Sliding patio door replacement (floor, vinyl, springs, Home Depot)
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Hi- We're gathering info on replacing our 51 YO ten foot wide sliding patio door plus another smaller, standard size sliding door in the MBR. We want a quality door and competent installation.
We had the Renewal by Andersen guy over and he left a quote for approx. $18,000 which was almost twice what we expected for the two doors.
After a phone consult with the local Milgard rep, we got a quote for about $3500, which is less than half what we expected for the two doors.
The Pella guy sent me an email with about 20 questions and told me to call him, even after I left my phone number in the original request.
So I'd like to hear about your experience and opinions of these brands, any other brands I'm missing or why the quotes are so far apart. I verified all the info and confirmed that the offerings are similar. Also would like info on dealing with Lowes or HD and the quality of their installation work. Thanks in advance for sharing!
Last question first, hire your own contractor. From hearing about various friends' personal experiences, the convoluted three-way business relationship between customer, retailer, and installer can be problematic if there are any issues with the installation. And installation is the most important part. I'll take the cheapest properly-installed vinyl door over a poorly-installed high-end door any day of the week and twice on Sunday. So hire your own guy, and get references from people who will let you look at similar jobs that he's done.
As to the doors, as a retailer I've sold both Andersen and Pella. Both make a good quality product. I avoided selling Andersen whenever possible because they can be hard to deal with, but as the end customer you won't have to deal with that end of it. I have no experience with Milgard. A company that I like who isn't as well knows is Sierra Pacific.
And I also prefer French doors, although I get that a swinging door won't work in all spaces that were designed around a sliding door.
Hi- We're gathering info on replacing our 51 YO ten foot wide sliding patio door plus another smaller, standard size sliding door in the MBR. We want a quality door and competent installation.
We had the Renewal by Andersen guy over and he left a quote for approx. $18,000 which was almost twice what we expected for the two doors.
After a phone consult with the local Milgard rep, we got a quote for about $3500, which is less than half what we expected for the two doors.
The Pella guy sent me an email with about 20 questions and told me to call him, even after I left my phone number in the original request.
So I'd like to hear about your experience and opinions of these brands, any other brands I'm missing or why the quotes are so far apart. I verified all the info and confirmed that the offerings are similar. Also would like info on dealing with Lowes or HD and the quality of their installation work. Thanks in advance for sharing!
Your estimates are all over the place because you're not consistent in what you're looking for and are getting estimates from people who think they know what you want to buy and definitely know what they want to sell. The one guy who is trying to determine what you actually want is the one you're ignoring.
Are the guys who gave you estimates telling you how they're going to fill in the extra space when the ten foot door comes out? Both inside and out? Is it the same for both or did one or both of them not consider it? What about the old door removal and that and debris disposal? I could continue but by now you should get the idea.
I'm with the guy above who would prefer French doors.
I went through this 4 years ago. We wanted to replace a failing slider with outward opening French doors to our patio.
We hired a contractor company with a billion positive reviews from Angie’s List.
End of the day - they were absolute idiots that couldn’t even measure the door properly, much less order the right sized door to their own improper measurements. Took them THREE attempts. Was going to cost roughly $3,500. I FIRED them after the 3rd attempt (and 4th month) and went to HD. They sent a guy who measured in 20 minutes, ordered a composite JelWenn door, installed it two weeks later, and it has been PERFECT ever since. $2,100 all-in.
On LowE glass - yes. BUT, do you have vinyl siding? LowE reflects the sunlight heat. If door is in a inside corner location and you have vinyl siding, that heat can reflect off the glass and onto the siding and warp it. It has for us which we’ve had to fix. But LowE is amazing! I can stand there with the hot summer sun beating through the window and feel no heat on the floor or on me. Same for the cold.
We like outward opening for a few reasons in that location. But the unknown at the time reason we’ve really come to love it - as the cold wind blows on it, it tightens up even more. The wind blows against it and therefore tightens up the seals.
It’s composite, will never rust or rot. Looks great, has handled 4 years of constant abuse, installed perfectly by one guy within an afternoon, and cost less than my initial approach.
I will never hire HD or Lowe's install services again. They hire subcontractors making it difficult to handle any problems or dissatisfaction. We recently replaced our windows and hired an independent window contractor (received recommendations, followed by interview) who both supplied and installed the windows - including a slider. We've been happy. Cannot remember the brand - none you listed though. If I recall our standard slider was approx $2800 installed. If we have a problem in the future, we know who to call - no discerning whether it's a product issue or an install issue.
The one guy who is trying to determine what you actually want is the one you're ignoring.
Thanks for your message. I called Pella yesterday, the guy was out to lunch, left message for calback. No return call yet.
All quoted doors should exactly fill the space. Simple design, all the same material, basic colors and hardware.
Andersen senior salesman coming over tomorrow to see if they can get the price down. I like their quality, but there's a 4x difference in price amongst all of them which I do not understand.
I have used Lowe's for a couple of small projects around the house, including the replacement of a back door. I do think they are a little more expensive for labor than contractors, but if you want that savings then you have to find a good contractor. They came out and did the work with no problems, though on one job we had a disagreement about city code compliance. I got ahold of a manager at Lowe's and it was solved in a few minutes (I was right).
Where I live, those Andersen window guys come out about once a month; we stopped answering the door. They also send flyers. The few neighbors that have had new windows installed seem to use local companies rather than national companies.
Just make sure whatever you do, you have a written scope of work with a written quote by a licensed contractor.
To put things in perspective, we had all the windows and two patio sliders (one large and one standard) in our 4/2 home replaced with PGT hurricane-rated windows and sliders for $25,000. The $18,000 for two sliders seems really high.
We did it through Home Depot. Never again! The installation itself went very smoothly but there were a few issues at completion that needed to be resolved (damaged parts, missing screen door, adjustments to springs) and it took them 9 months. It took that long because they do not have an effective system in place for logging and following up on what needs to be done. Every call to the 800 number they provided was like "Ground Hog Day" and we'd start from the beginning, more promises would be made, parts needed to be ordered (again) zero followup until I called again. I finally sent them a 30 day notice of defects required before you sue that got their attention, but even then I had to be fairly aggressive with them to the bitter end.
I was told repeatedly by various sub-contractors that I dealt with during the above that this would not have happened with Lowes. So, when we recently replaced the front door, I used them. They are much better communicators and trackers. If I called or stopped by to ask for a status update any person could look on our order history and tell me the latest information. The door was customized and the manufacturer had a delay in delivering it but Lowes was on top of it. I would use them again if needed.
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