Bring the Outdoors In on a Budget

Posted by: Ken Mariotti

Today’s major trend in home building and remodeling are home designs that connect the outdoors with the indoor. These new wide-span doors from Marvin, Andersen, and others, create expansive openings, while engineered to slide easily and make a perfect seamless connection between the indoors and outdoors. A traditional slider can be up to 10 foot wide, while these doors can be up to 16 feet wide. The design significantly opens the view and allows for natural ventilation into your home.

Marvin Integrity Sliding Doors

These beautifully designed and engineered doors can take a big bite out of your budget. Before you rule out creating oversized openings between your home and the outside, consider other alternatives that will give you essentially the same result for a smaller investment.

Creating oversized door openings and expansive window walls can be achieved on a budget by using standard sized windows and doors put together in a modular way to achieve the look you want. Depending on the overall size you need, your options for creating the look you want are limitless.

Sliding patio doors have evolved and can now be selected in one-two-or three panel doors, up to eight feet tall, creating a wide opening. Add sidelights or a transom to expand your views even more. You can also use multiple sliding doors side by side to open the space even wider. Sliding patio doors can be very versatile system if designed where immense areas of glass are desirable.

French doors are a classic favorite that adds architectural detail to any space. Although these hinged doors require less wall space than sliding doors, if they are in-swing doors you’ll need to plan your furniture arrangement to accommodate them. The pair of doors are typically about six feet wide, although you can pair the doors with sidelights and even place two sets of French doors side by side to fill an entire wall.

Andersen 100 Series Sliding Doors

The French slider has the appearance of a classic French door with wider stiles and rails, while functioning as a sliding glass door. It’s a nice hybrid between the sliding patio door and the French hinged door. Typically, French sliders have four panels, two of which remain stationary. When closed, the center panels look like a pair of French doors – a classically beautiful look.

Sidelights, Transoms and Awnings can be mixed and matched with sliding, French doors, or French sliders to create an expansive opening. Traditionally, sidelights were narrow picture windows, which were more decorative than functional. Transoms over interior and exterior doors adorned old homes. Awnings were used, prior to air conditioning to ventilate a home. In the 1950’s when ceilings were lowered these functional windows largely disappeared from home designs. Today, these styles are making a comeback to ventilate spaces, as modern homes are built with higher ceilings, large glass windows and glass doors.

Andersen French Doors

The new expansive doors that connect the outdoors with the indoor are magnificent – lift and slides create an uninterrupted wall of glass – spanning 16 feet tall, which disappears into a wall. Folding glass doors achieve a similar look but don’t require pockets in an adjacent wall. Or Pivot doors that swing open to a perfect 90º are all the rage because of their architectural beauty. Now you can create the same look on your budget with a little imagination.

Marvin, Andersen, Pella and other Woodlandselected window and door manufacturers offer unlimited choices to create oversized openings – you dream and we’ll help you put the components together to bring the outside in.

Connect the Indoors to the Outdoors. Fresh Selections for Replacing your Sliding Glass Patio Doors.

Posted by: Ken Mariotti

Marvin Ultimate Lift and Slide

One of the hottest building and remodeling trends is seamlessly connecting the indoors to the outdoors. Reinventing the sliding patio door, better known as ‘the slider’, can do this. So, before you replace your clunky old sliding patio door, the one that gives you a workout every day, with a new sliding patio door, read this first.

Patio doors are an architectural design element.

At Woodland we see a lot of patio doors that were installed 30 years ago. Homeowners tell us they think the doors look dated and have been hard to operate for years. Door technology has come a long way since those sliders were put in. Today, the right patio doors can be an architectural design element of your home.

One patio door that is getting a lot of attention today is the lift and slide door, which creates expansive openings while remaining easy to slide. Turning the handle allows the unit to move, by lifting the door and removing the pressure on the track for easy operation. Unlike a traditional multi-track sliding door, once the panels are in their new location, you turn the handle again and the doors lock creating an incredibly tight seal. These doors come with a flush or recessed sill option, which makes a seamless transition from the indoors to the outdoors.

Marvin Ultimate French Sliders

In Illinois, where snowy winters and stormy wet weather can easily cause water problems, Woodland recommends these doors for use with covered patios, enclosed porches, or sun rooms. In this climate, it is better to install raised thresholds and the higher the threshold, the less likely water will penetrate.

