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You are here: Home / Renovations / Kitchen Renovation / Installing Pella French-Door-Style Patio Doors

Installing Pella French-Door-Style Patio Doors

June 3, 2016 by SmartGirl 3 Comments

The next phase of #smartgirlskitchenreno was installing Pella patio doors.  This happened even before the second round of demo occurred.

smart-girls-diy-kitchen-reno-installing-patio-doors

Now let’s have a look back to the original patio doors, shall we.  Not to mention the original kitchen.

These door pretty much sucked from the second we moved in.  The door on the right slides to the left, and I am using the term slide very loosely here.  The kids weren’t able to do it themselves.  The “lock” also broke pretty early in our residence.  It was a metal bar you could slide horizontally between the door jamb on the left and the right side of the sliding door.  Very high tech.  Um, no.  When the metal bar finally fell off, hubby, the engineer, replaced it with a piece of PVC pipe.  We just wedged that PVC in there when we wanted to “lock” the door.

But how did you lock the door from outside, you ask?  You didn’t.

When the kitchen renovation became an actuality, there was no question that it would include new patio doors.  If you can believe it, I even ordered the doors in advance.  Crazy, right?  But it should come as no surprise to you that even though we ordered the patio doors (in September 2014) and they were delivered to the store the following month, Lowe’s still had to call us maybe a dozen times before we finally went in a picked the darn thing up.  Dude, I’m just too cheap to pay $60 for delivery when Lowe’s is less than a mile from my front door.  And by the time we had our beautiful french doors in our hands, it was too cold to install them.  Yes, even I am smart enough not try to install (for the very first time ever) patio doors when it’s freaking cold outside.  With my track record it could be days after removing the old doors until the new doors are installed.

The thought did cross my mind more than once to pay someone to come install the doors, but alas, that never happened.  I also couldn’t find any decent videos or blog posts that explained the process.   Unfortunately for you, this one isn’t going to be any help either.

The doors sat happily in our garage all winter until one fine day in June (2015) I decided it was time for those old doors to come out.  Hubby helped me remove the actual doors, both the sliding one and the fixed one, but unfortunately I was too busy to take any pictures.  The doors were quickly brought to the curb and waited for my favorite day of the month — Bulk Trash Day.  And then we were left with the lovely frame.

Removing An Old Patio Door

1. Cut (score) the caulk where the siding meets the trim.Use a sharp blade to cut the caulk around the trim molding

2. Remove the trim protecting the wood frame around the door.Removing patio door frame - trim comes off first

3. Pry off the wood door trim.  (This looks like it’s still the siding covering the wood, but it’s actually the wood)Pry the trim molding off around the door frame

Removing trim from patio door

4. Be sure to remove any nails left behind.Remove nails from door frame

5. Now knock out that ugly metal frame!

And this is what you’ll be left with!How to remove a sliding patio door DIY

From the inside it looked like this.  Obviously I removed the inside trim as well, but that’s very straight forward.  (See more pictures of this stage of the kitchen demo in THIS POST)  Removed old door frame before installing new patio doors

Smart Girls DIY Kitchen Renovation - installing french patio doors
There was evidence of some water damage on the right side, which I’m guessing happened before the screened porch was added.    And ugh that floor vent!  Of course I couldn’t live with it like that, so I moved it over to the far right corner.  More on that in a later post.After door frame is removed everything was cleaned up

How to Install Pella Architect Series Patio Doors

(I used these instructions from Pella)

 1. Apply flashing tape.  This was easy — peel and stick.  Boom.  Pictures compliments of my 7-year-old daughter.  Aren’t her feet so cute!?DIY Patio door install - first apply the Pella tape to the door frame

Installing flashing tape by Pella

Do it yourself Pella patio door install

Applying Pella tape to door frame

2. Test fit the door!  Of course I couldn’t do this myself, so I had to call in the big guns… my husband and my favorite Green Beret.  Notice how hubby and I share a love of protective footwear? Our door fit like a very tight glove.  A very, very tight glove.  But it had been hot as hell for quit a while, so the door was already at its max expansion.  It’s mainly wood, but of course it doesn’t look that way from the outside. Installing Pella patio doors - the test fit

3. We took the door back out and I applied sealant as per the directions:  This setup is devised to keep water from entering the house but allowing any water that might get under the door frame to be released on the exterior side, in the center of the frame.  No pictures of this, sorry.

  • One bead all the way across the interior of the sill (run caulk along the kitchen side of where the door will sit) and 6″ up the sides
  • The second bead of caulk goes in front of the first (exterior side) but you leave a 2″ break in the caulk

4. Reinstall door by placing the BOTTOM in first and then tilting the top into place.

5. Check for level and shim if necessary. (Back sweat much???)Checking for level on DIY Pella Patio door install

6. Screw the door into the jams.  This Pella Architect Series door also had a nail fin (metal edge that folded over and is attached to the outside opening) as seen below.  Why do I post such terrible pictures of myself for everyone to see???Smart Girl and Hubby install Pella patio doors

New Pella French Door Patio Doors Installed DIY

Tip: Don’t touch your brand new door with sealant on your hands, but if you do as I do and not as I say, it will come off with some acetone.

Save it for later! Install Patio Doors Yourself with Smart Girls DIY

You know it might be awhile between posts, so keep up with me here: Facebook / Instagram / Twitter / Pinterest / YouTube

Up next is the floor installation!  Be sure to check out all the kitchen posts.  

Kitchen Dilemmas

Kitchen Demo – Round 1

Don’t Try To Renovate Your Kitchen Over Christmas

How to Update Recessed Lighting to LED

Kitchen Demo – Round 2

Installing Pella French-Door-Style Patio Doors

Installing Hardwood Flooring in the Kitchen

Sneak Peek: Almost Finished Kitchen

Designing My Kitchen Layout and Selecting Cabinets

Ordering Barker Cabinets – part 1

Ordering Barker Cabinets – part 2

Designing a Pantry Wall with Barker Cabinets

How to Build a Pantry Wall with Barker Cabinets

Hide the HVAC with kitchen cabinets and say goodbye to your soffit

How to Customize Kitchen Cabinets to Hide the HVAC

Barket Cabients -- issues with the wall oven

Adding Support to Barker Cabinets so They Will Hold a Wall Oven

Barket Cabients -- painting doors and drawer fronts

Painting Barker Cabinet Doors

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Filed Under: Kitchen Renovation, Renovations, Tutorials Tagged With: demolition, doors, kitchen

« Kitchen Demo – Round 2
Installing Hardwood Flooring in the Kitchen »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Morgan says

    June 23, 2016 at 1:51 pm

    Love these doors! They look fabulous! Finding the right door style in any part of your home is important and makes all the difference in your home’s aesthetic! Nicely done! Thank you so much for sharing this update!

    Reply
  2. Abélia says

    August 15, 2016 at 3:19 pm

    Thank you for walking through the process of installing new patio doors. Like you had before, I have so pretty hideous sliding doors that I would love to take out and replace. It’s good to know that the instructions were pretty straight forward so that you could just install the doors yourself.

    Reply
    • SmartGirl says

      August 15, 2016 at 4:21 pm

      Good luck!

      Reply

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