Economy priced doors have come with plastic "Lite" frames of suspect quality for some time. Generally speaking the yellow units have shown to hold up very poorly to sun exposure and cold weather alike. They become brittle and take on an even more awful (if that's possible) yellowing appearance than they had when new.
Today new white UV resistant units are available to be used as direct replacements. They can provide a great upgrade without going through the expense and labor of replacing the entire door.
Perhaps you would like a new look to your existing door - at a great price. You can change the frame around the glass from one with "panes" to one without, or vice versa. The door industry uses just a few common sizes of openings (holes) in the door to insert the glass/frame.
My cut and paste capabilities don't show it very well, but these 2 doors (from different manufacturers) have the same glass opening. You can swap out the "15 Lite" version for the "Plane Glass" version.
Perhaps you would like a new look to your existing door - at a great price. You can change the frame around the glass from one with "panes" to one without, or vice versa. The door industry uses just a few common sizes of openings (holes) in the door to insert the glass/frame.
My cut and paste capabilities don't show it very well, but these 2 doors (from different manufacturers) have the same glass opening. You can swap out the "15 Lite" version for the "Plane Glass" version.We are talking about window frames where the "grids" (or "grills" or "panes", whatever you prefer to call them) are mounted to the outside of the glass. If you have the style (or want the style) where they are between the glass - that's a different story and you have to get a new unit with glass. These surface mounted units are basically sandwiching the insulated glass unit between them and are held in by screws on the inside (of the door) grid panel. The screw holes are often covered with little plastic circles that you simply pop off with a small screwdriver.
After you have identified the style and outside dimensions of your new frame, you only need be mindful of one thing - the thickness of the glass unit. This is not hard, but it is important. The good news is that on residential doors whether metal or fiberglass there are only 2 major thicknesses of glass units. These are 1/2" (most popular), and 1" (less popular).
Don't be thrown-off by the picture (above) showing how the inside and outside pieces come together. The large space in the foreground of the picture represents the thickness of the door, don't worry about that, it's the more difficult to see space deeper in the pic that is the approx 1/2" most doors use.
I can tell just by glancing at the metal spacer bar between the panes of insulated glass. Remember when we are determining 1/2" vs 1" it is the outside of glass to outside of glass measurement. This means the "1/2" unit will have a spacer bar that appears to be less than a 1/2" or you may believe you could lay a pencil on top of the bar. The 1" unit will look much bigger you can easily imagine a nickle sitting on that bar between the glass.
Of course a micrometer is what your supposed to use, but nobody actually owns one.
The proper method would be to unscrew the moulding around the glass from inside the house. To be safe have someone else gently pushing up against the glass unit from the outside - as that is the way it will want to fall out. Once removed you will have access to the edge of the insulated glass unit. This is easily measured with a ruler, or you can always gauge it with a piece of paper - and then measure that.
When installing your new unit, you want to be sure that you have cleaned the old piece of glass the best you can. Clear silicone is the order of the day for the exterior portion of the project. First silicone the glass to the outside perimeter of your new frame. Ideally you would let this set overnight. Second, you want to apply the same silicone to the area where the frame and the door meet. This is not necessary on the inside.
There are numerous configurations of these grids but pricing on the most popular are as follows:
9 Lite 23 3/4" x 37 3/4" $54.99 plus shipping
1/2 Lite 23 3/4" x 37 3/4" $49.99 plus shipping
1 Lite 23 3/4" x 65 3/4" $74.99 plus shipping
15 Lite 23 3/4" x 65 3/4" $79.99 plus shipping
21 3/4" widths are also popular - same price
Shipping cost per unit is greatly reduced when ordering more than 1 unit.
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