Cutting Stucco/metal flange on a sliding door.

[Cubby]

Hiya Folks, I'm getting ready to remove an existing metal sliding glass door and replacing it with patio doors. I have stucco sitting on top of the sliding door flange (exterior). I was planning to cut through the stucco and through the metal flange to minimize damage to the stucco. I have both a grinder and circular saw. What sort of grinding wheel or saw blade would you recommend for this? I could use a masonry to cut the stucco then come back with a metal cutting blade/disc but was hoping there was one blade/disc that would do both of them in one shot. Thanks for any inputs. cc

[f.fruy]

a diamond disk will do it but is expensive

[gfretwell]

A regular metal or masonry cutoff wheel would work in your grinder. One is just subtlly better than the other when you are dealing with stucco and aluminum. You aren't really cutting that much and these are disposable wheels. I wpuld score the stucco on the side of the track, then grind off the fasteners, to get it out ... assuming you can't just take screws out. You will be surprised how easy it is once you get going. Usually the sides come out first then the rest will come out.

[Cubby]

I don't think the flange is aluminum, unless it's different from the rest of the sliding door. Magnets stick to it pretty well. Regardless, I was hoping to minimize the removal of stucco and was planning on just cutting the entire flange and abandoning the portion that's attached with screws. Not sure if this is the ideal way to do it. I'll pick up a few cutting wheels and see what works. Thanks much. cc

[Ivan Vegvary]

a diamond disk will do it but is expensive

Certainly does not have to be expensive!! The diamond disk at Harbor Freight

is less than $ 3 per.

I used one of these disks on my grinder to cut 24 feet of stucco. After that I gave the disk to my daughter and she scored at least 100 paving stones before the disk got dull. Certainly a great value.

Ivan Vegvary

[Cubby]

Thanks Ivan. I'll try the few grinding wheels I have on hand and if they don't work all that well, I'll head to my local HF. Cheers, cc

[Cubby]

So as a follow up, I ended up using one 4" masonry grinding disc in my 4" grinder and a 7" metal grinding/cutoff disc in my other grinder. Scored the stucco with the masonry and then cut the metal flange with the other. Worked very well and didn't take but maybe an hour to complete. Total price spent was less than $5. Thanks for the help. cc