Create an equally beautiful look using modern multi-panel oversized sliding glass doors or French Doors.

Modern sliding glass doors, often called a French slider, expand the traditional two-panel configuration to four panels. The two outer panels are fixed in place; the two inner panels operate. A traditional slider can be up to 10 foot wide, while these doors can be up to 16 feet wide. The design significantly opens the view and allows for natural ventilation.

Andersen French Doors

French doors are an elegant architectural element that connects the inside to the outside of your home. Although these hinged doors require less wall space than sliding doors, if they are in-swing doors you’ll need to plan your furniture arrangement accordingly. Also note that these doors are typically no wider than about six feet, although you can pair the doors with sidelights to increase the view. The out-swing French door is an option, but again, for our climate, Woodland recommends out-swing doors only if they open into an enclosed space like a porch or sunroom. Imagine trying to open your door with snow piled on the outside.

For all of these new modern patio doors we recommend the best locking systems available, mortise locks, foot bolts or a multi-point locking system for security and for an airtight connection.

Modern expansive doors don’t have to break the budget and add immeasurable value.

Marvin French Doors

Woodland carries a broad selection of state of the art patio doors from the best manufacturers, so you’ll have the selection that meets your design goals and budget. A few choices include, Marvin Ultimate Lift & Slide. If you want expansive views, this door can open up to 48 feet wide and when opened it can stacked or disappear completely into a wall.  Marvin also offers the Ultimate Sliding French Door or a traditional swinging French door. A popular feature is the new fully integrated shades. Marvin shades match current Marvin interior door finishes giving a seamless look. The Andersen 400 Series Frenchwood Gliding Patio Door or swinging French Doors are also popular choices today. There are far too many choices to cover everything here, so when you’re ready, come to our showroom and have a look.

Plan a head and don’t settle for replacing your old clunky slider with a new clunky slider. Instead, you can create an architectural element that opens your home to the outdoors.

Want that Model Home Feel? Aim High.

Posted by: Ken Mariotti

New 8ft French Doors

Why do we feel happy when we walk into a model home? The best ones are the new high-end developments where the builders incorporate the latest features and materials. What you’re likely feeling is the sense of light, openness and a connection with the outdoors. How do they create that space? Today, homebuilders are using windows and doors in new ways that maximize the homeowner experience, leaving you wanting to move in. What if you could create this same feeling in your own home?

When you get back home, take a close look at your home’s windows and doors? Do they look undersized, do you have walls completely baron of windows, is your sliding patio door original, so that a Hollywood film producer could select your house for a remake of a 1950’s family TV series?

The feeling you had in the model home was likely because the windows and doors were chosen to obtain unobstructed views and lots of light. Manufacturers are making multi-panel glass and taller doors that flood rooms with light.

Old 6' 8" French Doors

If you want to achieve this look and feel in your home, begin by researching the two standard styles of patio doors, the patio slider or the French swing door(s). Within these two general categories you’ll find a plethora of options such as, French style sliding patio doors with two, three or four-panel configurations, folding doors and pocket sliders. Generally speaking, most people select a slider in the bedrooms, kitchen or family rooms and French doors are preferred for the more formal areas such as the dining or living rooms. From the start, check your answers to a few key questions.

√  What is the largest size that my current opening or wall can accommodate?

√  What direction does the foot traffic flow through the room to the outside?

√  Is there space to open French doors into the room? Could one door open and the second door remain stationary?

At this point you can check out the window showroom, because you have enough information to explore the best possibilities for your home. A few additional pieces of information will be needed before you proceed too far down the path. You’ll want to make sure your header is built according to code and has the proper load requirements for the wall. You’ll also need to measure the rough window openings from stud to stud. All of these are important perimeters that will allow you to choose from standard sizes rather than spending unnecessarily on custom sizes. Remember, when getting a window, write down the dimensions and always put the width first and the height second – always.

Once you’re in the showroom, remember to aim high and settle on the tallest doors your room can accommodate functionally and aesthetically – 8ft, 9ft, or 10ft.? This one feature will do more to give you the open and expansive feeling of a newly built home. Marvin, and Andersen offer these 8ft heights as standard sizes while Pella can accommodate 8ft heights. 

Marvin’s Remodeling & Replacement solutions guide is a great place to orient you to the options. Remember, if you want that model home feel – you’ve got to aim high.