Included, and what it is not
- ✓ Check the opening and the existing lintel
- ✓ Set the frame and threshold
- ✓ Hang both leaves and the meeting stile
- ✓ Fit the lock, keep and shoot bolts
- ✓ Seal the frame and check both leaves close together
Ways this job is specified
Timber pairs
Can be trimmed to an older opening. Both leaves need finishing on the meeting edges or they swell and clash.
uPVC pairs
A frame set. The opening has to suit the frame; the sashes are not planed to fit.
Glazed French doors
Weight sits on the hinges. Three hinges a leaf is normal. We do not replace a single misted unit as a glazier call-out.
Inward and outward opening
The threshold detail changes. Outward opening needs the cill and the hinges specified so the door cannot be lifted off.
On the day
01
Pair the opening
Both leaves share one frame. If the opening is wider at the head than the cill, the meeting stile will gap in the middle.
02
Hang both leaves
Hinges, shoot bolts and the lock are set so the leaves meet without one standing proud.
03
Weather the threshold
The cill and the meeting-stile seal are fitted before we leave. A pair that latches but shows daylight at the centre will leak.
What changes the price
French doors cost more to fit than a single back door and less than a wide aluminium bi-fold, because there are two leaves, a meeting stile and a longer threshold. Supply and fit varies with timber versus uPVC and with how glazed the leaves are. Labour rises if the frame is rotten or the opening is out of square. The quote is for the pair, the frame if it is being replaced, and the threshold — not a single-door price doubled on the back of an envelope.
Symptoms people search
Daylight at the meeting stile is a seal or an alignment fault. A shoot bolt that misses has usually dropped with the leaf. Water on the inside is the threshold, especially on an outward-opening pair. A door that has to be lifted to lock is a hinge or a frame that has racked.
Before and after the hang
The opening needs its lintel already. Inside, move furniture back by a leaf width. After fitting, keep the shoot bolts free of grit and paint, and coat timber edges including the meeting stile. Do not plane the meeting edges to stop a rub without checking you are not opening a gap the seal cannot cover.
What fails later
Hinges and shoot bolts wear because two leaves move every time you go into the garden. Seals at the meeting stile flatten. Timber left bare on the edges swells and then gets planed until the seal no longer touches. A pair hung square, with edges finished, stays in adjustment for years.
Doing it yourself
One timber door is a stretch for a DIYer. A pair is harder because the meeting stile shows every error. uPVC French sets need the frame set square or the lock never throws. We fit French doors into an opening that already has its structure. We do not cut the brickwork to widen it.
Outside this job
- We do not form a new structural opening or fit the lintel
- Bi-fold stacking systems are a different page
- We do not fit the side windows people sometimes call “French” in error
- We do not fit electric gates or a separate patio canopy
Questions about french door fitting
French doors hinge like a pair and one or both leaves open. Bi-folds fold onto a track and stack clear of the opening. Choose French doors if you mostly use one leaf as a daily door.
Yes. The other leaf is the daily door, with the fixed leaf bolted. Both still have to meet on the seal.
If the other leaf and the frame are straight, sometimes. If the frame is twisted, one new leaf will not meet the old one.
The meeting-stile seal is tired, or one leaf has dropped so the faces no longer align. A new handle does not fix that.
Heavy enough that each leaf should be on three hinges. Two hinges drop a glazed leaf.
Yes, if it is part of the job. The opening is not left open overnight.
Other door jobs
Quote for french door fitting
Say how many doors, whether you have already bought them, and the town. We reply with a written quote.