239-437-4100

REQUEST A QUOTE
239-437-4100
REQUEST A QUOTE
Learning Center
›
Inserts and replacements

Door Insert or Full Door Replacement? How to Choose the Right Upgrade for Your Southwest Florida Home

"Do I need a whole new door, or can I just add glass to the one I have?"

We hear this question in our Fort Myers and Naples showrooms every week. The honest answer is that it depends on your door, your plans for the house, and the look you're after. Sometimes a decorative glass insert is all it takes to completely transform your entry. Other times, putting new glass in an old door is like putting lipstick on a pig, and we'll tell you so.

Here's how our design consultants and install team think it through, so you can walk in already knowing which direction makes sense for your home.

By the Glass Design team, serving Southwest Florida since 1996

Same doors, completely new entry. We cut into these existing six panel doors and added our Manhattan design with SDL bars. The doors kept their white finish, with no repainting needed.

In This Article

The Short Answer

A glass insert is usually the right choice when your door is in good shape, less than about 15 years old, and has a panel layout that accepts standard size glass. A full door replacement is usually the better investment when your door is older, damaged, made of steel, or when you want a fully impact rated, permitted system or a completely different look.

Glass insert

Full door replacement

Typical cost

Glass insert

$1,000 to $5,000 for standard designs; $2,000 to $10,000 for custom designs, depending on the design and whether you choose impact or non impact glass

Full door replacement

$7,000 to $25,000, depending on the size of the opening, the number of doors, glass options, and material type (fiberglass, aluminum, iron, and more)

Impact rating

Glass insert

The glass we install is rated; the door itself is not certified

Full door replacement

The entire door system is tested and rated

Permit

Glass insert

Not pulled for insert only work

Full door replacement

Pulled by our team and kept on record with the county

Install time

Glass insert

About an hour per door

Full door replacement

6 to 8 hours, done in one day

Typical lead time

Glass insert

1 to 2 weeks (Express) to 4 to 6 weeks (standard)

Full door replacement

About 8 to 12 weeks for fiberglass; iron and aluminum longer

Painting

Glass insert

In most cases no painting is needed, though some minor touchup may be. The glass frame usually comes white or tan and can be painted or left as is.

Full door replacement

Most doors arrive primed and ready to paint

Change material or layout

Glass insert

No

Full door replacement

Yes

Start Here: How Old Is Your Door?

The first question we ask is how old your door is. Once a door reaches 15 years or more, it usually starts to show its age: warping, decay, and wear that no adjustment will fix for long.

Age also matters because of code. Florida’s building code has changed since Hurricane Ian, and a door that’s been on your home for 15 years was built to an older standard. If you’re going to invest in beautiful impact glass, we want the door around it to be just as strong as the glass.

If you have a steel door, we almost always recommend replacing it. Steel doors will rust at some point, usually from the inside out, and once rust starts, you can’t stop it.

What Else We Look at Before Recommending an Insert

Age is the starting point, not the whole story. Before we recommend adding glass, we look at:

How the door works

Does it open, close, and lock correctly? Do you see light around the edges?

The door slab

Is it delaminating or warping?

The frame and trim

Is the frame rotting? Many builder grade doors have wood jambs that will eventually rot and warp.

The finish

How many times has it been painted? Some doors we see have 10 coats of paint, and new glass won’t hide that.

Past damage

Holes from blinds screwed into the door, rusted hinges, worn handles.

Your hardware and weatherstripping

If you already need new hinges, handles, and weatherstripping, that money may be better put toward a new door.
The installation matters too

If a door was installed incorrectly to begin with, no adjustment is going to last. When we tear out old doors, we regularly find surprises: doors held in with two screws, no bucking, no insulation around the frame. When we install a new door, it's built properly, insulated with spray foam, and fitted with all composite materials and new hardware. It's a genuinely fresh start.

How Impact Ratings Work With an Insert

This is one of the most important things to understand, and it’s a question we get constantly: “If I add impact glass to my door, is my door now impact rated?”
The short version

When we add an insert to your existing door, the glass we install is hurricane impact rated, but we can't certify the door as a whole.

That’s because we didn’t build or install the entire system, and we don’t know how your existing door was installed.
With a full replacement
The entire door system is tested and rated. We pull the permit and make sure every material meets code, and our own crew installs it. That permit stays on record with the county, so if you ever sell your home, you have proof the work was done and done to code. Buyers in Southwest Florida notice that.

Insert

Glass is rated. Door system is not certified.

