Sliding Glass Door Install

She Says:

Once we got the walls down to the studs, we were ready to tackle our scariest job to date: the new door.  

Here is the before shot:

We're going to build a deck onto the back of the house, and so we decided to replace these windows with a sliding glass door.  The idea is to let more light into the kitchen as well as making the deck a more accessible living space.

I'm not going to admit that we got in over our heads on this one, because we installed it without a hitch.  But in hindsight, we definitely should have had another dude help us out with this one.  HoneyDo did most of the exterior work- pulling off the siding, removing the existing windows, and cutting the hole to the correct size.  Then we built and installed the header, which was very large and very heavy.  We put flashing around the entire opening,and were ready for the door.  

We'd had Lowe's deliver the door, and we'd even conned the delivery guys to bring it in the house, up the rickety door ramp, and into the Laundry Room, where it had been sitting for several days.  But now it was up to us to move it into position.  And it was up to me to hold it in position while HoneyDo screwed it in place.  

This door was HEAVY.  Like 300 pounds at least.  To complicate matters, there's a 3 foot drop from the floor of the kitchen to the ground, so if we were to drop it, it would be destroyed.  And we had custom ordered it and spent way more than we had originally budgeted, and we certainly couldn't afford to replace this one if we did drop it.  So no pressure here.

You can always tell how heart-in-the-throat a particular project was by the lack of photos.  There are *none* during the door installation.  It wasn't until after it was safely and completely installed that we stopped to take a photo:

But isn't it wonderful!  The built in shades between the glass work fabulously, too.

And here's a shot from outside.  Please make note of the 3 foot drop.  Whew.

He says:

The door is pretty awesome.  It's a Pella brand with all the options, so it was pricey, but after living with it for a while, it's totally worth it.  It is on the North side of the house, so it takes the brunt of winter storms and it doesn't leak or do anything scary.  It's heavy and feels like a bank vault door.  Love it.