Free in-home measure and quote - PGT, CGI and CWS impact lines compared on your actual openings, style by style
Sliding glass doors
Impact garage doorsPGTCGI
Before
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Before
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AfterFast, Reliable Door Installation Across Santa Monica
Replacing a door in Santa Monica is different from replacing one almost anywhere else. The same salt air that cools your afternoon walk on the Palisades works on aluminum tracks, steel hinges, and wood jambs year-round. A door that would last twenty years in Culver City can bind, corrode, and fail in eight here. TruePane Windows & Doors installs entry doors, French doors, and storm doors built for this specific coastal environment. We quote line-item pricing on paper, register both warranty layers before we leave, and stand behind the work for 90 days with our Done Right Promise. Call (888) 635-0804 for a free estimate.
Why TruePane Windows & Doors Is Santa Monica’s Preferred Door Installation Company
Dale Kessler founded TruePane in 2008 as a second-generation glazier who had seen too many out-of-true installs and voided warranties. The company has served local communities since 2008 through that heritage of craft, and Santa Monica homeowners know the difference between a franchise playbook and a company that keeps its promises on paper. Our background-checked, uniformed technicians measure every opening twice and quote manufacturer lines side by side so you see exactly what you’re buying.
Santa Monica customers call us because a live person picks up the phone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Not a voicemail tree. Not a callback form. We schedule crews from our Los Angeles office to serve Santa Monica neighborhoods directly, and we show up when we say we will. If the pane is not true, the job is not done. That founding rule governs every door we hang from Sunset Park to the Wilshire corridor.
Our Door Installation in Santa Monica service has earned a strong local reputation, and we carry a permanent 5% discount for seniors and veterans as a standing offer. No fine print.
Our Door Installation Services in Santa Monica
Our Door Installation team handles the full range of residential door work, with particular depth in the three sub-services that matter most in Santa Monica’s older housing stock.
Entry & Swing Doors
Front doors on 1920s and 1930s bungalows north of Wilshire often sit in original wood jambs that have swelled, rotted, or drifted out of square from decades of marine-layer humidity. We reframe openings when needed, install pre-hung entry systems from Andersen, Pella, and Marvin, and build the weather barrier so wind-driven salt moisture can’t find its way into the wall cavity. A new insulated steel or fiberglass entry door in Santa Monica typically runs $2,800 to $6,500 installed, depending on framing condition and hardware selection.
Double & French Doors
French doors are popular in Santa Monica’s Spanish Colonial and Craftsman homes, but the coastal environment punishes cheap ones. We specify marine-grade stainless hinges, corrosion-resistant thresholds, and full-perimeter flashing on every double door installation. Expect to pay $4,200 to $9,800 for a quality double French door conversion in Santa Monica, including reframing and stucco patchwork where needed. Most jobs complete in a single visit.
Storm Doors
Storm doors do double duty in Santa Monica: they add a layer of protection against salt spray for the front entry and reduce the persistent moisture that seeps under thresholds. On Ocean Park and Sunset Park homes within a few blocks of the beach, we recommend stainless hardware and an adjustable aluminum expander that accommodates the seasonal swelling of wood jambs. A typical storm door installation runs $900 to $2,400.
Pivot Doors
Some Santa Monica homeowners on newer or fully remodeled properties prefer the clean geometry of a pivot door. These larger, heavier doors demand precise framing and reinforced headers. We install pivot systems from ES Windows and CWS, with hardware finishes specified for salt exposure. Plan on $6,500 to $14,000 depending on slab size and hardware tier.
What happens when you call
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A real person answersNo phone trees - you reach a local pro.
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You get an upfront price rangeHonest numbers before anyone is dispatched.
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A background-checked tech heads outLicensed & insured, dispatched right away.
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You approve before work beginsNothing starts until you say go.
Trusted Brands We Service in Santa Monica
We’re an authorized installer for more than a dozen manufacturer lines, including, PGT, CGI, and ES Windows. For Santa Monica’s corrosion-prone openings, we frequently specify products from CGI, CWS, and ES Windows because their marine-grade hardware and finishes hold up within the salt fog zone. We carry commonly needed weatherstripping, rollers, and hardware sets for Santa Monica’s aging aluminum slider stock, which speeds up repairs and keeps single-visit completions realistic. We’ll put side-by-side quotes on paper so you can compare brands against the same opening before you commit.
Common Door Installation Problems We See in Santa Monica Homes
- Salt-corroded aluminum sliders and tracks. Within eight to ten years of coastal exposure, aluminum door tracks and rollers develop white oxidation that seizes the door. Sliders that moved easily for years start binding, then stop moving entirely. In many Santa Monica apartments, the frame has fused to the track and must be cut out in sections.
