Perhaps you found out you want to change your garage a bit with beautiful french doors. French doors might help you turn your garage into something else, like a new comfy living room, a deposit with a better aesthetic appeal, or just a garage with french doors. In any case, replacing garage doors with french doors is not a simple task – although it doesn’t need to be overly complicated. In this article, we will teach you how to replace your garage door with new french doors.
Garage Door Conversion To French Doors
What Is A French Door?
The design of a French door is based on a set of double opening doors that open from the center, usually with glass panels that extend most of the length of the door. French doors offer an elegant, modern, and fresh aesthetic to your home while allowing a lot of light to pass through.
French doors can be considered more energy efficient than other options as their central glass panels can be small but being placed in wider frames they work perfectly well.
Some people also call the French door the “French window”, which can cause a bit of confusion. These doors were originally called “porte-fenêtre” by the French, which literally translates as “door windows”, perhaps explaining why some people refer to their style that way.
As French doors are predominantly made of glass, they provide the feeling and lighting of being windows but open like a door.
Prior Requirements
When you choose to put a French door in your garage, you might wonder what you will need exactly, so let’s start discussing all you will need.
In order to put French doors in your garage, you must first get permission. You should go to the city authorities. You may have to meet certain requirements based on where you reside. There is a pre-replacement inspection application that you must complete.
If you have the go-ahead from an inspector, you may begin looking for French doors for your garage. Remember that installing French doors in place of your garage door is prohibited unless you have authorization from your city’s regulatory authority.
The next step is to create a detailed blueprint of what you want to accomplish. Unless you are an expert in blueprinting, you should hire someone to do it for you. Further, insulation is a need if you want to turn the garage into a living space. There is also a demand for household electrical wiring.
If the garage walls are in need of repair and painting, the next step is to do so. You may have to think about plumbing as well, depending on the outcome.
Even if you merely replace your garage door with some French doors, all of the above must be considered. There is a lot more involved than just putting in French doors, no matter what the purpose is.
Replacing Garage Door With French Doors
If you are looking for info on how to replace your garage door with French doors, it is most likely you are looking to do it yourself, right? Well, we got your back on that, so here is a list of all the things you will need in order to properly install your new French doors (after you got authorization and hired an expert for the blueprints):
- Miter saw
- Power drill
- Foam sheets
- 10D finish nail
- Adhesive
- Studs
- Level
- French door set (obviously)
While most of these items can be purchased at Amazon, the rest you will need to buy at your preferred local store for obvious reasons. With the blueprint prepared by a professional, you will know what size of French door set to buy, as well as the size of the studs.
Now, on to the work itself!
1: Remove the old door
The garage door must be removed. Remove the motor first. Tracks, chains, and pulleys that move the door must also be taken into consideration. After that, proceed by unscrewing all of the panels on the garage door from the top and working your way down.
2: Measurements
The width of the French doors should be at least as wide as the aperture of the garage door. This might need the construction of a new wall or the re-cutting of an existing one to make room for French doors.
It’s simple to measure the length of the opening and French doors if just one car used to be in the garage. To calculate the distance between two French doors, subtract the two measurements and then divide the result in half.
3: Installing the new door
You may install the pre-hung door frame from the outside of the house by applying beads of adhesive along the bottom of the aperture, including the seams at the lower corners. However, do not slide the door into position, as this can damage the sealant beads. Once it’s in the right place, you may begin any adjustments.
To ensure that your door is properly installed, refer to the manufacturer’s instructions, which may differ from model to model.
The hinge jambs should be centered in the door frame, and one 10-diameter finish nail or 3-inch screw should be driven into the framing studs at the midpoint of each jamb.
Use shims if required, then nail or screw the door to the jamb to keep it in place while you level and plumb the frame. Make sure that the studs and the jambs are aligned before putting the shims in place.
Shim the hole as necessary to make it square with the use of shims. Make sure the jamb is square by measuring the diagonals (corner to corner) and making sure they match.
In the case of French doors, it’s critical to ensure that the door panels are level across the top and bottom and that the reveal between them is leveled too.
To secure the door in its final position, pre-hung doors frequently come with long screws that fit into the open holes of the door’s hinges. Be careful not to bend the door jamb while driving the screws.
Follow up with finishing nails or pre-drilled 3-inch screws after ensuring the door opens and shuts correctly. Then, reattach the jamb to the frame.
4: Finishing
Open and shut the doors to make sure they work once they’ve been placed. The frame and doors should not come into contact.
Keep the French doors in place by attaching studs to the header and top plate. The junction of the new and old garage walls should be finished with a trim baseboard. You may also disguise the remodeling by using cement or wood cladding. It also enhances the visual appeal of the piece.
Final Words About How To Replace Garage Door With French Doors
If you were wondering whether you can replace your garage door with new, beautiful French doors, you just learned all you need to get started! Sure, saying is easier than doing, so pay attention to all the steps of this “how-to” guide when you try to install the doors.