Inswing or outswing, with astragal and flush bolt. The classic patio choice for traditional and Spanish revival homes.
If your house was built before 1945 with any kind of period detail, a slider will fight the architecture. French doors won't.
Hancock Park Tudors, Spanish revivals in Larchmont, Mediterranean homes in Pasadena and San Marino — these were drawn with French doors in mind. The vertical proportion, the divided lights, the visible hinge hardware all line up with the rest of the elevation. Drop a 12-foot aluminum slider into a 1928 Spanish and the house reads wrong from the curb. We get called to undo that mistake about a dozen times a year.
The security myth is the most common pushback. Modern French doors with a multi-point lock (three deadbolts at top, middle, and bottom firing into the astragal and head jamb) are harder to defeat than a typical sliding patio door — the slider's lift-out vulnerability and single hook latch are what insurance adjusters actually flag. The flush bolt securing the inactive panel into the sill and head turns the pair into a fixed wall when you want it to be one.
The real tradeoff is interior space. An inswing French pair eats roughly 30 inches of room depth on the swing arc, and you cannot put furniture in that arc. If your back wall is a 10-foot dining room, an inswing pair makes the table un-seatable on one side. That's when we recommend outswing — or honestly, a slider. We tell you which side of that math you're on at the consult, before you've spent anything.
All-in per pair (labor, permits, Title 24 docs, disposal). A standard pair is 6'0" wide; oversized pairs add 15–20%.
Inswing is the default in residential LA — exterior weatherstrip seats more cleanly when the door swings against it, and the hinges live inside where they don't oxidize. For most Mid-Wilshire and Pasadena homes with a back patio at grade, inswing is the right call.
Outswing is what we recommend in three specific cases. First, when the room behind the door is tight — a 9-foot-deep den or a small bedroom can't afford the inswing arc. Second, when there's a screen door or security gate already mounted on the interior. Third, when wind exposure is real — Toluca Lake homes facing the canyon, anything in the foothills above Pasadena. Outswing doors press harder into their seal under wind load instead of being pushed open.
The pet-and-kid variables: outswing is safer in a panic exit (no swing-back into someone behind you) and impossible for a toddler to open with body weight, but inswing is easier for a dog door retrofit and won't slam into patio furniture in a Santa Ana gust. Code-wise, both are permitted under CRC R311.2 as long as the egress width hits 32 inches clear with one panel open, which a standard 6'0" pair does easily.
Every callback we get on a French pair installed by someone else traces to one of these.
Every step has a deliverable, a name, and a fixed date. If we miss a date, we credit you $250 — written into your contract.
"1929 Spanish in Hancock Park. We had two contractors push us toward a slider and we kept saying no. Red Stag was the only crew that measured for a Marvin Ultimate French with a custom 8-light divided pattern matching the original casement windows. Looks like it's been there since the house was built."
"Outswing pair on a Pasadena Craftsman because our dining room was too tight for inswing. Theo walked the inswing arc with painter's tape on the floor before we ordered, which made the decision obvious. Andersen 400, mahogany interior, came in at $6,400 all-in."
"Toluca Lake, off the canyon — wind is real here. Crew installed a Pella Architect outswing pair, and after the November Santa Anas not a rattle, not a whistle. The previous slider used to flex visibly in gusts."
Same crew, same trucks, same 45-minute drive if a hinge sags in 2031.
French doors — whether interior-to-patio, room-to-room, or front entry — are the most architecturally significant door replacement in most LA homes. They're also the most specification-sensitive: the wrong material, swing direction, or threshold detail creates a door that either leaks, warps, operates poorly, or fails an inspection. Here's what we work through on every French door project.
Inswing vs outswing. Most LA French doors are inswing, which is code-compliant and easier to weatherseal at the sill. Outswing doors have better weather performance (the door presses against the seal under wind pressure rather than pulling away) but require clearance on the exterior and create an egress conflict with stucco or tile thresholds. In coastal locations where weather-tightness is the priority, outswing can be worth the trade-off.
The active-passive panel question. French doors have an active panel (with the lock and handle) and a passive panel (with the flush bolt). Most homeowners use only the active panel 95% of the time and open both for large moves or gatherings. We always ask how the doors will actually be used — if only one panel moves daily, we configure the hardware accordingly. A passive panel that's constantly being engaged creates wear and alignment problems over time.
Threshold and ADA. French doors to an exterior patio require a compliant threshold for the step-down. If the project involves a new concrete pour or deck, we coordinate the finish height to hit ADA accessible height (1/2 inch max change) where the client wants a no-trip transition. This requires advance coordination with the concrete contractor — it's much easier to spec before the pour than to grind and patch after.
Glass specification. French door glazing must meet Title 24 U-factor requirements and — because the glass panels are within 18 inches of the floor — must be tempered. In Chapter 7A fire zones, laminated glass is required. We specify the correct glass for the site conditions and include it in the permit documentation automatically.
No deposit to quote. Quote within 48 hours of measure. Walk away anytime — there's no commitment until materials are on-site.
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