We have french doors leading to the patio and they have a trim piece on the left hand door with the handle on the right. Right always opens and left is locked with slide fasteners top and bottem. I almost think you have to trim or live with the gap.

I have double doors on several closets and also leading to my bedroom. After reading your post I went and tested them! The closet doors have about a 1/16" gap and will close at the same time. The bedroom also has a 1/16" gap but the left door has an end and face trim to hide the gap. I guess the trim is for privacy and to hide/hold the locking mechanism.
I can still close them at the same time, but I have to be a little careful of the door with the trim.

1/2" gap is a pretty large gap. I don't know why they wouldn't close unless he had them too tight to start with or they weren't hung square.

Personally, with a 36" opening and 1/2" gap........I'd have the contractor start over.

With two doors in an opening you need to back bevel each door about 5 degrees. This is so the two meeting corners do not touch each other. This is also done on single doors so you can get the 1/8" gap at closing between the door and frame.
A 1/2" gap is much too large. If you want no space between the doors for privacy, install a cap on one of the door edges.
Ron

The trim it called an "astragal" and is standard on exterior double leaf doors for weather protection. It is optional on interior doors depending on the degree of privacy desired.

I would get a better carpenter to install it.

Pairs of doors need twice the allowance for expansion as single doors, which makes them a poor choice in terms of privacy. That said, a 1/2 inch gap is ridiculous and means the installer doesn't know to bevel the doors, which would reduce the required visual gap from 1/2 to 1/8 inch or so.

I dislike astragals and T-astragals in narrow openings because of the hassle and bother of having to remember which one to open or close first.

John

I installed frech doors to our bedroom, and there is a little less than a 1/4 inch gap. The doors swing fine, no hitting each other. If they were too close, its because the jambs were not aligned properly.
Planing them down is an OK solution if they swing correctly, but 1/2 gap is way too much.

Here is a link that might be useful: Greengate Ranch Remodel

how does the bevel look? should they round off the inside edge to allow for a smaller gap.

the doors have already been planed so I wonder if the doors are ruined now? i guess he could bring the frame in on both sides to close the gap and bevel the inside edge so they don't hit when you close them.

thanks for all of the input. I am going to have my contractor work on them some more to get them right.

An aluminum angle iron strip might be installed on the front edges of both doors; if carefully done, it might make the two doors meet at that outside edge ( if aluminum would look presentable on that particular set of doors ) or painted to match ... which would be similar to beveled door edges in practice.. but many use the astragals.. because most of the time one door stays closed ( would be the one w/o the astragal installed) so you don't normally have to remember which one has to be closed first.

WIllie you do realize this post is over 11 years old don't you?

Lol

thank you

No worries but if they haven't figure the issue out by now they have changed out the doors or moved, lol.

I was just wondering long I've been on Gardenweb/Houzz and now I know at least since 2007. (I changed my screen name from Mag77 to Skil367 a few months ago)

Ancient Post

Mee too!