French Door Hack

Before

After

When we were building the shack, we debated about what kind of doors to use. I thought a sliding glass door would be best but the new ones were just too expensive and we couldn't find the old aluminum frame kind in salvage. I like the modern looking open single large glass pane look but, again, too expensive. I decided on the cheapest french doors at the big box DIY store. I saw that the frames around the panes were just plastic pieces stuck to the surface of one large pane of glass. They aren't glued on so you can just cut them off.

I used a dovetail saw (this one is a Japanese style dovetail saw but the western kind would work just as well) because it is easy to cut a straight line right up against the edge.

Taking the frames off of both sides of each door took about half an hour but leaves little nubs. The nubs can then be cut off with two more cuts as each point of attachment.


You have to be careful with this part but it isn't difficult. It is better to be on the safe side and make more cuts and go slower so there is less to patch up afterwards.

Next you rough sand it (pictured) then fill any gaps or uneven spots with Bondo and paint. I am not going to go that far with my doors - it is a shack after all. It would probably take a total of about 2 hours to do a nicely finished job.