Outward swinging french doors

Specific Inspection Topics Exterior Inspections
#1

I have a client who has about 28-30 outward swinging french doors. The contractor who installed them, installed the Endura sills backwards (threshold facing inside) and every door has leaked causing damage to hardwood floor. He told her that they were done that way because the doors swing outward.

In addition, they installed the windows on the 3rd floor backwards, causing gaps which have leaked. They installed double hung windows on the 1st and 2nd floor. The contractor ordered the wrong sized windows and had the nail the top section of the window shut and installed a small piece of molding to act as a backstop for the bottom sash.

Any thoughts or comments? Do anyone have a diagram of the installation of outward swinging french doors and the thresholds?

GEDC0086.jpg
GEDC0086.jpg800×600 55.5 KB

GEDC0001.jpg
GEDC0001.jpg800×600 59.8 KB

Reported Post by sstanczyk
#2

Do you know the brand of door?
Below is link for Pella, or they have a number to call.

#3

The doors look to me like they were designed to open inward, and he reversed it. You can’t simply reverse the install. The doors have to be made for either swinging in or out. I have an outward swinging French door at my house, and it does NOT look like that.

#4

The doors are Caoba. That was my thought also Joe. The client even stated they had to rigg the doors and windows to get them to fit. I told her that the doors looked to have been inward swinging and that they were reversed. This house is 3 years old and the hardwood flooring is cupping and curling all though the downstairs. I told her that it appears that the water is seeping in through the large cracks left at the bottom of the doors and seeping down the seams of the hardwood. Also, she has the air tight sprayed foam insulation in the crawlspace. So the moisture has no where to go other than back out the flooring. She is concerned with the subfloor and I told her that the only way to examine it under the current setup would be to remove the floor boards in the suspected areas becuase that would likely be the damaged areas if the subfloor was damaged at all.

GEDC0008.jpg
GEDC0008.jpg800×600 60.2 KB

GEDC0012.jpg
GEDC0012.jpg800×600 25.4 KB

#5

The installation arrangement of the doors is definitely a problem, but I will also say that similar floor damage problems (but not as great) can also exist if the doorway is an unsheltered area (no porch roof or effective guttering system).

#6

That’s an inswing door installed backwards. On an outswing door it will have a bumper sill so that the door closes against it as opposed to an inswing door where the door sweeps across and stops on top of the threshold.

#7

Excellent opportunity to use a thermal imager and moisture meter to confirm.

#8

I agree…

#9

Outswing doors are designed and built differently. Personally I hate them, unless they happen to have some decent exterior coverage (like a nice soffit or covered porch).

#10

There is also the security concern when a standard hinge is exposed to the exterior.

www.MauiHomeInspections.com

#11

Very good point!

#12

They can check the condition of the subfloor when the doors are removed and replaced facing the proper direction.

#13

Most outward doors I’ve seen have secured pins in the hinges. But on the flip side, an outward swing door is less likely to be kicked in.

#14

Outswinging doors are often used in coastal or beach applications due to the design naturally resists wind and water intrusion (hurricanes, etc.). I see inswinging doors improperly installed all the time here along the Gulf coast. Very often the low man on the totem pole gets to hang doors and windows, attic ladders, mostly grunt work no one likes to do. That is one reason we as HI see discrepancies on these repeatedly. (Drywall screws in attic ladder frames…:neutral:) If it done by a good trim carpenter, it will done right but trim carpenters make more than rough carpenter so people will try to save a buck. You get what you pay for.

#15

No doubt in my mind that is a bad install.
The whole unit is backwards arse.

The threshhold is sloping in on the whole unit on the inside.

Here is an outswing threshhold.
http://www.door-thresholds.com/images/endura/outthreshold.jpg

http://www.kolbe-kolbe.com/images/products/Sill_OutswingDr_Lg.jpg

:):smiley:

#16

Thefrench doors usually don’t cause leakage infact these doors are considered as good doors for safety reasons . i think all the damage done by the contractor who installed them .These doors should be swinging inward .

#17

Looks like some one is changing out a lot of doors and windows or going to court. How stupid can someone be to install these.

#18

Anybody notice that this thread is 6 years old?

#19

Should you find a hinge with the pin exposed on the exterior it should have a security pin installed through the barrel of the hinge and through the pin. This prevents the pin from being driven out. Professionally done they use roll and or taper pins, I have installed many doors like this and when the proper hinge was not available we drilled a 1/16 hole and drove a slightly bent nail through cutting off both head and end flush.

#20

https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT4yeYD_3GdvyUW_p8_kZLzfJxAUSch149pTMbaCvq5ur17wIwU