<p>Thought I would see if anyone had any opinions on patio doors. We currently have a French door that has one door that opens. It needs to be replaced and I was wondering about the type of French doors where they both open. Any pros or cons? How does a screen door work with these?</p>
<p>I just had a 5 foot french door put in the back wall of my kitchen, replacing a window and single door. Best idea I ever had. The doors open in all the way back to the wall, and the screen doors open out. It looks so bright and welcoming.</p>
<p>My dream patio door:</p>
<p>[Glass</a> Door & Glass Wall Systems | NanaWall](<a href=“http://www.nanawall.com/]Glass”>http://www.nanawall.com/)</p>
<p>We have heavy duty, wood frame sliders (the wood frame is quite wide compared to classic sliding doors). I love them, they replace classic French type doors and solid windows. We have screens that slide as well, so no worries or issues with doors swinging in or out and clearance for such. (Weird house with many such doors, this solution gave us screens and the ability to open “windows” since lots of the windows were actually doors…like I said, weird house.)</p>
<p>My nephew and wife have something like those “Nana” doors. Sort of accordion-fold, and basically the entire wall is glass and can open up to the outdoors. Very cool.</p>
<p>One disadvantage of French doors is that, if they open to the inside, you need to keep the area free of furniture, and you need to be careful that they don’t bump anything hanging on the walls when they are completely open.</p>
<p>But for the right spot, they’re great.</p>
<p>We have a pair of French doors in our dining room. The opening is only 4’ wide. They open in and don’t get in the way much. They are supposed to have screens that open out, but the wrong size got ordered and ten years later I still haven’t done anything about it. I find the small door is fine for everyday (it opens on our driveway), but that it’s really useful to open the other leaf when we have something large to bring in. It’s very airtight and has held up well. It’s an Andersen and it’s been in the house since Jan 2000.</p>
<p>We have an Anderson sliding frenchwood door. Honestly, it looks like a French door but it’s a slider, because of the location, having doors opening I to the room would not have worked. We love this slider…and it’s actually the second house we have had one in.</p>
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<p>We have a double french door that has a screen called Phantom Screen. It “disappears” on both sides when it is open and latches in the middle in the middle of the two-door opening when the screen is closed and in use. It is a wonderful system albeit somewhat pricey. My Phantom screens cost around $900 for both installed.</p>
<p>Our Florida house has some French doors that open to the outside. One side opens with a keyed lock and the other side has dummy handles- it has top and bottom pins that fix it or that can be moved to get the double wide opening. Replacements are on the way- removing old and not energy efficient single pain glass with air leaks along the bottom (open to a screened area in a warm climate). PM me in a few weeks and I’ll have more info, although screens aren’t needed for us. One consideration we had was a brand that used our handles so we could key everything to match other doors.</p>
<p>Had sliding doors in old, northern house. Pella brand has the screen on the inside- it didn’t get dirty like outside ones do.</p>
<p>We also need a patio door replaced. It’s a lot more complicated that I thought it would be. Ours is really big and not a standard size. Anybody have an opinion between Pella and Anderson? And where to buy them?</p>