept painted. Its weakness is dents and rust at the bottom edge where salt and meltwater sit, which is a real issue on a north-facing door with no overhang.
- Fibreglass costs more, does not dent or rust, can be smooth or woodgrain-textured and stained to look like oak or fir, and holds up to the sun on a south- or west-facing entry better than steel holds paint. On an older brick or stone house where a wood door was original, a stained fibreglass door is the usual compromise between appearance and maintenance.
Sidelites and transoms change the opening size, and if the new entry system is wider or taller than the old one that is an enlargement, which the City of Guelph lists as needing a building permit. A straight swap of a slab and frame in the existing opening does not change the structure.
Patio doors: sliding or garden
A sliding door takes no floor space and gives the most glass, which is why nearly every 1990s and 2000s house in Kortright Hills and Westminster Woods has one off the kitchen. The good ones now have multi-point locks, stainless rollers and low-profile thresholds, and are a large step up from the builder-grade unit they replace. A garden door is a pair of hinged doors, one or both operable; it seals tighter because it closes against a stop like a casement window rather than sliding past a brush, and it suits an older house better. The trade-off is swing space inside or out.
Converting a window to a door
Dropping a window opening to the floor to get a patio door onto a deck is a common request on the south-end houses where the original plan had a window where the deck later went. It is an enlargement of the opening, so a permit is required, and in a brick veneer wall the cut edges have to be finished. It is a good job when it is planned as a structural one.
What a good door install looks like
The frame is set plumb and square so the slab closes with an even reveal all the way round, the sill is supported continuously and sealed to the subfloor so water cannot track under it, the gap is insulated, and the exterior is flashed and sealed to the wall rather than just caulked over. Then the hardware is adjusted. A door that needs a hip to close was hung wrong, not made wrong.
Frequently asked questions
Can you replace just the door slab and keep my frame?
Sometimes, if the frame is sound, square and the hinge positions match. Often the frame is the part that has rotted at the bottom or let water through at the sill, in which case a pre-hung unit in a new frame is the right job. We tell you which after looking.
Do I need a permit to replace a patio door?
Not for a like-for-like replacement in the same opening, which is not on the City of Guelph's list of permit-triggering work. Making the opening wider, or turning a window into a door, is an enlargement and does require a permit.
Is a sliding door less efficient than a garden door?
Generally a hinged door seals tighter than a slider because it closes against a stop rather than past a brush seal. Modern sliders have narrowed the gap considerably, and both are available as ENERGY STAR certified units; the frame style you want and the space you have usually decide it.
Serving Guelph and surrounding areas. Contact us for a no-obligation quote specific to your property.