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Putting Glass in Entry Door
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Posted by qs777 (My Page) on Thu, Nov 19, 09 at 12:23
| We want to somehow get more light in our house during the winter and was wondering if it is possible to cut out portions of our front double doors and put glass in. I know there is a company that comes out and does things like this but that may be too much $$$ for us and I don't like their designs - a little too ornate for our house. Our doors are flat from the mid 70's and seem to be in pretty good condition. Has anyone done this themselves? |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Putting Glass in Entry Door
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| I had a contractor (regular all purpose contractor)do this on my front door. He installed a double pane glass panel in the middle, no design. If I remember, it cost me about $300. Door is custom size from the 60's ... I hung a piece of stained glass on the door, and it really brightened that area up. |
RE: Putting Glass in Entry Door
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| We didn't do it ourselves, but our entry was very dark and once we added a door with glass, the different was like night and day! The only doors with glass I've ever seen have thick double paned, tempered glass. So how you would go about doing it, I'm not so sure. However, our door wasn't extremely expensive and there were a number of plain and ornate patterns to choose from. You may want to check out the selection of special order doors at Lowes. Here's our door so you can see a sample, I think we paid around 500 for it 2 years ago plus another 100.00 installation. Here's a picture before we added trim sorry, it's the only pic I have. 
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RE: Putting Glass in Entry Door
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| We are thinking about doing this, too, but we'll probably just get a new door because ours is builder grade painted steel (or whatever metal they use). Our next door neighbor has a gorgeous cherry wood door with a full, plain, clear glass panel in the middle. She hung a beautiful silk curtain on clip rings on a rod above it and pulls it off to the side during the day, closing it for privacy at night. It looks amazing, and lets so much light in. |
RE: Putting Glass in Entry Door
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| We did this when we moved to our present home 4 years ago. We had a solid panelled front door which made the entry hall extremely dark. We purchased a door window from Home Depot specifically made for exterior steel doors, cost about $125. It is about 65" long and resembles a french door window. Like anything else, it takes time, but is not extremely difficult to do. My husband removed the door, placed it on two horses outside, then cut out the panels with a circular saw. He caulked under the lip of the window, dropped it in and painted. It looks fabulous and lets in plenty of light, considering it is a north facing house. And the price was right! If you are a DIYer, I'd say go for it! |
RE: Putting Glass in Entry Door
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| Thanks, everyone, for all of the great insight. Lukkirish, I like your door a lot (and the paint color on your walls as we have the same color). I've looked at all of the big box stores and nothing strikes out at me because I need to see it in a real setting and our house just doesn't appear to have any specific style to it to lead me in any direction. Yours does look great! Pam, I love the idea of adding a hanging piece of stained glass to change things up. Hope you don't mind if I steal that idea ;) I wish I could have a new cherry door like your neighbor, Dawn but that's just not in the budget at this point since we have a double door. We also tend to have too many projects going on at once so I was hoping to use money in other places to get something finished. I didn't even think of a window specifically for a door from Home Depot, Shellsmom. That sounds like what we may try. I figure we can't mess it up too badly. Thanks for the encouragement! |
RE: Putting Glass in Entry Door
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| qs777, thank you, I love our door. Our house is a traditional Colonial but foyer is small and I'm not into the real ornate. I wanted something that would lighten the space and distort the interior view should someone come to the door. This wasn't on their larger display where they hang all the doors, it was a small display with pamphlets. There was also information inside one of the product books they have behind the counter. I believe it's made by Jeld-wen. |
RE: Putting Glass in Entry Door
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| qs777 - here's some pictures that show the door, not close though ... it's not a door I use so I hung the stained glass piece. Outside:
 From the inside:
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RE: Putting Glass in Entry Door
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| pamghatten - That looks great! And I love the color of your door - a very refreshing change from the usual colors, although I love those as well. We use our doors somewhat, but I figured I could use some museum putty on the back to affix it to the door so it doesn't hit it. We have lots of that stuff around here for earthquakes. Thanks for posting your picture! |
RE: Putting Glass in Entry Door
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| You are very welcome ... my house has lots of color ... I also painted my barn the same purple! Can't miss my house/farm. |
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