We want french doors off our family room that swing open onto the screen porch. They will be 6 feet wide. Has anyone here ever used 2 regular doors rather than patio doors? My contractor says this can save us a ton of money, which would be nice at this stage. He says the size of the door and the windows are the same. It just has a different feel than a patio door. Has anyone else ever done this? Or not? Or have an opinion? I've done some searches and I can't find any info on this topic. Thanks so much.

I have seen the setup I think you're talking about (2 doors in 1 single frame to mimic the look of the patio doors). They took 2 doors and put a working latch & deadbolt on one and the receptor on the other. The receptor door also had a non-functioning handle and a slide bolt on the top & bottom for stability/security when the door was in the closed & locked position. You might be able to have a 3 point locking mechanism installed--check with your builder on this.

The big thing that stands out to me when you do this is that it is hard to get the same look of the patio doors. Patio doors like you get from Pella, Jeld-wen, Andersen, Marvin, etc all have a more sleek look because the glass sits in a low profile frame. Most imitators have a bulky plastic frame that holds the glass in place. In my experience, the plastic yellows (even with a coat of paint on it) and the plugs for the screw holes never line up properly. The closest I have been able to find to a door that looks like the real patio doors from the manufacturers mentioned above is the Plastpro flush glazed door. You may want to check them out. If you want to see photos, just ask--we used the Plastpro doors on our house.

Reliabilt here