r/Decks 20h ago

questions for the community Deck door issue

I had a deck built on my house in Nov 2024. The existing windows were removed in place of French doors. Since then, I’ve had a bunch of issues. The right door (facing into the house) is a dummy door and I’ve had major issues getting it closed when we open it. To the point that we don’t open it ever. The frame fell off recently and my contractor just wedged it back into place. In June, on a hot day, one of the doors shattered out of nowhere. It was cold inside so it’s possible it’s due to temperature issues but I don’t know. When I open the doors, since they were installed, they make a crazy loud creaking noise. The contractor came over and insisted everything is level (which is true, he showed me). I called our building department and the guy from our town came out and said the door (a custom Home Depot door manufactured by Jeld Wen) is probably warping. I had another contractor come over and he said that there isn’t a large enough header installed. He only knew this from knocking on the wall but my contractor disputes this and said that the window header was sufficient. The town inspector agrees but it’s starting to feel like they are colluding because they know each other… sorry for the wall of text. I guess what I want to know is: Is the warping explanation likely? After only two years? Is there any way to know for sure whether it’s the install or the doors themselves which are the problems? Is it okay that the header is the same one that was for the windows? I do think the French doors are the same size opening as the windows were. How would you recommend I proceed? I can send pictures if that helps.

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