Replacement

Entire system tested, rated, and permitted.

What Does Each Option Cost?

Price depends on how many doors you have, their size, and the options you choose. Here’s where most of our projects fall:
Standard inserts
$1,000 to $5,000
Our standard designs, depending on the design and impact or non impact glass
Custom inserts
$2,000 to $10,000
Custom designs, depending on the design and impact or non impact glass
Full replacement
$7,000 to $25,000
Depending on the size of the opening, the number of doors, glass options, and material: fiberglass, aluminum, iron, and more

Some projects come in below these ranges and some come in above, but this is where most land. Because the glass is a large part of the cost either way, the real question is whether your existing door is worth investing in.

There’s one situation where that math flips: oversized panels. Most solid doors have raised panels, and sometimes those panels are larger than a standard size piece of glass. Once we get into custom size glass for an existing door, two things happen. The price goes up significantly, because it’s now a custom made piece of glass with a longer lead time. And while we can use impact rated components, we can’t say the finished unit has been tested and rated.

At that point, a custom insert in an older door, which can reach $10,000, overlaps with the cost of a new door with standard glass, which starts around $7,000. When that’s the case, we’ll tell you. If you love our Chelsea design but your door needs it in a custom size, a new door is often the smarter investment.

One more thing to know: once an impact insert is in a door, you’re committed to that door. Moving hurricane impact glass into a different door later is very difficult, and the glass will very likely break in the process.

When a Glass Insert Makes Sense

Your door is in good shape

It works well, the frame is solid, and you like how it looks.

You want a big change for less

Going from a solid door to a door with glass completely changes your entry, inside and out, at a fraction of the cost.

You want it done fast

Lead times are shorter, and installation takes about an hour per door.

You're selling or may move soon

Realtors bring clients to us for exactly this. In neighborhoods where every house looks the same, new glass helps a listing stand out. If you’re staying less than five years, an insert is often the better fit.

You want to keep your paint

Your door usually stays its current color, with only minor touchup needed in some cases. The insert frame usually comes white or tan and can be painted or left as is.

Your HOA moves slowly

HOAs are usually quick to approve inserts.

You'd like a quick refresh

We can pair an insert with new hardware to update the whole entry with minimal work.
From builder standard to showpiece. These six panel doors kept their paint, their hardware, and their frame. The only thing that changed is everything you see.
This homeowner was already renovating, so we added decorative glass to the existing doors and updated the hardware. Same doors, and an entry that finally matches the rest of the house.

When a Full Door Replacement Is the Better Investment

  • Your door is 15 years or older, steel, or showing damage.
  • You're staying five years or more. Do it once and be done.
  • You want a fully rated, permitted system, which also adds to resale value.
  • You want a different material. Going from fiberglass to iron or aluminum is only possible with a new door. Many of our clients are upgrading to iron, and when every home on the street has a basic fiberglass door, an iron door makes a real statement.
  • You want a different finish. A new door lets you choose smooth, textured, or a wood grain look.
  • You want to change the layout. Going from a double door to a single door with two sidelights (or the reverse), upgrading an older home to an oversized modern door, or switching from inswing to outswing all require a new prehung door.
  • You want a specific glass shape your door can’t accept. If you want a three quarter light (glass above, panel below) and your door isn’t laid out for it, we can order a new door with the right panel configuration.
Same opening, entirely new entry. We replaced these basic fiberglass doors with our Roma iron doors, prefinished and installed in one day by our own crew.
Same opening, new layout. We replaced solid double doors with a single door and two sidelights, bringing light into the foyer with a lighter wood grain finish.

A Bonus Worth Knowing: What Impact Glass Does Beyond Storms

Whichever route you choose, impact glass brings benefits past hurricane season:

No shutters

If you’re a snowbird who isn’t here all season, a fully impact rated door means no roll downs or plywood to deal with.

Security

Impact glass is extremely difficult to get through.

Quiet

Our owner, Bonnie, noticed this herself: her previous home didn’t have impact glass, her current one does, and the outside noise is roughly cut in half.

