What Are French Doors?
French doors instantly make a statement, especially when they’re leading out on to beautifully-kept grounds and gardens. They’re one feature that fits right in within period properties and are just as impressive within many other types of homes.
A quick intro to French doors
In conservation areas, you can’t really change your windows; not even the colour in some circumstances! But since French doors are usually tucked away at the back of properties, you can have more design input and create something that’s really unique.
How French doors work
French doors do vary from house-to-house when it comes to style, but they are essentially large casements!
This means they all tend to work in the same way. However, compared to casement windows, they have much bigger profiles to take the extra weight of the glass and frames. Dimension-wise, they’re a lot larger than windows too.
The history of French doors
Are French doors actually French? The origins of the doors go back to Renaissance Europe, and it’s debated whether this style of the glazed door came from France or Italy. But the glazed doors were used on small Juliette balconies (named after Romeo and Juliette) instead of panelled doors to flood rooms with natural light.
It became instantly popular to use large doors of glass and so French doors spread to the UK and the US.
French doors now
The original French doors were fairly small and would typically only need to hold a 4mm pane of glass. This helped the door profiles look thin and elegant.
Today we benefit from high ceilings and it’s become trendy to use tall doors to match. The taller and wider the door is the more glass it has; providing more natural light into a living space.
French doors made in our current era are either smaller than French doors of the past or start to fall apart because they are required to have double glazing in them. The additional weight of the double glazing causes the joints in the door to come apart, meaning the new doors last 3-4x less than they should. Some manufacturers avoid making tall doors to prevent any callbacks or complaints.
More facts about our French doors
We offer a 2.4m tall French door that is guaranteed to last thanks to the joints we use and the multi-point locking system that keeps the doors firmly pressed against the draught seals. Our clients enjoy beautiful doors that will last the test of time. We even offer a bespoke design service to get the French doors of your dreams.
Learn more about Edwardian French Doors & Georgian French Doors today
