This article gives no dollar figure, because two storefront doors that look alike from the sidewalk can be priced far apart: one needs a pane of tempered glass, the other a door, a closer and a frame. It explains what each line of an estimate is paying for.
Three different jobs
- Glass only. The door is sound and only the glass is broken. The glazing stops are removed, the broken pane comes out, and new tempered glass cut to the opening goes in. This is the least expensive of the three, and usually the quickest, because only the glass has to be cut and tempered to size.
- Door only. The frame is square and solid, but the door is worn out: cracked stiles, a corner that has pulled apart, pivots that no longer hold it level. A new aluminum door is made to fit the existing frame and hung with new hardware. The frame stays, so the storefront around it is not touched.
- Door and frame. The frame is bent, out of square, corroded at the sill, or the opening is being changed. The frame comes out with the door, and the new entrance is set, anchored and sealed. This is commercial glass door installation in the full sense, and it is the most expensive, with the most variables.
What moves the price
- The glass. Clear tempered single glass is the baseline. Insulated units, laminated glass, low-e coatings and tints each add to the price, and a center that specifies a tint for every tenant decides that part for you.
- The stile. Narrow, medium and wide stile doors differ in price and in what they can hold. A narrow stile takes a narrow lock and a small exit device; a wide stile takes a standard one and stands up better to heavy traffic.
- The hardware. The closer, the pivots or hinges, the lock and the pulls come with the job. A concealed overhead closer, a floor closer or panic hardware each cost more than the simplest set, and an existing electric strike or reader has to be refitted.
- The finish. Clear anodized aluminum is the common, lower-cost finish. Dark bronze, black anodized and painted finishes cost more, and matching an older finish on a neighbor's door can narrow the choices.
- Pairs and sidelites. A pair costs more than two singles, because the doors must meet in the middle and latch together. Replacing a sidelite or transom adds glass and labor.
- Timing and access. Work before opening, a second visit to board the opening while a made-to-order door is built, or an entrance on an upper level with no easy access all add labor.
Board-up first, then the real repair
When the glass is broken, the job is often two visits: one to make the opening safe so the shop can lock at night, and one for the permanent glass or door. An estimate for broken glass should show both, so the total is clear from the start.
What gets checked while we are at the door
- The pivots or hinges. A door that sags drags the bottom rail across the threshold and puts stress on the glass. Worn pivots are cheap to replace while the door is being worked on.
- The closer. A closer that slams the door is hard on the glass and the corner joints. An adjustment takes minutes while we are there; a closer that has to be replaced is listed on the estimate as its own line.
- The lock and the strike. A narrow-stile lock that no longer lines up with its strike leaves the door looking shut but not latched. The cylinder can usually be kept and rekeyed.
- The threshold and the weatherstripping. A worn threshold or missing sweep lets in water and air under the door, and is easiest to replace at the same visit.
How to keep it down
Replace only what is failing. If the frame is sound, a door in the old frame avoids the most expensive part of the job. If the door is sound, glass alone is enough. Have the hardware above checked at the same visit, since a door that slams is how the glass broke in many cases, and fixing that is cheaper than the next pane. And ask every estimate to list glass, door, frame and hardware as separate lines, so you can compare two numbers that describe the same job.
We look at the glass, the door and the frame on the walkthrough, tell you which of the three jobs you have, and put it in a free written estimate with each part listed. The walkthrough is same-day when the schedule allows.