Bartlett Window Replacement provides professional french doors in Bartlett, IL for residential and commercial properties across Chicago's northwest suburbs along Route 59. French doors were the upgrade box on a nineties Bartlett build sheet, checked by people who wanted something better than a slider. They are better. They are also two doors trying to seal against each other in the middle, which is a harder engineering problem than it looks.
The middle is called the astragal, and it is where almost every French door complaint originates. The inactive leaf carries a vertical strip with flush bolts top and bottom, and the active leaf latches into it. When any of that goes out of alignment the doors stop meeting, light shows through the joint, and cold air comes with it.
Alignment goes for two reasons here. Either the header above has deflected, which happens on wide openings framed lightly thirty years ago, or the hinge screws have pulled in a jamb that was never anchored through to the trimmer stud. The second is far more common and it is genuinely easy to fix: long structural screws through the hinge leaf into framing, then a hinge shim to bring the leaf back to plumb.
Multipoint hardware changed this category and it is worth understanding before you buy. Lifting the handle drives locking points into the frame top and bottom as well as at the center, so the entire leaf gets drawn evenly into its gasket rather than pinched at one spot. On a wide pair in a windward wall, that is what separates a tight door from a noisy one.
The swing direction question comes up on every Bartlett deck and the answer is usually in-swing. An out-swing leaf sheds water better and never loses interior floor space, but it also stands open into a deck traffic path, and in this climate it collects snow against its threshold all winter. In-swing keeps the weather side simpler at the cost of a floor arc you have to plan furniture around.
Glass in French doors is nearly always bonded or captured in a molded panel frame, so the reglaze route that saves money elsewhere on this site usually does not apply. A fogged lite in a French door generally means a new door slab. We check anyway, because a handful of clad wood lines from that era used a removable interior stop and those can be saved.
There is a version of this job we talk people out of. If the existing pair works, seals reasonably and only looks dated, new hardware, a fresh gasket set, adjusted hinges and a paint or refinish will get you most of the way for a small fraction of a replacement pair. Doors are a durable good, and a sound one that has been ignored is not the same thing as a worn out one.
For new installations the threshold detail is the whole job. A French pair has a horizontal joint at the sill where two leaves, an astragal and a threshold all meet, and that intersection is the single most leak-prone point in any residential opening. It gets a sloped pan, sealed corners and a proper sweep set, or it will find the subfloor within a few seasons.
Our licensed and insured team brings the right materials and equipment to every job — snap-in interior glazing bead bedded on butyl glazing tape, polyisobutylene primary seal behind a silicone secondary seal, desiccant-filled aluminum box spacer of the 1990s glass package, sash lite bonded to its frame with structural glazing silicone, coil-spring block-and-tackle balance matched to sash weight, tilt latch and pivot bar cut for a discontinued sash profile — and backs the work with a written workmanship warranty. We serve Bartlett and nearby communities including Streamwood, Hanover Park, Schaumburg, Hoffman Estates.
What We Handle
Everything our french doors in Bartlett covers
One crew, one point of contact, and the full range of french doors work in Bartlett, IL. If it is on this list we do it in house rather than handing it to a subcontractor:
- french doors Bartlett
- french door installation Illinois
- hinged patio door
- french door multipoint lock
- french door astragal
- french door sagging
- in swing french doors
- out swing french doors
- french door glass replacement
- french door weatherstrip
- double door alignment
- french door screen
- french door threshold
- atrium door replacement
- french door hardware
- french door cost Bartlett
Not sure which one describes your situation? Describe it in plain words and we will sort it out — or browse the rest of our Bartlett services.
Materials, equipment and how we do french doors
The difference between french doors that lasts and french doors that gets redone in three years is almost always preparation and materials, not the finish you see on day one. We work with snap-in interior glazing bead bedded on butyl glazing tape, polyisobutylene primary seal behind a silicone secondary seal, desiccant-filled aluminum box spacer of the 1990s glass package, sash lite bonded to its frame with structural glazing silicone, spec them to the job instead of to the invoice, and write the material grades into the free estimate so you know exactly what you are buying.
Every Bartlett job runs the same way: site walk and measurements, written scope and fixed price, protection of the surrounding area, then the work itself with a daily clean-up. Years of window work in Chicago's northwest suburbs along Route 59 means we have already met whatever your property is going to throw at us — awkward access, older construction, an HOA with opinions.
Where we do french doors outside Bartlett
Bartlett Window Replacement covers Bartlett and the surrounding communities of Chicago's northwest suburbs along Route 59. Crews run out to the same nearby cities every week, so an out-of-town job does not mean an out-of-town price.
- French Doors in Streamwood, IL — Cook County, population 39,577
- French Doors in Hanover Park, IL — Cook County, part in DuPage County, population 37,470
- French Doors in Schaumburg, IL — Cook County, population 78,723
- French Doors in Hoffman Estates, IL — Cook County, population 52,530
- French Doors in Elk Grove Village, IL — Cook County, part in DuPage County, population 32,812
- French Doors in Palatine, IL — Cook County, population 67,908
Start on the Bartlett Window Replacement homepage for a free estimate, or call (844) 511-2320 and describe the job.
Why Bartlett Chooses Bartlett Window Replacement
- ✓Every quote carries the reglaze price beside the replacement price for the same opening, because on most 1990s Bartlett sash the failed part is the glass and the frame is still square.
- ✓We take a sash apart before we bid. Whether a glazing bead snaps out or the lite is bonded into the vinyl decides the entire job, and it is a two-minute answer nobody else bothers to get.
- ✓When a balance, a roller or a crank operator is the only thing wrong, we quote that alone and hand it back. It does not get folded into a whole-house number you did not ask anyone for.
- ✓High great-room and transom glass is priced with its staging on the same line, so the reach is visible as its own cost and you can decide how much of that elevation to finish in one visit.
The standards behind french doors
Quality here is not a matter of opinion — it is written down. The french doors work we do in Bartlett follows published industry standards: NFRC sets the U-factor and SHGC ratings on every window label, and ENERGY STAR defines the efficiency thresholds by climate zone. If a contractor cannot tell you which standard a detail comes from, that is worth asking about before you sign.
Every french doors project in Bartlett gets the same attention, whether it is a single room or a full commercial job. We show up on schedule, keep the site clean, and stand behind the work — the estimate is free and there is no pressure.
Ready to get started? Call (844) 511-2320 for a free french doors free estimate in Bartlett, or request a quote and we'll get right back to you.