I have 3 sets of French doors in my house that are in BAD shape and most likely in need of replacement.
They are wooden doors, single glazing and pretty beaten up
I initially sanded them and applied some clear protection, when I first bought the house, to buy me a bit of time,
but I have not done much over the last couple years, as I was planning to replace them.
I have not pulled the trigger on the options yet.
My INITIAL three options were:
Handyman:
Get cheap replacements at HomeDepot, reuse what's reusable etc.
Wood doors, with single glazing, reuse all hardware
$4000
Lower range door company
Replace all doors and trim, with energy efficient doors, double glazing, no coating
$6000
does not include staining, which I would do myself
will need new hardware as well
Higher end doors
Replace all doors and trim with energy efficient doors (to my specification, these are high end doors)
double glazing has a high end energy efficient coating, that will make a huge difference
$ 11 000
includes new hardware
Very high end doors
$19 000+
forget it not gonna happen, are those gold plated or what??
I had originally considered going with the 11k offer, when I still thought I'd stay in the house for a long time and reap the benefits myself,
as these were exactly the doors I would want. I know this company really well and they make a great product and treat their employees well.
Now, in the meantime my personal situation has changed a lot and chances are I may move within a year or two, maybe even sooner.
I want to do the bare minimum so I can put the house on the market in an acceptable fashion without breaking the bank.
NEW option
I went looking at HD and they sell a fiberglass clad metal door with double glazing. This is about $1100 including installation and taxes.
It's just primed, I could paint it myself, but don't dare to do installation, hence purchase needs to be including installation.
I am contemplating just replacing the downstairs doors, which are the most visible, when you visit the place. Those are the ones that lead to the patio, which prospective buyers are most likely to open and notice.
The upstairs ones lead to a balcony from the Master and to another Balcony from the office. Those are never ever used, except to air out the upstairs, in the spring/fall, in order to delay/reduce the use of airconditioning.
The Master bedroom ones get the most sun and are the most beaten up. I am considering to recucle the ones taken out from downstairs in the Masterbedroom, to improve that a little bit and be done.
What would you do? Especially in view of a potential sale.
Should I scimp and do bare minimum, or use part of the stash to just replace them all?
This is an upscale neighborhood and all the houses on the market are super duper updated!!
I got this house as a fixer in hopes of fixing it up over time to add value and staying in it a long time
Some updating has happened, but major eyesores are still these doors and the Master bath (whole different story, I may post pictures of that at a later time, fake pink marble anyone?)
Any advice would be appreciated!!
Thanks for reading!