We finally had our patio door replaced today. The old one was in bad shape and to open or close it, we had to really lean into it and drag it along the track. I tried and failed to find a compatible set of new wheels, or alternatively someone to fix to old door.  My concern was that one day one of us would yank the thing right off its tracks. Shopping for a patio door is a pain in the neck. It’s really hard to compare quality and price and some of the companies out there doing this work are difficult to deal with. Regular readers may recall a post here from late summer about our experience trying to buy a door from another company. They wanted us to sign a 9 page contract and give them half down, but refused to commit to an installation deadline in the contract.

We finally settled on a company called George Kent. They were really easy to deal with and their product seemed to be pretty good and the price was fair. I was concerned about having it installed today since it is so cold outside, but I needn’t have been. Three experienced installers showed up. These guys knew what they were doing and they were fast. It only took about 3 hours to take out the old unit, install the new one, add the hardware and new exterior flashing and sweep up after themselves.

The previous door – which was old when we moved into this house – was a real pain in the neck. I’m happy to have a safe, secure and functioning sliding door in its place.