- Failed threshold waterproofing. Wind-driven rain and salt moisture penetrate under door thresholds and into the wall cavity. The wood framing behind the stucco rots before the homeowner sees any visible damage. This is the most common hidden condition we uncover when opening up a 1920s bungalow entry.
- Undersized framing from the 1920s through 1940s. Original door openings were framed for thin, single-pane wood doors. Modern insulated glass units weigh three to five times more. The old framing deflects, causing misalignment, air leaks, and premature seal failure in the new door itself.
- Deferred maintenance on rent-controlled apartments. Santa Monica’s rent-control ordinance has been in force since 1979, and many landlords have delayed door replacements for decades. Our crews routinely encounter original 1960s single-pane aluminum sliders with sashes corroded solid into their jambs. What looks like a one-hour swap becomes a half-day demo and reframe.
Pricing for Door Installation in Santa Monica, CA
You deserve honest ranges, so here they are for the Santa Monica market. A standard pre-hung entry door installation runs $2,800 to $6,500. A double French door conversion with reframing and stucco patch runs $4,200 to $9,800. Storm doors land between $900 and $2,400. Pivot doors span $6,500 to $14,000. The two biggest cost drivers are framing condition and hardware specification. Salt-rated stainless hardware adds $300 to $900 per door, and reframing a rotted opening adds $800 to $2,500 depending on what we find when the old door comes out. Every quote is line-item on paper, with no surprise charges added later. Call (888) 635-0804 to schedule a free estimate, and ask about our a free written repair estimate and our maintenance check.
We Also Serve Cities Near Santa Monica
Our crews work throughout the Westside, including Venice, Marina del Rey, Culver City, and Beverly Hills. If you’re in one of those neighborhoods and need a door installed right, call (888) 635-0804 and we’ll schedule a walkthrough. The same Done Right Promise applies everywhere we hang a door.
Serving Santa Monica, CA - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Santa Monica area and know this community well. Use the map below to see our service coverage - if you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
FAQs - Door Installation in Santa Monica
In most cases, yes. Santa Monica requires a building permit for exterior door replacements when the opening is altered or the work involves structural framing. A same-size, like-for-like replacement may not require one, but any reframing, enlargement, or threshold rebuild does. Here’s what a permit often triggers once the wall is open: if the inspector sees outdated wiring or insufficient outlet placement near the door, the scope expands to include electrical corrections. We handle the permit application, schedule the inspection, and pass it before final payment. Call (888) 635-0804 and we’ll tell you whether your specific project needs one.
It matters within about two miles of the ocean, which essentially covers all of Santa Monica. The marine layer pushes salt-laden humidity inland through Sunset Park, Ocean Park, and well north of Wilshire. We specify marine-grade stainless hinges, screws, and thresholds on every exterior door in Santa Monica, not just the ones within sight of the sand. The hardware cost difference is modest; the failure cost is a seized door in eight years.
Salt corrosion is almost always the culprit. Santa Monica’s persistent relative humidity, fed by the marine layer, accelerates white oxidation on aluminum tracks and rollers. Hardware that would work for twenty years in Culver City often seizes within eight to ten here. The long-term fix is replacing the aluminum track and rollers with marine-grade stainless components, and in severe cases, replacing the entire slider with a product specified for coastal exposure. Call (888) 635-0804 for a free assessment.
Yes. We match the door style, stile width, and finish to the home’s original character, and we work with manufacturers that offer period-appropriate profiles. On a Sunset Park bungalow recently, our crew pulled a 1970s Milgard aluminum slider that had corroded solid into its jamb from decades of salt air. We cut the frame out in sections, reframed the opening, and installed a new Andersen French door with marine-grade stainless hardware and a flashing tape weather barrier before reinstalling the stucco. The opening looked like it belonged to the house. Bring us a photo of your existing door and we’ll match what we can.
That depends on what’s behind the old door. A straightforward same-size slider replacement on a 1960s apartment runs $1,800 to $4,200. If the old frame has corroded solid and requires sectioned demolition plus reframing, the job lands between $3,500 and $7,000. Santa Monica’s rent-control ordinance has kept many of these units untouched for fifty years, so the higher figure is more common than you’d think. We give line-item pricing after we inspect, and approve any added scope in writing before we touch the wall. Call (888) 635-0804 for a free estimate.
If you live in Santa Monica and your front door binds in July, your patio slider hasn’t opened since spring, or you’re finally ready to replace a fogged 1960s aluminum door, call (888) 635-0804 today. We’ll schedule a free walkthrough, quote manufacturer lines side by side on paper, and handle the permit, the inspection, and the warranty registration. A square deal, in writing, from a company that plans to be in Santa Monica in thirty years.
Written by Dale Kessler, Owner at TruePane Windows & Doors, serving Santa Monica with door installation and replacement since 2008.