CGI Door Installation Nationwide

CGI Door Installation: The Jacksonville Owner’s Guide

CGI door installation in Jacksonville typically runs $850 – $2,400 installed, depending on the door model, frame condition, and hardware involved. We stock common CGI-compatible components on our trucks and can usually complete a full door swap in a single visit. Most homeowners discover they need us the same way: a door that suddenly sticks, sags, or won’t seal against Florida humidity, or a lock that no longer catches because the slab has shifted out of square.

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You’re probably here because a CGI door you trusted for years has started acting up. Maybe it drags across the threshold. Maybe the hinges groan every time the kids run out to the pool. Or a storm rolled through and now daylight shows around the weatherstripping. Whatever the symptom, you want to know three things: what’s wrong, what it costs, and whether it’s worth fixing. This page answers those questions directly.

Which CGI Models This Applies To

CGI makes impact-rated doors in several series, and the installation requirements differ between them. We work most often with the CGI Estate Collection, the Classic line, and the newer Sentinel series, but the same installation principles apply across their product range. The key is matching the replacement door to your existing rough opening, not forcing a new slab into an old frame and hoping for the best.

Here’s the compatibility gotcha most homeowners don’t know: CGI doors are sized and reinforced for hurricane-rated framing, which means the hinge prep and lock bore are positioned differently than a standard builder-grade door. A door that looks like it should fit often won’t, because the hinge mortises sit a half-inch different from what’s on the slab you’re replacing. Measure the door slab, then measure the frame, then check the hinge spacing before you buy anything. Or call us and we’ll do all three.

On the OEM versus aftermarket question: we install genuine CGI doors when the job calls for it, but we also work with quality equivalents from PGT, CWS, and ES Windows when a homeowner wants options. For a door still under CGI’s product warranty, we recommend staying with the OEM part. For an older door where the warranty has run its course, an equivalent-rated aftermarket slab often delivers the same storm protection at a lower installed price. We’ll lay out both options with written numbers before any work begins.

One Florida-specific note: salt air near the beaches and the Intracoastal eats door hardware faster than most manufacturers expect. We’ve replaced CGI hinges and threshold plates in Neptune Beach and Atlantic Beach that were spec’d for inland use and failed in half the predicted lifespan. If you’re within two miles of salt water, let us know when you call. It changes our hardware recommendation.

Signs Your CGI Door Installation Is Failing

• The door drags or scrapes across the threshold when you open or close it. This usually means the hinges have worn or the slab has settled, and every scrape is slowly chewing up the bottom rail. Left alone, the sweep and threshold will need replacement along with the door.
• You can see daylight around the edges when the door is closed. The weatherstripping has compressed or the frame has shifted out of square. In Jacksonville’s summer humidity, this is also how you get higher cooling bills and mildew around the casing.
• The door won’t latch without lifting or pulling the handle hard. When the strike plate and latch no longer align, the lock is doing work it wasn’t designed to do. Forced locking is a fast track to a dead mechanism, and on an impact door, the lock is part of the storm protection system, not just a convenience.
• You feel a soft spot or see bubbling in the door surface. Water intrusion has gotten into the core. On an impact door, that means the laminated layers are starting to separate, and the door’s structural rating is compromised. This is a replace situation, not a patch situation.
• The hinges creak constantly, even after lubricating them. Worn hinge pins or stripped screw holes mean the full weight of the slab is no longer distributed the way the frame needs it to be. On a heavy CGI door, that weight is substantial. Ignored long enough, the frame itself starts cracking.

Replacement Cost & What’s Included

In Jacksonville, a single CGI door replacement (slab, hardware, and installation) lands between $850 and $2,400 in most homes. Here’s the breakdown of what moves the number:

The spread comes down to door size, frame condition, and finish level. A standard 36-inch entry door in a clean frame is the low end of the range. A custom-width or double door with a rotted frame section lands higher, because we repair the rough opening before the new slab goes in. Every quote we write is a fixed price on paper before work starts. If the frame reveals hidden damage mid-job, we stop, show you the issue, and put the new number in writing before touching it. No door-changes at the end of the job. Your installation is covered by our written 365-Day Done Right Promise; if it fails within that year, we come back at no charge.

DIY or Call Us?

Here’s the straight story. A homeowner can safely check a few things without calling anyone: whether the hinges are loose, whether the threshold screws are secure, whether the weatherstripping is cracked. Tightening a hinge screw is fair game.

But a CGI door is not a hollow-core interior slab. These doors weigh upward of 100 pounds, often more with glass. Removing the hinge pins puts you in a position where one slip means a door falling on you, your floor, or a family member. There’s a genuine safety issue here, and that’s not scare phrasing, it’s a door that outweighs a cinder block. Installation also requires shimming the frame square so the lock functions and the storm rating actually means something. Get the geometry slightly off and you’ll be redoing the job in a year, or worse, the door won’t hold in a storm.

If you want to check the basics yourself, go ahead. If the problem goes deeper than a loose screw, call us at (904) 513-9670. A free estimate takes about 30 minutes.

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