Build a Custom Door

By Larry Walton

Build a custom door unit with transom and sidelite windows.

When Chris Williford first talked to me about her patio doors, her primary concern was that the large, sliding glass door was hard to operate. It’s really not much wonder that this overgrown vinyl window was a brute to open or close. For starters, it was an 8-by-8-foot unit, which means the active half was two 4-by-8 sheets of tempered glass … In other words, heavy.

Sliding glass doors are often made by window manufacturers who apply the same design features to their patio doors that they use on their windows, and there are some advantages including price and weather-tightness.

The disadvantages, however, are functions of size and weight. While the vinyl frames can be made a little sturdier than those used in most windows, it usually doesn’t make up for flex in the door edges and the sheer weight, which contributes to difficult operation.

Home improvement solutions often require a fresh look. In this case, we asked the question, “What do you have if you take out the slider?” Answer: An 8 foot by 8 foot rough opening. Now the question becomes, “With what can we fill that hole? Does it have to be a slider? Can we put in double doors or a single swinging door? What can we use to cover the surrounding area?”

A set of French doors was Chris’ first thought. But a pair of 8-by-8-footFrench doors alone would be large, expensive and out of place. So we started sketching possible combinations of doors and windows. We considered a smaller slider, which would address both the weight and weather-resistance issues. But Chris had her heart set on swinging French doors.

After a few combinations, we came up with a pair of 5^-by-6-foot-8-inchFrench doors with a sidelite window along the inactive side, and a transom along the top. This maintained the large window areas the Willifords were used to, it provided the desired French doors, and it allowed for a screened window opening for cross ventilation in the room.

The cool thing about a window/door combination like this is that you can combine a number of elements, often using off-the-shelf components, and build a very attractive wall section or doors and windows that when trimmed look like a single unit.

The same concept can be applied to a single entry door with a sidelite window or a living room wall with windows that can be grouped together and trimmed as a unit.

Here’s how we replaced an unwieldy vinyl patio door with a French door, transom and sidelite combination.

Next, remove the screen door.

We started by cutting the caulking around the exterior trim with a utility knife. This project required no changes to the lap siding, so we did not want to damage it. Failure to cut the caulking will damage the siding when the trim is removed.

We removed the active side of the door by lifting and swinging the bottom out of the track and moving it away from the project.