Questions Homeowners Often Ask

Glass adds weight to a door that didn’t have it before. Our installers use longer screws in the hinges and adjust the door to allow for that weight so it keeps operating properly. Most homeowners are pleasantly surprised: a foam filled fiberglass or steel door is fairly light, and with glass, it feels much more solid and substantial when you open it.
Usually, yes. If your existing glass is set in a frame, we can take it out and replace it, often a little faster than cutting in a new insert. Some doors have glass set directly into the door, though, and in that case a swap isn’t possible and a prehung door is the way to go.  
Yes. We have decorative options, like etched, stained, and bubble glass, that can be added behind your existing clear glass. You keep the glass you have and gain design and privacy, without paying for impact glass all over again.
No. If your door has two panels, we can cut out just the top half and leave the bottom panel. If you have a three quarter light, we can also cut out the bottom panel.
Impact glass is designed to break. It isn’t break proof or bulletproof. When something hits it hard enough, the glass cracks but holds together, thanks to its strong inner layer, so it keeps your home sealed and safe. Think of your car windshield, or a surge protector that sacrifices itself to protect everything else. Replacing glass that has done its job is typically a homeowners insurance matter, depending on your policy.
You can, and it does cost less, but very few of our clients go that route unless they have a permanent shutter system. If your windows are impact rated and your door glass isn’t, that door becomes the weak point. When a storm breaks through, the pressure change inside the home can cause serious damage, including to the roof. We’ll walk you through how this works so you can make an informed choice.
HOAs rarely reject inserts, and our team provides the documentation they need: photos, business licenses, and everything else. We also keep a log of the communities we’ve worked in, so we can often show your HOA that the same design is already installed in your neighborhood. Some communities now require a permit before approving a door replacement, which can add time, but we handle that too.
With an insert, usually not, though some minor touchup may be needed. The glass frame usually comes white or tan, and you can paint it or leave it as is. With a full replacement, most of our doors arrive primed and ready to paint, so painting is an additional step to plan for. Iron doors and some of our other options come prefinished.  
For inserts, we can often order from a good, clear photo of your door. If there’s any doubt, we’ll come out and measure. For full replacements, we always measure in person.

Lead Times and Install Day

Express Inserts
1 to 2 weeks
Three of our most popular designs, kept in stock. Depending on the schedule, we’ve even installed them the next day.  
Standard inserts
4 to 6 weeks

Standard designs ordered from our vendor.

Custom inserts
6 to 10 weeks

Up to 12 weeks or more for highly custom work.

Standard prehung doors
8 to 12 weeks

For fiberglass. Iron and aluminum doors are made to order and take longer.

Install day for an insert

We never cut your door inside your home, so you don’t have fiberglass dust drifting through the house. Our installers take the doors off the hinges one at a time and cover the opening with a drop cloth to keep bugs and dust out and your air conditioning in. They measure and cut the opening, rehang the door, and install the glass with the door in place. With double doors, they repeat the process, then make final adjustments once everything is back together. Plan on about an hour per door.

Install day for a full replacement

A full replacement takes 6 to 8 hours and is done in one day. Inspection typically happens the next day. We pull the permit, coordinate with the municipality, schedule the inspection around you, and keep you updated if an inspector is delayed.

What You Can Expect From Our Team Either Way

Whether you choose an insert or a new door, you’re working with one team from design through installation.

Our own installers

Many door companies in our area don’t install at all, so you don’t know who will show up or who will stand behind the work. Our crew works for Glass Design. We won’t be the cheapest in town, but it will be done right, and if something isn’t right, we’ll make it right.

Care for your home

Blankets go down inside and out, furniture is moved as needed, and customers regularly tell us their entry was cleaner when we left than when we arrived.

Communication

We call the day before, our installers call when they’re on the way, and your customer portal and design consultant keep you updated from ordering through install. If a lead time changes, you’ll hear it from us first.

Warranty support

If there’s ever a warranty issue, you come to us. We work with the manufacturer on your behalf and handle any reinstallation, so you’re never left to deal with it alone.

Thirty years of being here

We’ve been serving Southwest Florida since 1996, and we’re still here long after the job is done.

Come see it in person

Both showrooms are open, and you do not need an appointment. Bring a photo of your entry and we will tell you honestly whether you need a new door or just new glass.
Send us a photo
Fort Myers showroom
  • 7857 Drew Circle, Suite 9 Fort Myers, FL
Schedule Appointment
Naples showroom
  • 7935 Airport Pulling Road, Suite 10 Naples, FL
Schedule Appointment

You Have Great Taste!

Thank you for helping us choose your favorite.
Iron Doors offer a touch of elegance and luxury to any home. 

Iron Doors

We Have An Exclusive Offer For You!

GET 20% OFF 
ALL IRON DOORS

Iron Doors offer a touch of elegance and luxury to any home. Thank you for helping us choose your favorite.

GET OFFER!