My New Front Door

[jteneyck]

How did you specify the shape to them?  It seems like you would have to show a drawing.

My house, built in 1953 has a legal door (a 5" x 5" window in regular glass-which is small enough to be exempt) but the side light is floor to ceiling and in fluted glass and I am certain that is not tempered, and I am fairly certain it is not to the modern code. 

Can you tell us where you got the tempered glass?

Thanks.  Nice job.  It has to impress those that visit.

I don't know when the codes requiring safety glass in doors and sidelites, and some windows, came into effect, but all doors sold now must use some type of safety glass, either tempered or laminated.  I think units installed prior to the code change get grandfathered if there's an accident and someone sues you, but I don't know if that would apply to a new lite replacing one that gets broken.  

I ordered the glass from One Day Glass.  Their website is pretty good and allows you to order glass of pretty much any shape.  The glass I bought fit their parallelogram shape, but I still included drawings of all the pieces.  Their order form allows you to attach files and that's how I transferred the drawings to them.  When buying patterned glass it's critical to remember that the two sides have a different texture, so you need to order book matched parts for any shape like my parallelograms.  So I had drawings for the parts on both the inside and outside of the door.  One Day's website makes it hard to find the patterned glass they offer; it's buried under "Glass Tints", and they don't offer as many patterns as some of the commercial guys, or what my local glass shop could source, but we liked the Seedy Reamy so it worked out.     


In the past I bought glass from a couple of companies in Ohio and Michigan, but they only do commercial sales now, and One Day Glass was about the only company I could find  serving individual consumers needing tempered patterned glass.  I have a couple of glass shops locally, too, and I asked one of them to quote on the parts.  They were 20% higher even after the shipping was included from One Day Glass, so I went with them.  The glass cost $430, including shipping.  That's a rather astounding price in my mind.  Before I realized I needed book matched parts the price was only going to be $240.  Seemed like price gouging just to cut the glass in a mirror image, but that's what I needed.  I was really nervous about it getting broken in transit but it arrived in perfect condition via Fedex Ground with many transfers along the way.  


John

[Vijay]

Nice job John. I assume that the insulated glass is not available in those shapes/sizes or super expensive. Thank you for the lead on the glass source.

[jteneyck]

Nice job John. I assume that the insulated glass is not available in those shapes/sizes  or super expensive. Thank you for the lead on the glass source.

Thanks Vijay.  

Yes, One Day Glass could have made insulated glass units in the size and shape I wanted.   The number of patterned glass types available were fewer, however.  But I didn't even check what the price would be as I wanted to use the method shown in my first post.  Sealed units can fail and there is no saving them if they do.  If I have a problem I can remove one or more of the pieces of glass and deal with the problem, then put it back together.  Energy wise the only benefit of an insulated glass unit is if it's filled with Ar or some other low conductivity gas.  

John

[John Fry]

A beautiful door John,

I love your loose tenon joinery.

[Gary G™]

Outstanding workmanship.

[Snipe Hunter]

Outstanding workmanship.

[gordon 131]

John
very nice design! and excellent craftsmanship.
thanks for sharing ,John!
I always feel like i learn alot from your posts ! very informative and detailed


Thanks
Gordon

[Arlin Eastman]

Well done buddy on both the observation and execution of the door.  Always great to do a walk and see what others do.

[jteneyck]

My friend came up today to help install the door.  After we got the old door out I pulled the old seals out of the dado in the door frame.  The old seals, on the left, are for a metal door; the new Q-Lon seal is on the right.  

 

The next step was to install the new threshold.  The old door had none; the bottom seal slide on the concrete sill.  I decided to install a threshold this time, and planned for it when I built the door.  This is one is only 1/4" and has no adjustable seal.  This is an OK idea when the sill is dead level as mine is, or you use a hidden bottom seal in the door; otherwise, you are better off using an adjustable threshold.  I set the threshold in a bed of silicone caulk at the front so water can't get under it and predrilled holes for the Tapcons.  It was an easy install.  



With that done I installed the new seals.  Just cut to length and press into the dado; couldn't be simpler.  I also installed some little side seals at the bottom on both sides.  These fill the gap between the door bottom seal and frame and really make a difference on stopping air from leaking through.  




With that done we carried the new door from the other room and hung it on the hinges.  I'm so glad we brought it upstairs before installing the glass.  It's only about 30 lbs heavier with the glass but there are no more easy handholds.  Anyway, we got it hung w/o only minor struggling.  After removing the lockset from the old door and installing it in the new one, we were done.  







And now it's clear I need to do something about that dated handrail and skinny little post.  But that can wait for warmer weather.  

Thanks for following along. 

John

[shoottmx]

Thanks for the build info. Your work never ceases to amaze me.

g