Impact French doors
Hinged, fully glazed, and they clear nearly the whole opening.
Specifications
How it works
- Operation
- One or two hinged leaves, in-swing or out-swing
- The whole leaf moves out of the opening, so you get nearly the full width, unlike a slider.
- In-swing
- Generally the better water seal
- Wind pressure pushes the leaf onto its weatherstripping instead of away from it. It costs you interior floor space.
- Out-swing
- Frees interior space, needs non-removable hinge pins
- The hinges end up outside, so the pins must not be removable. Common in the Caribbean and wherever the room is tight.
- Locking
- Stainless multipoint
- A multipoint lock pulls the leaf onto the frame at several points at once, which is both the security and a large part of the pressure rating.
What to ask for
- Impact rating
- Large Missile — TAS 201, 202 and 203
- The Miami-Dade test protocol.
- Design pressure (DP)
- On the NOA, per model and per size
- The pressure the unit is approved to take.
- Product approval
- Miami-Dade Notice of Acceptance
- The document that makes the unit legal here.
The exact figures come from the Notice of Acceptance of your model at your size. We give you yours with the quote.
Product approvals
8 product approvals on file for this type: the number, the revision and the expiry of each, with the document, filed by manufacturer.
What a French door does that a slider does not
Clears nearly the entire opening rather than about half
A compression seal all round the leaf when it is locked
Sidelites available, so the composition can be as wide as a slider
Available in one or two operable leaves, and up to four panels in one frame
Traditional appearance where a slider would look wrong
Multipoint hardware that resists corrosion in coastal air
About French doors
In-swing or out-swing?
In-swing seals better against water because the wind pushes the leaf onto its seals; out-swing gives you back the floor space the leaf would have used. If the room is tight, out-swing with non-removable hinge pins is a perfectly good answer. It is a decision we make with you at the measure, not a preference we impose.
Can I have a French door as wide as my slider?
With sidelites, usually yes. The fixed side panels carry the width while the operable leaves stay a sensible size. It is how you keep the look of a French door across an opening that was built for a slider.
Do the leaves rattle in the wind?
Not with a multipoint lock working properly, because it clamps the leaf to the frame at several points rather than one. If an existing door rattles, that is usually the hardware rather than the door.
Other types in the same line
If this is not the one you were after, these are the ones next to it.
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