Best Patio Door Manufacturer

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Pmayer

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I am starting to do some research on patio doors, and plan to replace ours either this fall or next spring. Any suggestions as to which manufactures make the best patio door? Any that you would suggest that I avoid? Being in MN, Anderson is pretty prevalent, and the prices seems reasonable, but it's hard to tell which ones are best by just looking at a display, so I'd appreciate recommendations.

Thanks!

Paul
 

Jadnashua

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Been watching this to see if someone might respond...I don't see enough different ones to be able to pick a best. But, are you talking about a slider, French doors, or what? Lots of different things could be used to a patio.

Maybe the first thing to consider is what material are you interested in. Doors these days can be made in lots of different ways with different materials. You have solid wood, wood with a veneer, vinyl clad, aluminum clad, solid vinyl, solid aluminum, and fiberglass. Fiberglass can come with a gell coat on the outside (should be nearly maintenance free), or with a wood look on the inside (and maybe the outside). Long-term reliability on any door that contains glass is the relative thermal expansion characteristics of the material holding them and their stiffness. Most all doors come with inert gas filled, low-e glass (often filled with argon). If the seals fail, you lose most of their insulation capacity and often they can fog up. As a result, one of the considerations is stiffness and the relative expansion/contraction rates of the glass verses the material used to hold them in place. If they both don't expand and contract at close to equal rates, or are not very stiff, you can lose the seal and glass replacement can get expensive. Of the materials available, doors (and windows) made of fiberglass are often the strongest, and fiberglass has the closest thermal expansion characteristics of the glass panels themselves. So, from that viewpoint, those are best. But, it's attention to details that can make all of the difference ultimately along with the quality of the installation (proper plumb, good flashing, proper sizing, etc.). Whether the door will have some weather protection, and the look you are trying to achieve on both the outside and inside all will play into what you ultimately choose.

When I replaced the slider to my deck, I chose a fiberglass unit from Marvin, but I didn't do a huge amount of research. That one was recommended in a few articles I read, but that was awhile ago, and things are not static...things change all of the time.
 

Pmayer

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Thank you, Jim. This is great info. I should have been more clear in my request: I was looking for a sliding door. I ended up getting a jeld-wen, wooden with vinyl clad exterior. Seemed to be well made. We'll see. :)
 

kenny55

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I am starting to do some research on patio doors, and plan to replace ours either this fall or next spring. Any suggestions as to which manufactures make the best patio door? Any that you would suggest that I avoid? Being in MN, Anderson is pretty prevalent, and the prices seems reasonable, but it's hard to tell which ones are best by just looking at a display, so I'd appreciate recommendations.

Thanks!

Paul

Patio doors are the best I would agree. I would make sure to shop around. I got mine from Conservation Construction of Dallas, but since you are not there, not only compare prices but compare quality and what the patio doors will provide as far as temperature control, ease of operation and energy efficiency. All are good things to look at when searching for a new patio door. Although French doors I think are more beautiful they are not as practical for most home because they take up a lot of space.
 
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