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Our oldest is buying a house and there is a sliding door that need to be replaced. How difficult is it for minimally handy people to replace that on their own? Is it mostly the physical part (heavy) and making sure it is level or is there more to it? He is young and his budget is VERY tight with most of his savings going out for the purchase of this house.
The problem is with the "gotcha's"
With few exceptions once the old door is removed a problem with the rough opening will be found that needs to be remedied before the new door can be installed. This is the sort of job that $200 for a competent pro is money well spent.
I agree. Installing an exterior door is one of the hardest things we've ever done and swore we'd never try again.
The "gotchas" is the perfect way to describe it. Once you get the old door out, you need a level of experience to determine if there are other unforeseen issues to deal with. It's something you want to seal properly, both for security and to keep the elements out.
Minimal skills means maximum problems when the old door comes out. Get a pro to put in the door. Watch what he/she does to get it right. You proably will find gotchas and learn from that.
Agree with all of the above -- exterior doors are not a good place for an inexperienced person to try and replace one's self. The double whammy of the moving pieces of a sliding door not be easy to adjust / service AND the various weather-sealing surfaces having a whole bunch of tricks that need to be mastered once and only once (darned near impossible to "re-seal" after making a mistake...) all point to this being well worth hiring out. Finally, I would caution against using the kind of "installer" that is recommended by a "big box store" -- too often these jokers are a mishmash of one or two "crew leaders" that are split among way too many completely clueless "field crews" and the errors that the undemaker skilled members make while the leaders are running from job to job can mean big delays / screw-ups.
I'll admit to replacing a sliding glass door, but years before I did it, I observed professionals replacing a large window first and then I replaced most of the other windows in the house. Besides getting the slider level, you also have to get it square in the opening. Otherwise, you'll have a difficult time opening and closing it. Also, expect some repair work of the surrounding wood.
I wouldn't mind using a big box-referred installer down here because window and exterior door replacements require a building permit and inspection in these parts, so they've got to follow the same rules as any other handyman would.
What is the problem with the current door? If the track is bumpy, making the door bounce around, hard to close and sometimes come off the track you can fix that for super cheap.
I bought one of these for my door, that I thought I would need to replace. Works like brand new and took 3 minutes to install.
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