Roofing & Exterior
The Wide Open Door — Set to Swing True and Seal Tight
French and hinged patio doors for the room that opens to the yard: real swing, real weather sealing, sill-panned and flashed against the Northwest rain that finds every tired threshold.
Free inspection & photo report · Fixed, line-item bids· Written workmanship warranty
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- Licensed & bonded in WA, OR & ID
- Written workmanship warranty
Signs to watch
Is this you?
You want the opening a slider can't give
A pair of French doors opens the whole wall to the deck. Where a slider always keeps half the opening glass, hinged doors swing clear — the reason people choose them despite needing the room to swing.
The doors drag, drop, or won't meet in the middle
A French pair that no longer closes flush is usually sagging on its hinges or racked in a settled frame. When the two slabs don't meet, the weatherstripping can't seal and the latch can't catch.
Water or draft at the threshold
Swinging doors live and die at the sill. If you feel air or see staining at the bottom, the sill pan or threshold sweep is done — and in the PNW that means water is already working behind the frame.
You want light and a view without a fixed wall
Hinged patio doors bring in glass and daylight where a window plus a wall used to be, and open the house to the outside on the ten good weekends. It's an architectural change, not just a replacement.
Your options
Doors chosen to swing true and keep the weather out
Fiberglass and clad-wood French and hinged patio doors that hold their finish and don't warp in wet-dry swings, in single, double (a true French pair), and single-with-sidelite configurations. Inswing or outswing depending on your swing clearance and how the weather hits the wall. Under the look, the part that actually keeps water and intruders out: a proper sill pan, correct threshold and flashing detail, multi-point locking hardware that pulls the slab tight at top, middle, and bottom, and retractable or hinged screens where you want airflow without the bugs. We plan the swing to your room before we order anything — a door that hits the furniture or the deck rail is a design mistake, not a surprise.
The method
How we do it
- 01
Measure, spec, and plan the swing
Every opening measured, inswing versus outswing decided against your furniture and deck clearance, threshold and weather exposure checked, and the door ordered to fit — not shimmed to fit.
- 02
Install, sill-pan, flash, and seal
Old unit out, opening inspected for rot, new door set plumb and square on a sill pan, flashed and integrated with the siding, then insulated and sealed around the frame.
- 03
Operation and security walkthrough
We swing, close, latch, and lock every door with you — the pair meeting flush, the multi-point hardware engaging clean, the weatherstrip sealing all the way around before we sign off.
Straight numbers
Door pricing without the pressure
Cost tracks the door type and package — a single hinged patio door sits well below a wide double-French system with sidelites, upgraded glass, and premium hardware. What moves the number: fiberglass versus clad wood, glass and screen packages, size and configuration, and whether we find rot in the opening once the old unit is out. Fixed bids in writing, and we flag any rot up front so it isn't a mid-install surprise.
Where we do this work
French & Hinged Patio Doors: straight answers
French doors or a sliding patio door?
French and hinged doors open the full width and read more traditional, but they need room to swing — clear it against your furniture inside and your deck rail outside. Sliders save that space and seal well with quality rollers. Both keep the rain out when they're sill-panned and flashed right, so the real choice is swing room and style, not weather performance.
Inswing or outswing for the Northwest?
It depends on your space and exposure. Outswing frees interior floor space and can shed water well, but needs clear deck room and hinges suited to being outside. Inswing keeps hardware protected and is common on covered patios. We'll look at how the weather hits that wall and how you use the room, and recommend the one that seals and swings best for your opening.
Do French doors leak more than a slider?
Not when they're installed right. A hinged pair has a center meeting point and a threshold that both have to seal, so the install matters — a proper sill pan, correct flashing, and multi-point hardware that pulls the slabs tight. Done that way they seal as well as any slider. A leak at a French door is almost always an install shortcut, not the door type.
Can French patio doors be secure?
Yes, when the whole assembly is built for it. Multi-point locking hardware engages the frame at several points instead of one latch, a properly anchored frame resists racking, and laminated or tempered glass options add resistance. Any door with glass has limits — we'll be straight about those — but a properly installed multi-point French pair is far tougher to force than an old single-latch door in a worn jamb.
Get the french & hinged patio doors conversation started.
Free 20-minute inspection. Photo report you keep either way. Zero pressure.