[OCsun]

I want to replace the glass sliding door on my Charlotte Courtyard Villa; the one located in the dinning area. I am looking for other ideas such as french doors or windows rather than a plain glass sliding door. If you have done this I would love to hear from you, or any ideas you would like to share would be appreciated.

[Bay Kid]

Don't forget to check building codes for the type of door material is required.

[John_W]

I can say the sliding doors on our 2011 CYV came from Romac, the same people that install most of the garage door openers in TV. I had Tim the Toolman Miller, the best handyman around putting security pins in my sliding doors. He got the drill hole a little too close to the glass and the entire glass on one side of the sliding door became a huge spider web.

Since Tim is an honorable guy, he didn't ask for me to chip in or anything. He said, it's my fault and I'll go get you a new door in the morning from the original seller and install it tomorrow, no charge. He went to Romac and the stationary side of the slider was $153. That was 8 years ago, but I thought was a good price. I remember in 1980 buying 5 sliding doors for a home I building in Pensacola and paid about $350 at that time. Romac is on Rolling Acres Rd and also in Leesburg.

If you want to see different sliders, go to Lowes or Home Depot, they have displays.

Romac Building Supply | Buy where the builders buy!

[villagetinker]

OP, you might want to double check with ARC, this is a change to the outside of the house, just in case you need approval. A friend was going to do a similar project ( 12 foot sliders ) and the cost for the proposed replacement doors was so high, they decided on alternative door/window treatment. So I would get multiple estimates from licensed contractors. As noted above, there are probably building code requirements for the replacements, do NOT rely on a salesman word that what you are looking at is rated for current code. Also, you may need custom doors as the existing opening may not be a "standard size". I would be very careful about expanding the opening as typically there is a steel load bearing channel (lintel) at the top of this opening that you do not want to disturb.
Good luck with your project.

[papasetti82]

You may like this solution.This door was in my CY Villa when I bought it.Left side opens and right side is fixed with blinds between glass.

[billethkid]

When considering French Doors be sure to measure where the doors are when they are in the open position. Eliminates an oooppps!

[Rsenholzi]

I had French doors put in and needed to make the opening smaller so beware of that. Since i was expanding my lanai my contractor took care of the details. Another thing to watch for is how the open and whether there is enough room for them to open fully . Also with this you will need to remove the track at the bottom so are you planning to replace the flooring since there is a large gap under the track that will need to be filled in also. Anderson makes a slider that looks like a French door . I had one up north in my home and I loved it if you don’t want to go through the hassle of all the extra costs . I didn’t do that down here because I was tiling the living room and lanai and didn’t want the lip . When you think cost - cost of the door doubled - install costs usually the exact price of the door . Good luck by the way , I loved my Anderson sliders as now love my French doors . I had many compliments on both

[Dlbonivich]

I have an Iris. The sliders have been replaced by full view French doors. And fixed panes on each end I love it. I used white frames and the blinds are between the glass

[PoolBrews]

Depending on the width, you may want to look at a continuous slider - where the door is composed of multiple portions. i.e. for an 8' opening, instead of having two 4' panels, they use 4 2' panels. When open all the way, you have a 6' opening. These look awesome, and really provide a feeling of openness.

In our last home, we removed the entire back wall of the villa and installed a 6 panel sliding 16' door. Incredible when fully opened to the lanai.

[OCsun]

Thanks for all the great suggestions!

[Topspinmo]

I just changed out the rollers on mind and it slides like it’s on air!

[Mjsmithx]

We have a Charlotte Courtyard Villa. After many years I was tired of the lack of insulation and the glare that would imped watching TV. My criteria: 1: wanted to retain access to the side patio as that is where I access my grill from the dining room/kitchen. 2: wanted to be able to control the sunlight in the late afternoon or when watching TV without putting in heavy curtains. 3: to have a better insulated door. The two options were to install French Doors, these needed to open to the outside (due to the sill), or to replace the door with a better quality Sliding door. I have neighbors who went the French Door route that hate them, due to lack of sealing well and the fact that there is no screen, so not able to just open the door in the spring or fall for some fresh air. We chose to install a high quality Slider that included a screen and had mini blinds between the panes that let us control the amount of light at any given time. It was not an inexpensive option, but I am totally happy with my choice. We went through Perry Doors in Spanish Springs and the door was installed in July.