Sliding Glass Door Liability

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Old 01-10-2018, 03:57 PM
edicito edicito is offline
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Default Sliding Glass Door Liability

I just celebrated my first year in a brand new house. The sliding door to the Lanai has a threshold bar that measures 1.5 inches above the inside linoleum kitchen dining floor. I feel that this is too high and exposes me to liability in case someone trips over it and falls onto the Lanai or inside the house. Does anyone have a suggestion or has the same problem?
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Old 01-10-2018, 07:06 PM
EdFNJ EdFNJ is offline
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So did we 2 days ago. Congrats.

Call a door/window company and see if they can modify it. You could put up a "DANGER" sign or have guests sign a waiver. .

My problem was for the first 2 months I constantly face-planted myself into the glass door thinking it was opened!




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Old 01-10-2018, 07:14 PM
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14 years after thousands, from 3 to 83, coming and going with a full 3 inch step down into our lanai (or up into the family room)......without incident.

I suspect like ours most have the same step going into (or out of the garage)......again without incident.

Of course there will be the isolated incident(s). The other 98.985674% of the time we are all OK.
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Old 01-10-2018, 07:22 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by edicito View Post
I just celebrated my first year in a brand new house. The sliding door to the Lanai has a threshold bar that measures 1.5 inches above the inside linoleum kitchen dining floor. I feel that this is too high and exposes me to liability in case someone trips over it and falls onto the Lanai or inside the house. Does anyone have a suggestion or has the same problem?
So you are saying the floor of your lanai is 1.5 inches higher than inside the house? Screened lanai floors are typically lower than the rest of home to prevent flooding. I have never seen a lanai floor higher than rest of home.
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Old 01-10-2018, 07:23 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by edicito View Post
I just celebrated my first year in a brand new house. The sliding door to the Lanai has a threshold bar that measures 1.5 inches above the inside linoleum kitchen dining floor. I feel that this is too high and exposes me to liability in case someone trips over it and falls onto the Lanai or inside the house. Does anyone have a suggestion or has the same problem?


Great first post!
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Old 01-10-2018, 07:29 PM
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So you are saying the floor of your lanai is 1.5 inches higher than inside the house? Screened lanai floors are typically lower than the rest of home to prevent flooding. I have never seen a lanai floor higher than rest of home.
I think he is saying the threshold bar is 1.5 higher than inside the house, not the lanai floor.
Edicito ... welcome to the TOTV Forum!
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Old 01-10-2018, 07:48 PM
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Our neighbor had a small gradually sloping ramp from hi to lo made out of cement. Works perfect. Looks like it came with the house.
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Old 01-10-2018, 08:03 PM
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What Edicito is saying is what I actually wrote up in a warranty inspection report 2 weeks ago as an safety issue that needed to be repaired.... this threshold bar (for lack of a better term) was MUCH higher than I typically see.

Most of the time this edge is about 1/2 to 5/8 of an inch above the finished floor. This is true with most types of flooring in The Villages. In the home I inspected, I was surprised to see this bar about 1.5 inches above the linoleum floor. I do over 450 Villages inspections a year and this was the first time I have seen this. I believe this was a mistake.

I considered this a serious tripping hazard. I do not know for sure, but I suspect that the wrong threshold was installed....because if the flooring was tile it would have brought it up to what most would consider acceptable tolerances. When they installed the much thinner vinyl floor, it was too big.

While most warranty issues are addressed with no problems, every so often the builder will disagree with an issue in our report. I would suggest that in this rare case the homeowner continue to pursue this....sometimes contesting a decision and persevering will get you the outcome you want. In this case, I think it is reasonable.

I should say that I have no idea if by chance this issue is the same house I inspected....it may or may not be. I am only commenting here because I recently found the exact same issue in a home I inspected.

Frank D.
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