Which way for PVC patio doors

[Gaz the Sparky]

Hi I hope that someone can confirm one way or other which way round my patio doors should be. I have just brought a new to me house and the patio doors open inwards with the hinges on the inside. I think the doors have been fitted the wrong way round by the builder.

I would be grateful if someone could confirm this is the case from the pictures.

The doors open inwards with the hinges on the inside. The exterior trickle vents are on the inside and the interior vents are on the outside.

The doors only open 45 degrees as they catch on the little walls either side of the doors.

the jointing strip inbetween the 2 doors is on the inside. so the doors can be forced inwards. if the strip is outside it offers more resilience to being forced inward

All the glazing strips are external on all the windows in the house and the windows either side of the doors but the glazing strips are on the inside on the patio doors.

the overlap of the doors is on the inside i would have thought the overlap should be outside so that the water flows down over the door frame

would appreciate peoples thoughts. The windows are correct and open outwards but i think when its been assembled by the builders the door frame has been installed the wrong way round.

I am intending to remove the door frame and reverse it so the doors open outwards, but before i do this i want to confirm that in fact that they have been fitted wrong and i won't do any damage by reversing them.

 

[crank39]

You could be right but check the drainage holes in the threshold to see where in the profile they are, if they are toward the back then the doors have been fitted back to front, if holes are towards the front of the profile then doors are correct. Glazing beads together with gasket used is another way to tell, hard to tell from the pictures, qualities not great

 

[Gazman16]

The 2nd pic seems to show the drainage holes are to the outside indicating the door is correct but of course the trickle vents are not.

mmm confusing as the handle seems to be the wrong way around too (no screws visible on the inside).
A couple of good external pics would help. whole door and close up of threshold

 

[foxhole]

Looks back to front, but original occupier may have requested this? Drainage holes were probably added after finding rain was getting in due to the error in fitting.

 

[Doggit]

Having the glazing bars on the outside means the glass can be taken out, so unless you fit security strips under the glass, then think about turning them. But whilst you comment that the doors can be pushed inwards, if the doors are on the outside, then a crowbar can pull them off.

But which route is going to be easier. You could knock back the dwarf walls to let the doors open easier, and you can change the trickle vents round, but you'd need new handles for them to screw up from the inside. Taking the doors out and turning them would be the right thing to do, but could cause a lot of damage.

If you're back gardens secure, then I'd leave the door in place, and if it's not, then I'd turn them round.

 

[Gaz the Sparky]

Thanks to everyone who has replied. I think they have definitely been fitted the wrong way round so I am going to swap the frame around.

I have enclosed a few more pictures and i would appreciate if those in the know could confirm what they think.

My only concern now is if i swap them around are the hinges that are fitted out to be on the outside ? Would you swap them for a different kind? Its just that you can see the screw fixings. You cannot get to the screws but you can clearly see them. Is this how it should be or are there a better design of hinge is should get to swap them over to.
thanks to those who have replied already

Sorry for the mass of pictures just trying to give as much info as possible

 

[Gazman16]

Like I said before. Drainage is external so the door was designed to open in.
Trickle vents and door handles are on the wrong way around though

 

[crank39]

Yeah defo not been fitted the wrong way around, the drainage slot in the threshold is towards the front as well as the face drain exit hole is on the outside, the fact that the trickle vents and handles are the wrong way round is likely to be a fabricating error and one that any fitter worth his salt should of swapped round, if this was a new build house and these are the windows fitted by the builder or his sub contractor then I can kind of accept why it wasn't rectified and that is because the fitter gets paid per frame fitted and rectifying mistakes costs him fitting time and thus money, its bish bash bosh and onto the next plot, bosh bash bosh and onto the next........

 

[phatboy]

As only 1 door has handles, you will need to remove the 'spring pack' inside the handles, rotate the handle 180degrees, and re-insert, so that the handles fit!

Hinges are fine, you cannot remove the screws unless the door is open.

 

[Gaz the Sparky]

Right so if the doors have been fitted correctly whats the best way to rectify the fact that the doors do not open properly? Should I cut back the dwarf walls window cills and skirting to mean that the doors can open inwards fully. I would also have to swap the handles round so that the fixing screws are on the inside and the trickle vents.

What I would prefer to do is remove the door frame and turn through 180 so the doors open outwards. This would then mean the handles, vents will be on the right way, but as stated the drainage holes would now be on the inside so this would be wrong? In theory there shouldn't be any water in the door threshold as the doors will overlap the exterior edge of the frame. If i did this would the hinges and the door frame and doors be ok now that they will be on the exterior.

Just looking at the best options

thanks

 

[Tigercubrider]

If you are doing that then it might just be easier(if expensive) to get new doors?

 

[Doggit]

Neither option is going to be easy, so it may come down to your skills - assuming you're doing it yourself. Taking out the door isn't going to be easy as everything will have been fixed in, and the trims then superglued on top, and it's never easy to dismantle these joints - you'd then need larger trims to cover over any damage, so leaving the doors in place can be a sensible idea. But if you take down the dwarf walls, you'll either need to replaster inside, or use the window board to cover the damage to the dwarf walls. As others have already pointed out, the handles can be swapped round, and the trickle vents can be replaced. The drail holes just ned to be covered over with a trim piece, or filled with sealant.

Your choice now.

 

[crank39]

What's stopping the doors opening to 90°, is it the actual internal windowboards/plaster reveals or the opening restrictor fitted to the top of the door?

 

[Gaz the Sparky]

Ok thanks for the advice. I need to see whats going to be the best option. If i manage to prize the doorframe apart then the hinges will be fine on the outside yes? or do i need to swap these for external hinges ? Also as the water vents at the bottom will then be on the inside is it ok to seal these up with silicon and then put an extra trim over the top inside to hide the holes?

If i cut the dwarf walls down then i guess that its just a case of cutting them back enough to allow the doors to open properly. I'm guessing the internal wall can be a bigger opening than the external wall to allow the doors to open. cutting the window cills and skirting boards back too

then its just a case of new trickle vents, and swapping the handles round like stated

cheers

 

[Gaz the Sparky]

What's stopping the doors opening to 90°, is it the actual internal windowboards/plaster reveals or the opening restrictor fitted to the top of the door?

Its the dwarf walls and the window cills and skirting board. So the dwarf walls need to be cut back then replastered and the window cills and skirting to be trimmed back.

to me it would be better for the doors to open outwards into the garden and personally looking at the doors the face that is inside looks more like the external side.

I just want to make sure that if I do turn the doors round that the doors will still be safe and ok.

At the moment the glazing strips holding the glass in are on the inside of the house. If i turn the doors round then they will be on the outside exterior. The rest of the windows in the house the glazing strips are on the outside. (So this again is leading me to believe that the doors are the wrong way around).

would have thought that all the windows and doors would be built the same way as they were built and purchased and installed at the same time as the house has been built