Sliding patio door inside or outside?

[Harry K]

I have seen that statement made before. Oddly, noone has given a cite to prove it.

Harry K

[Harry K]

I haven't seen but a couple, and they all opened out. BIL has two in his house - both out swing. One installed only about 5 or 6 years ago.

Harry K

[Harry K]

Just MHO but I _hate_ sliders. The worst abortion for closure ever invented. High maintenance, poor sealing. When I added an 18x30 addition the wife insisted on a slider. I tried to convince her to go with 'french doors' - no luck. She still cusses her stubborness. Lates quote I got last year was about $1,500 to replace the Anderson with a French door.

Were I ever to look at a house with a slider in it, it would have to be replaced before I would buy.

Harry K

[willshak]

In places that have such building requirements for public buildings, the doors are supposed to open outwards. Fire, you know.

[willshak]

Might be a problem if a fire started in the house and the only exit was blocked by snow drifts.

[** Frank **]

Code or no code, all the residential exterior doors I've seen open in. I want to install an exterior French door open out but than the threshold will be reversed and the hinges exposed degrading security. Anyway I talk with a door contractor and he could install with doors open out, so may not be code.

Exterior doors open out in some foreign countries.

My commercial exterior door swings in and out, handicap approved, hidden spring loaded for panel to return to close position, panels could remain open in or out without being latched, heavy duty three point latch with just a flip of the finger, 1/4" thick temper glass, and build like a tank almost intrusion proof. I wish doors made this well for residential use.

[DerbyDad03]

Instead of a wooden stick or PVC pipe, which must be moved into and out of the track each time the door is secured/unsecured, I use two of the push-button locks that came with my Crestline door. They supplied one; I doubled up and put one at the bottom and one at the top. I drilled extra holes in the upper and lower frame so I can open the door about 9" for ventilation with security. I also removed the sill bracket and positioned the lock so that more of the steel shaft extends into the oak sill and top plate.

The lock can be seen at the bottom right of this page:

[Harry K]

1. I have an 'outswing' for my entry. It does open into a small entry porch though.
2. Doors are built for both in and out swing - your choice.
3. Hinges are not a security problem. Out swing have security hinges and you can make your own by drilling a hole and driving a screw in that engages a matching hole in the othe leaf. Mine has that system, both top and bottom hinges.

As far as security goes, out swing is better than in. You can kick in an in-swing but you have to take out the entire jamb on an outswing.

The out-swing frees up an amazing amount of space inside the room.

Harry K

[Harry K]

He is in BC with lots of snow. Haven't heard of any problem opening it and it opens directly onto the patio. One could also posit a problem opening it out due to a mudslide, a car parked against it, etc. I would guess the odds of a being blocked in in case of fire and snow drifts as about the same as the fire blocking off access to the door to start with.

Harry K

[Rick Blaine]

I wanted outswing french doors on my new house for just that reason. The builder discouraged it on the grounds that in his experience they tend to leak more than in swing doors.

-- "Tell me what I should do, Annie." "Stay. Here. Forever." - Life On Mars

[John]

I'm jumping in here a bit late (date wise) but if the slider is on the outside an intruder only needs to lift the outside door upward into the upper track and tilt it outward to remove it from the frame -- even if it is locked at the center. And with the screen on the inside any flies and bugs that say on the screen when you open it are swiftly slid directly into the house.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Not true. There are locks that prevent lifting.

[John]

I just replaced 3 6- foot sliders that had been installed with the operating door on the outside and screen on the inside and simply lifting them up to clear the bottom track removed the door. A sill and head jamb bracket retained the non-op door.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

You did that when it was locked right? And it applies to every brand, correct?

[DerbyDad03]

- You did that when it was locked right? And it applies to every brand, correct?

I can answer that. :-)

My Crestline door (granted: interior slider) can not be lifted and removed. An interior header strip needs to be removed (~ 6 screws) in order to remove the slider.

Once this header strip is removed, the slider simply tilts into the room.

2 of the 3 locks would have to be unlocked to accomplish this.

[John]

Did one pair when locked because too lazy to go totally around house . Can't say every brand and don't know year made. These were 2 different manufacturers however . The houses was there from the mid 80's

[GirlofStuff]

replying to Pete D, GirlofStuff wrote: Yes! Agreed. Whoever did this condo I live in obv didn't attend a school of common sense..

[ItsJoanNotJoann]

TEN YEAR OLD post dummy.