Brand New French Doors Installed By Contractor.. Leaks same day. Is this normal?

Question

I am a new home owner and we had sliding doors for our patio doors that came with the home. Never had issues with water coming in until we just had a French door installed on our kitchen heading out to pool deck and living room area that leads out to pool deck as well. 1 is outswing /left handed (living room) and kitchen is outswing right handed.

We had a salesman talk to us about French doors and purchased everything from him which I guess he hired a contractor to do the install for us. Installation took about 2 days to complete and told us he had to cut the slab which would void our warranty from where they got the french doors.

On the same day that the French doors were finally finished/installed with door knobs everything looked fine with us until it started raining 5 hours after they completed.

Saw at the bottom of the glass little water was dripping down so we had to place a towel so that water won't damage our laminate floors.

We called the installer back and told them water was getting inside, he said it must be that the rain washed out the caulk and he will come the next to fix.

I got a little worried and checked forums about leaks from French doors to see if it maybe installer's fault or door defect. I took photos from our 2 french doors bottom & top.

I also noticed at the bottom and top of french door I can see small light coming in which small air can get out. Are these doors suppose to be air tight? Is that little light showing normal?

[U][B]Could someone tell me if this is indeed a bad install job, or pretty normal on new installations or just door defect?[/B][/U]

Note. I don't believe this is a pre-hung French door cause the day before it got installed a truck came to deliver these big frames & door slab with door hinges already installed on them.

Here's the photos after day 1 when doors were completely installed/finished with doors closed.

Answer 1

I have been installing doors and windows since 1988. Ii sounds to me like you have a bad installation. It also sounds like the doors were pre-hung but standard size since the had to cut into the slab. Sliding patio doors are 79-1/2" and 81-1/2" net height standard sizes. A standard size French door is 81-3/4" net height. Normally when replacing a sliding door with French door the doors would have to be cut down so the overall unit would fit the existing opening.

Often installers will not flash above the door, just caulk. It should always be flashed above the door. If the doors are properly installed you will not see any light coming in. Another clue that the door was not sold correctly is the time it took to install it. About 4 hours would be realistic.

You have some options, but don't wait too long. Most states, I think, require a contractors bond. A complaint to your state's labor department can help you with filing a complaint against this contractor. This can tie up there contractors bond until the issue is resolved. Also it has been my experience that people who could pay with cash or check will use a credit card because if they feel the product or performance was not what they were sold a complaint to the credit card company will remove the purchase amount from the offending companies bank account and will not release it until the issue is resolved.

Hope this helps.