sliding doors
I am ready to replace two sliding doors with double paned aluminium units. Called Bonelli, however their doors are 5 1/4 inches in frame width. Looks like the original doors fit right into a stud depth of 3.5 inches. Are these doors made anymore? Would Milgard be a good choice.
Plese advise.
Thanks
Alex
PS I need 3 5x8 doors and a 7x 8 door.
Hi Alex:
At least two companies make Al sliding glass doors in the narrow depth of 3 and 5/8" required to match Eichler framing. One is made by Hydro Aluminum Wells and the other by Blomberg. Palo Alto Glass, a supporter of this site, sells the Blomberg doors. For more in-depth information about options for replacing your sliders, see my article on page 3 of the Fall 2003 issue of the Newsletter.
We replaced all of ours with Milgard vinyl double-panes with Low-e glass. They are great, but are pretty deep, about 5 inches, plus the frames themselves are a bit wide, so you do see them. We have been happy with them as Millgards are high quality, but had we known about the Blomberg doors, we might have chosen them (though they are not cheap by any means).
Just FYI, everyone I interviewed for the article indicated that they can match any size door, in terms of the dimensions of the rectangle, so that is not a problem. The problem in matching doors to Eichlers is just as your original post implied -- the depth or thickness, not the length/width dimension.
Good luck!
Cathye
