Martinelli's Home Improvement & Supply Co

We had a 6-foot wide vinyl patio sliding door in the living room, which opened from left to right (from outside). All we wanted was a similar door but which would open from right to left. Last year, we had an 8-foot Milgard sliding door installed (by Yancey's) in the master bedroom and we liked the quality of the product. I looked for Milgard doors at Home Depot and Lowe's and couldn't find them. I logged in at Milgard's website hoping to be able to order directly form them, but I found out we could only order through one of their authorized dealers.

We had met Martinelli at one of the Home and Garden shows at the Sacramento Community Center a few months back, so I called him and described the type of door we had (and sent him a picture) and explained what we wanted. He recommended Milgard's Style Line Series door. He offered to install it for a fee, but I told him I would do it myself. So, he ordered the door for me and after a couple of weeks I picked it up from Milgard's factory in Sacramento.

Everything went fine with the installation, but as I looked closely to this door I realized the quality I expected from Milgard wasn't there. Some parts of the frame were bowed, but the worst part was that the moving panel dragged in the frame and made it very hard to open and close (I adjusted the rollers so the door would ride high above the rail, but it still dragged). It looked like it was too fat and barely fit inside the frame. I agonized for a couple of days about what to do next, because I had to finish the inside around the door. But I couldn't finish it until I decide weather to take the door off and buy a different one or not. Finally I took the moving panel off and sanded/filed the top and bottom on the inside (the side that has no whether stripping) to make it slightly thinner and put it back in the frame. Now it seems to be sliding more easily than before. So I think I'll keep it and install some trimming around the door (in the inside).

The bottom line is I wish Martinelli had explained to me what other choices I had regarding vinyl doors because apparently I ended up buying the lower end of Milgard's, which is a shame they even offer it to the consumer because what's the point in buying a cheap sliding door if one can hardly slide it?

The basic installation of windows was fine, except for trimout, which admittedly was tricky but could have been handled much better had the company wanted to do a top knotch job. Installation of the sliding glass doors was substandard, in our view, and they had to be retrimmed by professional carpenters. To his credit, the owner did make call backs to correct at least some deficiencies, and work was performed on time. In sum, the price was OK but the work ho hum.

I THOUGHT THAT THEY DID AN ALL RIGHT JOB. THEY CAME ON TIME AND DIDN'T LEAVE A MESS. THEY WERE CLEAN PEOPLE AND THEY WERE HONEST HARD WORKERS. I THOUGHT THAT THE JOB WAS DONE VERY QUICKLY.