“I love everything about my kitchen except this sliding glass door,” Amanda said. She owns a home in Hanover, MA.. “It’s great in one way – it’s so easy to keep an eye on my three kids while they’re playing in the back yard, and it’s really convenient to just be able to step out onto the deck when we want to barbecue.” She shook her head. “But what I don’t love is how this old sliding glass door is hard to open. My six year old just can’t open it at all – it’s just too heavy for her.”
“It was the Science Fair that convinced me that door had to go,” Amanda said with a laugh. Her oldest son did a project on energy conservation and how important it is to not waste heat or air conditioning through leaky windows and doors. “Basically, a sliding glass door is a giant window,” Amanda said. “And on a hot day, you can stand in front of it and practically get cooked! I figured if all that heat is getting in in the summer, how much is getting out in the winter?”
When she started shopping for replacement doors in Hanover, Amanda was surprised by all the options available to her. “I thought if you took a sliding glass door out, you had to have a new sliding glass door installed in its place,” she said. “But there are so many choices.” The minute she saw that replacement doors were available in a French door style, Amanda was hooked. “Not only are these easy for the kids to open, I feel like they’re a more secure option. And the energy efficiency can’t be beat. I didn’t really expect to see a huge change in our utility bill, but even with our AC running, our bill has gone down! As far as I’m concerned, having a replacement door installed has been win, win, win!”