We install the Vinylguard entry door system. Composite frame, polyurethane foam core, multi point locking, and a self draining sill, quoted as a complete system rather than a new slab in a tired old frame.
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How it goes together
Configuration first, because it is limited by your opening. Then material, then glass. We work through all three at the estimate.
Single door, single with one sidelite, single with two sidelites, double door, or double with two sidelites. Every configuration is available with or without a transom above.
Panels come in 30, 32, 34, 36 and 42 inch widths, in 6 foot 8 and 8 foot heights.
Steel, smooth fiberglass, woodgrain mahogany fiberglass, or woodgrain fir fiberglass in the Craftsman range.
All four sit in the same composite frame system, in a smooth or woodgrain finish, so the tested performance does not change with the panel you pick.
Doorlite shapes run from full lite down to quarter lite Craftsman, plus three, four and five lite modern arrangements.
Then the glass itself, from five collections, rated by privacy level so you can match the street exposure.
Door and sidelite panels
All four carry a polyurethane foam core. The differences are in the skin, the texture, and how they behave in full sun.
The one pictured is a grooved woodgrain door in black, with full height sidelites and an arched transom, all in one composite frame.
Top quality 24 gauge galvanized construction with superior rust inhibition. Solid reinforcements mean the hardware mounts securely into the wood edge rather than into hollow skin.
Rot resistant composite top and bottom rails, with engineered 2 inch hinge and 4 inch latch stiles. The fiberglass skin resists dents, cracks and warping.
A closed grain texture that is hard to tell from real wood at arm's length, without the seasonal movement wood gives you in this climate.
The Craftsman range, in fir rather than mahogany. Suits the older stock around Ottawa South and the Glebe better than a flat modern panel does.
Frame and performance
Most door problems are frame and sill problems, not panel problems. The Vinylguard entry system was tested with the University of Waterloo and outperformed common wood frame materials on water penetration resistance.
PG40
The system achieved a combined NAFS designator of PG40, resisting 8 inches of water driven at 80 km/h.
PG55
The composite frame withstands wind speeds up to 246 km/h, which is category 4 hurricane territory and well past anything Ottawa produces.
Sill
Built in water reservoirs route moisture away from the house, on a structural composite that takes the traffic of a front step.
Sweep
Automotive grade synthetic rubber, holding its seal from minus 40 through to plus 82 Celsius.
Mull post
The NAFS compliant reinforced mull post takes 70 percent more force than back to back jambs, so a door with sidelites does not sag over time.
Corners
Welded corners make the joints airtight and add stability over the non welded frames commonly used at this price.
Glass
Each design carries a privacy level from 1 to 10. Level 1 is clear, level 10 blocks the view entirely. Worth matching to how close your door sits to the street.
Maximum natural light with solar glare protection. Tempered Low-E glass with argon gas as standard.
Practical and timeless, easy to clean, and colour customizable to match the frame.
A venting single hung window inside the doorlite, with a bug screen. Useful on a front hall that never gets a cross breeze.
The same venting unit with 5/8 inch white grills.
Sandblasted silkscreen centre with clear borders, and it still vents. High privacy without giving up the airflow.
Blinds sealed inside the glass unit. Nothing to dust, no cords, and full privacy on demand.
A satin glass texture. The highest privacy in this collection.
A modern tight square texture.
The classic glass texture, and the one most people picture when they say frosted.
A modern rain drip texture, vertical and quite directional.
A water ripple texture. Medium privacy, so light still reads as light rather than a blur.
Sandblasted finish with a polished V groove line.
Sandblasted silkscreen centre with clear borders. Contemporary and transitional.
White silkscreen with black gloss ink and a clear glass line. Available in left and right configurations.
White silkscreen with black gloss ink and a clear line. The quietest of the modern set.
Sandblasted with polished V groove lines. Simple and elegant.
Clear and sandblasted silkscreen with a Ceraprint woodgrain texture in Walnut or Aspen. Left and right configurations.
Sandblasted finish with a clear glass line. Modern and classic at once, at medium privacy.
Sixteen designs with handcrafted caming, sealed in tempered glass. All use Patina caming as standard.
Sable and clear beveled
Screen, satin, beveled clear
Mica frosting, luminating reeds
Aqualite and satin
Granite, chinchilla, beveled
Pinhead, chord, krinkle
Clear ripple, mica, lava beveled
Granite, glue chip, beveled
Pinhead, chord, krinkle
Rain, chinchilla, beveled
Screen, clear, clear beveled
Granite, sable, clear beveled
Granite, chinchilla, beveled
Satin, clear, clear beveled
Rain, granite, luminating reed
Diamond, textured screen, beveled
Wrought iron over a sandblasted glass backing, sealed between two panes of tempered glass.
