if you were to ask me what I think about tiny houses and French doors I would tell you it’s a risky plan. You’re looking at a big expenditure compared to any other option and a lot of potential problems either right away or later on down the road.
With that in mind we decided to go for it anyway. Our backyard which will also be the front yard of the tiny house is a big beautiful garden and we both just wanted to be able to open as much of the space as possible to that gloriousness.
A few tips for a successful install:
First, never buy a cheap French door, you WILL regret it. This is a Marvin integrity door which costs $2500 and I wouldn’t spend a dime less.
Second, If you’re thinking about installing a door you probably already understand that the sill needs to be level and the opening should be square, but what will frustrate you on any French door is cross-leg, the bottom of one side of the door being out of plane with the bottom of the other. On a normal house we check this with two strings set corner to corner. These need to barely touch in the middle. But what if they don’t? On a normal house a little bit of gentle or not so gentle persuading with hammer and sawzall will clear things up. On a tiny house though, at this point your bottom plate is siliconed and bolted to the trailer, not so easy to adjust.
The time to correct any cross leg is when you first set the wall, which is unfortunately also the hardest point to get reliable reference points. Even if both legs of the door frame are perfectly parallel to the trailer flange, if your end walls are slightly out of square or your top plate is bowed, it can project twist into the TOP of your door frame. .
When setting the door, don’t use the supplied screws. Use the same size, but use construction screws to avoid twisting the heads off and replace them later.
Make your own custom flat shims, and don’t screw through them. Good luck!
– Brian
