you're right lilbit - they sure aren't 'mobile'. i sure couldn't hook it up to my car or even a big pu truck and haul it off! I don't drive around with it on the back of the car... most people have to make some adjustments to put in a door in a stick built home. they sure do on the home shows. I'll need to replace my back door this next yr myself. I do have those metal 'screen' doors on front and back tho - and they lock so i'll be ok for a bit. those'll be nice because I'll be able to leave the regular door open and lock those things (during the day). but eventually I do want a regular door on the back, not one of those chinzy ones (like is on it now). the front door is fine. I'm just going ahead with plans like to redo any other home. checking out HD and lowe's etc. I need to remember to take lots of pics as we go along myself. will do that before he starts digging the dirt up ... then after that...then when they haul it here etc.

Here's a pic of the front of the house (this is an old photo--the tree is dead and gone): I don't have a pic of the back of the house but right now it's just a narrow deck with an awning that is about 1/2 the length of the house. After we get the kitchen remodeled this is our next project. We plan on ripping the deck down and replacing it with a screened porch (our house overlooks a swath of public forest, which is beautiful, but buggy). The patio doors will open onto this porch. I think a nice dark color would be nice, but should the color of the door match the rest of the windows? If you click the link you can get to a set of inside pics. It's completely open now. Thinking about painting it Elephant's Breath by Farrow and Ball. Jen

You can look at a company by the name of Panda. They make a Lift-n-Slide system with a track with a single post that sticks up 5/16" of an inch. There is really no other sill or threshold as the rest of it mounts below the floor. Granted you may not want the expense of a L&S system but this would allow you to use your original sliding door panel idea for light and should also help with sound to some extent

What are the seams in the stucco shown directly above the window header? That would be suspect #1 in allowing water penetration. It's something big, rather than something small. No small nail penentrations will cause that damage. It's time to rip off the whole mess and have someone do some forensic analysis. A stucco expert for sure.