Need a recomendation for a quality sliding patio door.
We added an addition 3 years ago and installed two top of the line Pella sliders.
They warped and leaked air so bad we had 1/4″ frost all around the inside.
Pella brought out new replacement panels that were worse than the old panels.
They finally agreed to refund our money including installation costs.
So we had Andersen Frenchwood sliders installed.
First winter the stationary panels warped on both sets and would not seal on the doors.
Last fall the one door started sticking and we found that all the horizontal panels had warped.
Two so bad the corner joints were coming apart.
Still don’t have it resolved.
Does anyone make a door that won’t warp?
Replies
You went through two doors of pretty good quality. I'd begin to suspect that there's a problem with the installation or siting.
Poor Design and Quality
Both sets were installed by my builder who does very high quality work. The house averages around 50% humidity.
The Pella sliding doors are an exercise in how not to design a door.
When the crew came to install the doors we found the access holes to the roller adjustments had been drilled an inch off. I had to make them an extended drill to redrill the holes.
In looking at the doors the stile was bare wood at the bottom. Great for drawing moisture and warping and rotting out.
With the screen inside. You need to open the screen in the summer to close the door,which lets in all the bugs.In the winter the channel outside fills with ice and snow and makes the door unusable.
The Pella door uses a bulb seal made from a hard vinyl that does not give when it gets cold. This means if the door moves out , even a little it no longer seals. Also in using a bulb seal it ends up with only about an 1/8" contact area for the seal. This translats into no r value of insulation at the seal. This caused the seals to attract condensation that gave us the 1/4" of ice all around the door
These doors were aluminium clad. You could look out from the inside and see where the caulking was uneven between the clading and the glass which let the water in to warp the doors. When Pella brought out the new replacement slider panels a regianal rep was with them. They hung the new panel and it was warped worse than the old one.There was an 1/8" gap between the seal and the door. The rep sat down and asked me what I wanted to do, I told him if they could not supply me with a good door to give me my money back. He agreed and I was reimbursed for the doors and labor to R& R the doors.
A couple of my iron clients have Pella sliders and I have obseved the same problems with their doors.
Replaced with Andersen Frenchwood doors . Seal design is good but all the panels are warping. Two corners have pulled apart almost a 3/16" inch. Seal is not contacting the door. These use extruded vinyl over the wood. It looks like they don't use a sealer at the joint of the rail and stile. This may be where the water enters to warp them.Still trying to resolve these.
Well, our Andersen has been through 34 Minnesota winters, and, other than the screen needing new rollers about ten years back, it's still in good shape.
I did think it was dumb that most manufacturers changed to putting the screen on the inside about 15-20 years back. Ours is on the outside.
I'm thinking you've just had some miserable luck (though 50% humidity is pretty high, if you're talking winter).
Loewen, the smoothest slider I have ever used... Windsor is another that, IMO, is better than Marvin, which is better than Andersen, which is better than Pella.
I also think you have something else going on, though.
I have ad so many bad experiences with Pella that I have concluded that they are not capable of making a good one, much less servicing you.
But now Andersen too...Did you seal these on the inside wood surfces before installation or immediately after? 50% humidity is high.
Is this in a ocation where they areexposed to weather extremes like wind or south facing sun?
Sliders in general are the hardest doors to get right. Maybe you were just unlucky
I normally thnk of Marvin as top of the line. I see others who rec Kolbe&Kolbe similar.
50% R/H is not high. I live in Florida and that is a dry winter day. My Andersen French wood doors are doing fine living here in the swamp. I think he must have something else going on.
It's high in the winter, when it's 68F and 50% on the inside, but 15F on the outside. If nothing else, condensation running down the glass will cause significant damage, plus the difference in vapor pressure will mean the inside face of the wood is wet while the outside face is dry.
Not high compared to what?
People do fine at 40-50% humidity but homes and the materials they are made from are better at lower RH than that. 50% is where you start to encourage molds and mildew and other problems.
Where it effects doos though, is whent there is a great differential between ion and out in themicroclimates doors are exposed to.
Not saying that is definitely the problem, but that it is possible that it could be is all.
True for you, but where does Iron Rose live?
The assertion was that an Andersen door would warp at 50% humidity and I say hogwash.
If someone were to run 50% humidity all winter here, I'd be amazed if any wood doors DIDN'T warp. Andersen's are generally good products (always a few clukners) and our Andersen slider has withstood 34 Minnesota winters, but they're not designed to float in water.
No Sir, The assertion is that 50% humidity in the house combined with other factors CAN be a contributing factor. If you will read more clearly, you won't be so upset about things that don't exist.
I have lived in the SE, so I know what humidity levels are and can do. Just because it is common to see high humidity does not mean it is good for wood.
The most common reason I see for warped doors is owners or contractors who fail to seal them promptly.
bad slider
pella does make about the WORST slider i have ever installed ... screen on the inside... please.. have you seen the "SELF" closing screen ?? i could not get it to work , and PELLA SENT A "TECH " AND HE COULD NOT GET IT TO WORK EITHER .
as far as the "best" slider... Anderson is very good , but when we install near the ocean (in ri. ) we always use " Therma Tru"
Fiber-Classic ( all fiber glass) Smoth star (also fiber glass) Slim line ( fiber glass) and SPD (vinyl), i have been installing thier products for over 25 years and the only problem was one time we hade bad rollers on a door and needed to wait 2 weeks for a replacement set , sent free with a coupon for 20% off next purchase... great product ... try this site http://www.thermatru.com good luck ...
Do you want sliding glass doors for the patio? The best option for that is going to be found at https://minimasliding.co.uk/ . More view, less frame. Hope this helps!
-SAM