A Door and a Window

I knew when I bought my house that I wanted to make two fairly big semi-structural changes. One: to replace the window in my bedroom with a sliding door out to the yard; and Two: put in a window in the bathroom. I pondered other ideas as well: adding clerestory windows to the north walls in each bedroom, replacing the kitchen slider with a new slider or maybe french doors, putting a window into the garage, a clerestory in the laundry space . . . but I decided that what was most important to me was natural light in the bathroom (y'all it is SO DARK in there), a functional kitchen slider, and adding more light/a door to the back in my room. So I started getting quotes.

I was surprised at how hard it was to even find people to get quotes from; a lot of places will replace existing doors/windows for you but won't/can't (as one contractor put it) "put new holes in the exterior of your house." I did get three bids for the work - sort of. One bid was immediately tossed out: the rep was pushy and refused to listen to me when I told him what I wanted (and because of that, it was 2/3 again as much as the next highest bid).

The other two bids were fairly comparable. Both were for vinyl. Both doors and windows had identical heat ratings. Both bids covered the same work. And one was about $1k more than the other. And I liked one of the reps more - more professional, didn't call/text me non-stop about how I was feeling about the project. And luckily, those were the same bid. 

So I'm getting a Pella 250 Vinyl window in the bathroom and sliding door in my room installed, by the local Pella people, in a month. I'm super excited, especially about the bathroom window! It'll cost about $8,500, and about 2/3 of that is the sliding door, which also involves pouring a concrete stoop and some re-wiring for an exterior light.

And about that kitchen slider that I'm not replacing, despite getting quotes on it. The slider didn't close well at all. It was noted in my inspection report. In order to lock it (an exterior door!) I had to push the far side of the sliding door with my knee and push the lock down at the same time. Pretty regularly I just used the "stopper stick" in the track and left it unlocked (sorry Mom!). Everyone I talked to said the door needed replacing; that it was a weird size and would need to be custom, and that it had warped. And then the Pella installation tech came by to double check the sales rep's measurements. I mentioned to him that I was thinking about replacing the kitchen door in a year or so, and did he think I needed a custom door or would a standard size work? And I mentioned that the door didn't close properly. 

Y'all. This guy. He goes, "I bet it's just a problem with the rollers," whips out a screwdriver and FIXES MY DOOR. And showed me how to do it - and how/where I might need to adjust the locking mechanism to make sure it would latch. He was like, "I think this door's got more than a year left in it, if the issue was just the closing problem." Be still my heart!