french doors or sliding doors

[Cruising Engineer]

We have the Pella sliding french doors, still working great after 14 years of use. Like the PP said, what is the cause of the leakage? If they only leak when it's raining and a 40 mph wind blowing the rain under the door, then it's probably the door threshold or door seals. Otherwise, look for drainage issues.

 

[Shughart]

LOL, 9 years later?

 

[Deb & Bill]

LOL, 9 years later?

Yikes, I didn't even notice that when I responded. Duh.

 

[Pooh2]

We had water leaking under our old sliders.
We had the damaged repaired and replaced with French doors. They've held up great for 20 years, no issues with opening like the sliders and no issues with broken seals/foggy windows.

 

[DisArmyWife215]

I would never want a sliding door. I think they are hard to open. And I'm not "sold" on their security. While I realize you can put the stick into the other track - then it is a pain each and every time the door needs to be opened. OUr dog goes in and out of our french doors. So our doors are used a lot.

As far as quality - regardless of your decision, get a good quality set of doors.

I agree quality is key. Our original contractor grade sliding doors leaked basically from the get go. We replaced with custom sliding doors that have the look of French doors. Ours have 3 interior bolts that lock into the metal frame at high, mid and low spots. Very secure! I would have loved French doors but it just wasn't an option with where our doors lined up to our kitchen table. I think you'll be good either way as long as the framing is sound and the door is installed properly.

 

[seashoreCM]

It is important that water not collect in the threshold or bottom track. Otherwise you are sure to have water leakage problems.

Caulk at the corners may help keep the wood door jambs from remaining wet and rotting.

In severe cases it may be necessary to rebuild the threshold or track.

 

[Anthony1971]

It comes down to $$$$ and more important installed correctly. A sliding door that is low end or high end that is not perfectly level will never work right and will leak. A french door has a bit more room for OK installation but will still have issues. I can tell you Pella that is stocked at Lowes is no better than anything else. Buy a custom door by Pella, Anderson or Jeldwen. Jeldwen is very expensive but worth the extra cost... I have a 3/4 glass custom Jeldwen that is FAR better in all aspects than the maybe 1/8 window Pella door i have and the Jeldwen faces North which makes a huge differnce on a cold winter day. I am persoannly not a fan of Anderson I have some Anderson windows and they are not that great... They are good for a larger window because they are in the end wood and will be stronger but they just don't seal as well as other designs. MOST important is the install on any Door or window..... a 500 door will do far better than 10,000 door installed wrong.

 

[piccolopat]

We have two sets of Andersen sliding doors that were installed when we had this house built 30 years ago. We love the doors and would use them again. My mom had French doors and even replaced the first set with a better brand but both leaked air and the sills rotted. We hated them and the space it took to open them.