The more ornate of the two, available in left and right configurations for a double door.
Ten of them, in place
Manufacturer photography. Useful for seeing how much light each design actually lets through, which a swatch never shows.
Finishes
Entry door colours are matched across the Vinylguard window and patio door ranges, so the whole house can read as one job. Custom computer matched colours are available as well.
Paint colours
Twenty three standard exterior and interior colours. Factory White 141 is the standard.
Woodgrain stains
Four hand applied stains, for the mahogany and fir fiberglass panels.
Colours shown on screen are for representation only and vary during production. Ask us for exact match painted samples at your estimate.
Decorative grills
Five profiles, in the finishes marked below.
| Finish | Georgian | 5/8 inch flat | 1/4 inch flat | Pencil | SDL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Two tone | — | Yes | — | — | Yes |
| White | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Brass | — | Yes | Yes | Yes | — |
| Pewter | — | Yes | Yes | Yes | — |
Hardware
The multi point locking system engages upper and lower three quarter inch latches simply by closing the door. Turning the key from outside, or the knob from inside, throws the one inch deadbolt and blocks both latch bolts.
The practical effect is three deadbolts rather than one, spread top to bottom, which also stops the long term bowing that lets draughts in at the corners.
Satin nickel or flat black. Active and inactive sets.
Satin nickel or flat black.
Decorative tips in satin nickel, brass, or flat black.
Both in silver, flat black, or brass. Mail slots are insulated.
Garden doors
Steel garden doors give a better seal and a wider clear opening than a slider, at the cost of the floor space the panel needs to swing through. Worth it where the door opens onto a deck rather than into a dining room.
Available as single operator with centre or side swing, double operator, and three or four panel systems, all left or right handed. Full size garden doors come in 6 foot 8 and 8 foot heights. The replacement range, sized to drop into an existing opening, is 6 foot 8 only.
Glass options
Clear Low-E, internal or SDL grills, venting glass, venting glass with grills, and white mini blinds.
Replacement sizing
The replacement range retrofits an existing opening without rebuilding the header, in 29 and 35 inch panels.
Sliding patio doors
Victorian and Buckingham, Kent, Capri, Rimini, and the aluminum Urbania and Loft. Low threshold options, screens included, and integrated blinds available.
Three and four panel systems open up a whole wall. The one pictured is a four panel slider under a run of fixed windows, in a timber framed build.
Our process
A single door is usually a one day job.
We look at the opening, the swing, and the threshold, and work through configuration, material and glass with samples in hand.
Measured to the rough opening and ordered to those numbers. Four to six weeks to build.
Old unit out, new composite frame, sill and weatherstrip in, trim finished the same day. The house is never open overnight.
Twenty years from us on the workmanship, plus Vinylguard's manufacturer warranty with product specific terms on doors, written into your quote. Full terms.
Questions
If yours is not here, call and ask.
Two warranties, and the door terms are not the window terms, so here they are. Vinylguard's manufacturer warranty covers the composite frames for life. Steel panels are covered for 20 years primed or 10 years factory painted. Fiberglass panels are covered for life against warping. Doorlite seals are 20 years. Hinges, sweeps, weatherstrip and hardware are 1 year. On top of that, OpenPane's 20 year workmanship warranty covers how the door was installed, sealed and finished. The full terms, including patio doors and what is not covered, are on the warranty page, and all of it goes into your quote in writing.
If the door is under a porch or otherwise sheltered, steel is the better value and there is no real downside. If it takes direct afternoon sun or driving rain with no overhang, fiberglass holds up better and is worth the difference. If you want the look of stained wood, the woodgrain fiberglass is the honest way to get it in this climate. We will tell you which situation you are in rather than pushing the dearer one. The factor by factor comparison is in our guide to steel vs fiberglass entry doors.
We quote entry doors as a complete system, meaning new composite frame, self draining sill, and weatherstrip. Most draught and water problems come from a tired frame and sill rather than the slab, so fitting a new door into old parts tends to disappoint. The tested performance figures only apply to the complete system as well. If an existing frame is genuinely sound we will say so.
Stand at the end of your walk and look back at the door. If someone at that distance would be looking straight into a hallway you use, go to level 8 or above. If the door faces a porch, a hedge, or a long driveway, level 6 keeps far more light. Level 1 is clear glass, which is fine on a side or rear entry and rarely right on a front door close to the sidewalk.
Sometimes, but it stops being a replacement job and becomes a structural one. Widening an opening means a new header and possibly a permit. We can look at it and tell you what is involved, and we will be straight about when it is worth it and when it is not.
A couple of hours at most, and never overnight. We do not take the old door out until the new one is on site, unwrapped, and checked.
Priced per opening, fixed once you sign, with the warranty terms written in.
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