A real door to the backyard, sealed like your front door. One glass leaf that swings fully clear beside a fixed glass panel, installed by our own employees and backed by a 15-year labor warranty.
The Choices
Picking the door type settles how it opens and not much else. Every door we order is built to the exact size of your opening, and these six choices are what we actually sit down and go through, at your kitchen table or in the 4,000 sq. ft. Southgate showroom where you can swing the real thing.
Fiberglass with dovetailed hardwood stiles and rails for the stained-wood look without the upkeep, 20-gauge steel with a composite lock block for security and value. The main doors page compares both with real wood, which we do not carry, so you can see why.
Clear, privacy, or decorative glass, with insulated Low-E glazing wherever there is glass. Narrow sidelites beside the door and a transom above it turn a dark hallway light without giving up the wall.
Stained woodgrains in mahogany, cherry, oak, knotty alder and fir, or a smooth slab in the color you actually want. ProVia's home visualizer shows the door on a photo of your own house before anything is ordered.
Handlesets and deadbolts are the visible half. The working half is a three-point locking system that anchors the slab at the top, center and bottom, with a security plate behind the strike.
Widths and heights come in eighth-inch increments, so the door fills the opening it was measured for. Nothing is trimmed to fit on installation day, and the frame goes in as one piece with the slab.
An aluminum storm door in front takes the rain, road salt and afternoon sun so the entry door does not have to, and swaps its glass for a screen when spring shows up.
We do not publish a price per door, because an honest one does not exist. A storm door and a double entry with sidelites are not close to the same job. Cost tracks the size of the opening, the material, the glass and hardware you choose, and what the crew finds once the old frame comes out. What we promise is the full number in writing at the estimate, before anything is ordered, with no pressure to sign that day.
Flexible financing is available. You can also open and close the real thing at our 4,000 sq. ft. showroom in Southgate before you commit to anything.
In Detail
A hinged patio door, sometimes called a garden door, is a glass door that behaves like a door: hung on hinges, swinging on a frame, closing by compression. It usually arrives as a pair of glass panels, one that swings and one that is fixed, and it is the answer for people who want the light of a patio door with the feel and seal of a proper entry.
A sliding panel has to keep a running clearance from its track, and its seals wipe rather than press. A hinged leaf has no such truce to keep. Closing it pulls the slab against weatherstripping on all four sides, and the latch holds it compressed there, which is the same sealing mechanism as the front of your house. On a wall that catches winter wind off the yard, that difference is one you can feel from the couch.
The leaf can hinge on either side and swing into the room or out over the patio, and the right answer depends on the furniture inside and the traffic outside. An out-swing leaf never argues with the dining table; an in-swing never fights the grill. It is a five-minute conversation at the estimate and worth having before ordering, because it is built into the unit rather than adjusted later.
Choose hinged for the tighter seal, the fully cleared opening, and the way a swinging door feels. Choose sliding when there is no room for a swing on either side, or when the goal is the widest possible glass in three or four panels. The glass, the blinds-between-panes option, and the warranty are the same either way, so the decision is about the wall and the room, not the spec sheet.
Treat it like the entry door it secretly is: a drop of oil on the hinges now and then, a wipe of the weatherstripping when you wash the glass, and the threshold kept clear of grit. With blinds sealed between the panes there is nothing hanging on the door to swing, bang, or fade.
More Door Types
A door is chosen twice: once for where it goes and once for what it is made of. These are the other openings we build for, backed by the same 15-year labor warranty.
The front door, with or without the narrow sidelites beside it. This is the one that sets the tone for the whole front of the house, and the one a stranger judges first. Fiberglass or steel, glass or solid, in a finish you pick rather than one the big-box store had in stock.
Two leaves that meet in the middle and open into a much wider opening than a single door can. Worth it when the entry is grand enough to carry it, or when furniture has to get through. Both leaves are hinged, so nothing is lost to a fixed panel.
One panel glides sideways past a fixed one. Nothing swings into the room or out onto the deck, which makes it the practical answer for a patio where a chair or a grill sits close to the wall. Big glass, small footprint.
A painted aluminum door that hangs in front of the entry door and takes the weather so that door does not have to. Full-view models swap the glass for a screen when spring comes, so you can leave the front door open and still keep the bugs outside.
The Advantages
A slider rides in a track; a hinged patio door closes against a frame. That one difference is the whole argument: compression sealing, a full clear opening, and the familiar swing of a real door where the house meets the yard.
Compression Sealed
The leaf pulls tight against weatherstripping on all four sides, the same seal your entry door makes.
The Opening Clears
The leaf swings out of the doorway entirely, so the full width is usable, no half-blocked pass-through.
Blinds in the Glass
Aluminum slats sealed between the panes: privacy on demand and never anything to dust.
15-Year Labor Warranty
On the installation, on top of the manufacturer's coverage on the door itself.
What Sets Us Apart
When the company that sold you the job is not the company that installed it, a warranty call two years later turns into a search for whoever did the work. We do not work that way. Our own employees do the installation, never subcontractors, and the 15-year labor warranty comes from us, so there is one company to call.
1979
Family-owned and operating since
15
Year labor warranty on our workmanship
3
Generations of the Adkins family
We are a Pella Platinum Elite Certified Contractor, which means our crews are factory-trained and certified directly by Pella. They are our own employees, on our payroll, not a subcontracted crew hired for the week.
View Our CertificationFactory-Trained Crews Certified Directly by Pella
Our Own Employees, Never Subcontractors
Our Process
A door is a one-day job done right and a lifetime of annoyance done wrong. Four steps, one point of contact, and a house that is closed up before we leave.
01
We measure the rough opening, check the sill and the framing around it, and give you straight numbers in writing. You can also come open and close the options yourself at our 4,000 sq. ft. Southgate showroom.
02
Widths and heights are made to your measurements rather than picked off a rack, so the door fills the hole it was built for. You choose the slab, the glass, the finish and the hardware before anything is ordered.
03
Our own factory-trained crew pulls the old unit, checks what is behind it, sets the new frame plumb and square, seals it, and finishes the trim. Floor protection goes down before the old door comes off.
04
We open, close, lock and unlock the door with you, adjust the threshold and the strike, haul the old unit away, and register your 15-year labor warranty before we go.
Warranty
15
Years Warranty
Every installation is backed by our industry-leading 15-year labor warranty, on top of the manufacturer's coverage on the door itself. If the workmanship ever needs attention, one call and we make it right, at no cost to you.
180 Month
2
Years Warranty
Most door companies stand behind their installation for only a year or two. Once that coverage runs out, drafts, leaks, and seal failures become the homeowner's problem to fix.
24 Month
Hinged Patio Questions
A hinged patio door is one swinging glass leaf next to a fixed glass panel. A French pair swings on both sides with no fixed panel. The pair gives you the wider clear opening; the single hinged leaf costs less and still seals by compression.
Whichever the room and the patio prefer. Out-swing keeps the leaf away from furniture inside; in-swing keeps it clear of the grill and the walkway outside. The hinge side is chosen the same way, and both are decided at the estimate because they are built into the unit.
The sealing favors the hinged door: it compresses against weatherstripping on all four sides instead of wiping past it. A well-built slider with triple weatherstripping closes most of that gap, which is why the honest answer at the estimate depends on your wall, not a blanket rule.
Adkins & Sons employees, factory-trained installers on our own payroll, never subcontractors. The unit is built to your measured opening, set plumb and square, sealed, and covered by our 15-year labor warranty on top of the manufacturer's coverage on the door itself.
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Areas We Serve
One family company out of Southgate, working across Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, and Washtenaw counties since 1979. Find your city below for local details.
