Since I began remodeling the upper unit of my house over 3 years ago, I had always wanted to update the patio doors leading out to the front porch. They were drafty and rather inconvenient for regular use of the front porch. I was intending on doing this work myself, as I have done most all the work in my house including replacing of all the windows, but upon researching replacement options for the original doors, I knew I was looking at either a very expensive custom set of doors, or a big project requiring me to open up the existing wall to allow standard sized doors to be used. I figured doing it myself would have taken at least a full weekend, and adding to that the unknown of what you find once you open up the walls of a 100 year old house, I decided to get some quotes from some professionals.
The Original
I had seen a number of others on here have good experience, so I contacted Alex to see what he could do. He considered both options, but we ultimately decided the standard sized doors option was the best way to go with my budget. Alex stopped by the house to go over the options, and to make measurements 2-3 times before we moved forward with ordering.
The crew arrived the day of the install on time, with 4 guys to tackle the job, and they got to work right away. They had the original windows and doors removed in not much more than an hour.
Within the next hour, the openings were enlarged, and framed.
New doors and windows were in by lunch time.
Amazing how much bigger the room feels. And eliminating the original storm doors gives much more room on the small patio also.
It was important to me that I kept as much of the original features of the home as possible, so the team re-used the old exterior trim, modifying the pieces as needed to make them fit to the new opening.
I was watching the guys closely as they worked, specifically during the enlargement of the opening. I appreciated that they took the extra care no to crack the plaster walls more than absolutely necessary while cutting. I was happy to see they also insulated all the voids between the framing and gaps wherever possible. They even provided additional trim tabs to make the re-use of the original interior moldings easier, allowing me to reuse most of the molding without major rework to it. Anyone who has tried retrofitting new with the old knows how much of a headache this can be.
My only complaint was that the caulking on the exterior seemed to have been done a bit hastily, but that probably has more to do with me being anal about small details like that. Most people will never notice it, and you certainly will not see it from the street. The house needs to be painted now since all the exterior work is finally completed, so it can be touched up at that time.
Overall, I am very satisfied with the outcome. They completed a fairly complex project quicker than I expected, while still meeting my expectations in quality and price. I would not hesitate to recommend them or use them again.
