Patio Door Installation Cost Calculator

Between $1,650 and $2,475 for a sliding patio door into a sound existing opening, with a typical job near $2,000. A French pair in the same opening is about $2,725 and a single hinged door $1,850. Widening the opening adds about 35% and cutting a new one about 90%; rot in the sill or subfloor adds about 40%. An insert into a sound existing frame is cheaper, and reported figures of $1,000 to $1,550 describe that rather than a full replacement.

Three questions settle it and none is about the door. How much floor can you give up — a swing needs two to three feet of clear depth per leaf and it has to stay clear. Does the full width ever need to open, because a slider only ever gives you half. And is the view or the opening what you actually want? If the doors will mostly stay shut and you want light, take the slider at $725 less. If you will genuinely throw both leaves back in summer, the pair earns it.

No — the patio surface should sit an inch or two below the threshold and slope away from the house at about a quarter inch per foot. Surfaces built level with the threshold look better and are the commonest water problem on this job: the first driving rain runs off the patio, meets the threshold at the same height and goes under the door. If level access is wanted deliberately, or the deck is already built, the answer is a channel drain immediately outside and a properly integrated sill pan, not a standard unit fitted flush and hoped for.

A single hinged door at about $1,850, and it is worth considering seriously rather than dismissing. It seals better than either glazed option — no sill track and no astragal seam — it is the least trouble to maintain, and it takes a cheap storm or screen door. It makes sense whenever the opening is really a doorway onto a deck that you mostly walk through. Plenty of openings have a slider because a previous owner fitted one rather than because it suits the room.

A slider does, or takes one for very little — though its screen rollers wear out like the door's, so ask whether a new screen is in the price. A French pair cannot take a conventional screen at all and needs a retractable cassette: $400 to $700 for the active leaf or $700 to $1,200 for the full opening. A single hinged door can take a storm or screen door cheaply. On a pair in particular it is worth settling at quote stage, because it is a line people meet for the first time in the first warm week.

Tempered in every panel, which is a code requirement. Then Low-E with argon, which matters more here than on any other door — a 72 inch slider is roughly 30 square feet of glass in the wall of a heated room, and the difference between a cheap unit and a good one shows on the bill and in how close you can sit to it in January. Laminated glass is worth considering for security, since a patio door is the classic way into a house. Impact rating is mandatory in coastal and high-wind zones.

Yes, as an insert, and it is cheaper — reported figures of $1,000 to $1,550 for a slider describe that rather than a full replacement. But only if the frame is genuinely sound, and on a patio door the frame is the part most exposed to standing water, so check the sill and the bottom few inches of the jambs with a screwdriver first. A full replacement lets the sill pan and flashing be done properly, which next to a wet surface is worth more than it is on a sheltered entry door.

Sixty to 72 inches covers most sliders and French pairs, and 72 is the common choice where the wall allows it. Remember a slider gives half its width as clear opening, so a 72 inch slider is about 36 inches to walk through — the same as a single door. Going wider than 72 inches usually means widening the opening, which adds about 35%, or moving to a three-panel or multi-slide unit, which is a considerably more expensive product.

A slider does not swing, which is its main advantage. For a hinged door or a French pair, outswing seals better against driving wind because the pressure pushes the leaves into the frame, and it keeps interior floor free — but it needs the patio surface clear of snow, planters and furniture, and the hinges are outside so they need non-removable pins. Inswing keeps the hardware protected and costs you interior floor, which is usually the scarcer space.

Two likely causes. If it is a slider, the weep holes in the sill track are probably blocked — the track collects water by design and drains it through small holes in the outer face, and leaf litter or pet hair blocks them. Clear them twice a year. The other cause is the patio surface sitting level with or above the threshold, so runoff arrives at the door rather than draining away. That one needs a drainage channel outside rather than anything done to the door.

A slider is, more than the alternatives, and the fixes are cheap. Most sliders can be lifted out of the track from outside, which defeats the latch — a screw driven partway into the upper track stops that. A foot lock or bar at the bottom loads the frame rather than the weak mortise latch. If the door is being replaced anyway, laminated glass holds together when broken and is the most effective glazing upgrade. A hinged door or French pair with a multi-point lock is inherently harder to get through.

Yes — level-threshold or flush-sill doors are made for exactly this, and they are specified with an exterior drainage detail rather than a step. The important part is that the drainage is designed in: a channel drain or grated trough immediately outside the threshold, with a sill pan under the door properly integrated with the surface. What does not work is fitting a standard unit flush with the patio and hoping, which is how level thresholds get a reputation for leaking.