Doors · Leeds
French doors in Leeds.
Two doors, one wide-open summer – classic double doors that throw the back of the house open to the garden.
- CERTASS certified – reg. 19‑1239
- 10-year guarantee
- James – 20+ years on the tools
What you get
A solid, weather-tight frame that stays square. Secure locking on both doors. Sealed double glazing, with safety glass where the regulations ask for it. A weather-tight threshold – and if step-free access matters, we'll talk you through a level one. And every installation carries our 10-year guarantee.
French or patio?
French doors swing on hinges – traditional look, a fully clear opening, lovely to throw open on a warm day, but they need room to swing. Sliders glide on a track and take no swing space. If a patio door suits your room better, we'll tell you – there's no hard sell here.
The questions we hear most
Can we fit French doors where a window is now?
In many homes, yes – swapping a rear window for French doors is a classic way to open the house to the garden, and Wortley Windows & Doors fits them right across Leeds. How much work is involved comes down to the opening itself: the width of the structural opening and the lintel above it decide what the job takes. That's exactly what the survey settles – we come out, measure up, look at what's above and around the opening, and tell you plainly where you stand. Ask for a free quote and we'll have a look.
How wide can French doors go?
French doors can only go so wide before each leaf gets too heavy for its hinges, so a pair of uPVC French doors on its own suits a standard window or single-door opening rather than a whole wall. Go wider and the answer isn't bigger doors – it's sidelights, fixed panes of glass either side of the pair, or a top light above, filling the opening with glass while the doors stay a sensible size.
And if you want the full width to actually open, that's where a patio slider or a set of bi-fold doors earns its keep. We'll measure the opening and give you exact sizes with the quote.
"The team worked hard and efficiently with minimal disruption."
Before and after
The proof on our own streets
The proof is on our projects page – including a before and after from Lower Wortley Road, minutes from where we're based. Every installation carries our 10-year guarantee, and we fit right across the areas we cover. Thinking about the front of the house as well as the back? Have a look at our composite doors too.
"From start to finish we received excellent service."
What decides which way the doors swing
Two things decide it, and neither of them is on the brochure: the floor inside and the ground outside. Each leaf sweeps an arc as wide as the leaf itself, so whichever way the pair goes, something has to give up that space. Stand where the doors will be and swing your arm through it. Inside you're looking at a radiator, the back of a sofa, a dining chair, the mat and the way people walk through the room. Outside you're looking at the paving, a step down, planters, bins, and how close the boundary wall sits.
| Feature | Opens outwards | Opens inwards |
|---|---|---|
| Space each leaf needs | One leaf width of clear patio | One leaf width of clear floor |
| What has to stay clear | Paving, steps, planters, bins | Furniture, radiators, mats |
| Curtains and blinds | Hang clear of the leaves | Have to clear the swing |
| Usually the sticking point | A narrow path or a close wall | The way the room is walked through |
Neither direction is right in the abstract. It depends what your opening has on both sides of it, and it has to be settled before anything is ordered, because the way a pair hangs is built into the frame. So it's a survey job rather than a phone job. James and the team stand in the room, walk the patio, and tell you which way yours want to go and why.
Open them both and the room borrows the garden.
Before you commit
Widening the opening is a different job
Dropping a pair of French doors into an opening that's already the right size is one job. Making that opening wider is another one entirely, and it pays to know which of the two you're looking at before you start pricing. Plenty of Leeds rear openings take a pair as they stand, and where they do it's a straight replacement: the door counts as a controlled fitting under the Building Regulations, which is the glazing work our CERTASS registration covers.
Widening is structural. The wall above the opening has to be held up while a bigger lintel goes in, and that lintel has to be sized for what it's carrying. That's building work in its own right and needs signing off as such, separately from the glazing, and it brings brickwork, making good and a lot more disruption with it. We'll measure what you've got and tell you plainly which of the two jobs your house is actually asking for, and what it would involve, before you commit to anything.
The energy standard a replacement glazed door has to meet
Any replacement glazed door in an existing home has to hit a whole-unit U-value of 1.4 W/(m²·K) or better. The word doing the work there is whole-unit: the figure covers the complete door, frame and glass together, measured as one thing. A centre-pane figure is not the same number and does not satisfy the Building Regulations, which is worth knowing when two quotes are waving different figures at you.
Watch for the centre-pane figure, because it isn't the same number. It describes the middle of the glass on its own, ignores the frame entirely, and always reads better than the whole-door figure it gets quoted alongside. So when you're comparing quotes, ask each installer which of the two you're being shown, and ask for it in writing. Ask what the standard is at the time you buy, too. These rules get tightened every few years.
Before anything is ordered
Two leaves, one opening, and a summer through it.
- Which way they swing, settled on site The way a pair hangs is built into the frame
- Whole-unit U-value, not centre-pane Door, frame and glass measured as one thing
- Which of the two jobs it really is A straight replacement, or building work as well
Why Wortley
Fitted properly, first time
We fit every job with our own skilled team – not subcontractors. James, the owner, is a tradesman with more than twenty years on the tools, and he leads a small team of our own fitters: the people who measure up are the people who stand behind the work. We're family-run, based in Lower Wortley – no showroom, no call centre, no sales patter. And we're CERTASS certified (registration 19‑1239), so your installation is registered and self-certified to Building Regulations – nothing for you to chase with the council.
What does it cost?
Every opening is different, so we don't do list prices. We come and measure, then give you an honest written figure – no pressure, no chasing phone calls afterwards. Want to spread the cost? Finance is available.
Where we work
Based in Lower Wortley (LS12) and fitting across Leeds – Pudsey, Bramley, Armley, Kirkstall, Horsforth, Farsley, Stanningley, Calverley and Morley included.
Ready to open up the garden?
- CERTASS certified – reg. 19‑1239
- 10-year guarantee
- James – 20+ years on the tools