Patio door - replace just the glass or the whole door?

[firemane]

I have a back patio door that has a window with 2 layers of glass. The first layer was shattered by the previous owners. I am looking to have this fixed. Aside from needing some cleaning and paint, the door is completely fine besides this issue w/ the glass pane. The door would have to be taken apart to get new glass installed.

Would it make more sense to just replace the whole door, or is there some type of glass specialist I could hire to replace this?


https://imgur.com/a/KzdcEQZ
https://imgur.com/0i1DTyo
https://imgur.com/daOrYEh

[bill1827]

Over here double glazed units can be bought from pretty much any glazier; they will get them made to your dimensions.

They aren't particularly difficult to fit, just lever out the beading, take the old glass out and put the new glass in, replace the beading.

You can buy them the units online as well. We also have companies that specialise in double glazing repairs, it should be considerably cheaper than replacing the whole window.

A typical site for glazing units https://www.sealedunitsonline.co.uk/regular/default.aspx.

[sonofsven]

Just replace the glass panel.

[lthenderson]

Nearly every town I have lived in of size has had a business that sold glass for just this sort of thing. When I moved into this house, there were three different windows that were broken. I just called them up and they came out to measure them. A few days later, they were back and installed the glass on all three windows on site.

Replacing the door would most likely be more expensive and more time consuming and not give you any improvement over what you have so there is hard to see an upside to going the door replacement route.

[BudgetSlasher]

If it were me, I would just have the glass replaced (not DIY it).

When we moved into our current house several windows were either cracked or had failed seals and fogged. I pulled them off the house and took them up to the local glass place they took measurements and gave me them back to me. When the new glass was ready I took the windows back and waited a short time and came home with new glass. All for a reasonable price.

In between I did reinstall the windows.

[firemane]

Thanks for all of the replies, unfortunately upon more investigation; there is no way to install a new panel without sawing off part of the door. I guess I’ll be getting a new door

[bill1827]

Are you sure? From the pictures it looks as if the panel is held in with external beads. Those should be removable and I can't see anything in the way of the glazing unit to imply that the door needs to be destroyed.

I'd get someone who replaces glazing units before you start on the replacement path (unless you want to replace it, of course).

[BudgetSlasher]

Thanks for all of the replies, unfortunately upon more investigation; there is no way to install a new panel without sawing off part of the door. I guess I’ll be getting a new door

Based on the photos you posted, I have a door that appears to have similar construction and it had the glass replaced sometime before us.

Before replacing the door find and talk to your local glass store. They've probably seen it before and will be able to tell you in a couple seconds if it can be done... my bet is yes, but if not it won't cost you anything.

If they can you might have to repaint. My door that was re-glassed was a different color trim immediately adjacent to the pane of glass.

[Gone Fishing]

Pull the hinge pins and take the door to the window shop.  They’ll make it right.  Tape plastic up over the door frame in the meantime.

[firemane]

Maybe it warrants a further investigation. I called one glazier and sent them the photos and my last post is what they advised. I would really rather not replace the door. I’ll call a couple of others this week. I suspect it is possible and just a pain since the broken glass needs to be removed. Maybe I can do that myself and just have them do the installation