Glass sliding doors are a great addition to your home. They are practical and look great. Ideal for opening up the rear of your house allowing you enjoy the great outdoors. The doors effortlessly glide open to the side and at the end of the day they can be closed again making your home secure again.
Types of sliding glass doors that are available and what to look out for.
There are two basic types of sliding doors:
Simple sliding patio doors – Patio doors sets have been around for a long time and basically consist of a pair of sliding doors running on a sliding glass door track. The doors slide to the left or right. Some systems will have one of the door panels fixed and the other usually slides behind it. Some systems have all doors sliding so that you can exit from either side. They are more commonly used for smaller structural openings. Unlike French doors they do not require sufficient space to swing the doors in or out for them to be fully open. However, French doors, when fully opened, will provide almost 100% clear opening whilst with a pair of patio doors the opening will be about 50%. Larger structural openings can be accommodated by a sliding glass door system with triple sliding glass door tracks therefore accommodating additional doors e.g. three to six. The clear opening for the three panels will be increased to 66%. For example with three panel arrangements, all three of the doors would be parked to one side left or right. With six panels three would be park on one side and the other three on the other side for full opening.
Some manufacturers have produced a removable fly screen for this type of door system. It consists of a screen the same size as one of the door panels that slides and seals when one sliding glass door is in the open position, allowing fresh air in but keeping unwanted pests out.
Example of sliding patio doors
These doors are mostly made from PVC and aluminium framing.
Sliding folding doors – This glass sliding door system can be used for small openings of 1.6 m (5’3”) up to very large openings of about 6 m (19’8¼”). The larger versions are basically a sliding wall whereby the entire facade will slide to one side, creating a large opening. This door type is particularly suitable if you enjoy the outdoors and like to open the entire rear of the house when the weather is suitable. One disadvantage however is that with such a large opening flies and mosquitoes will be allowed in. The system comprises a number of panels divided up over the opening size. Each panel will be no more than 1 m wide e.g. 6 m opening which will have 6 panels. For this opening more panels could be fitted, but more panels means more vertical framing, affecting the sight lines. One of the doors at one side, or in the middle, will be the main entry/exit door, used like a normal door. To open the entire facade, unlock the first glass sliding door lock and then all the remaining door locks in turn. Each panel will fold on top of the next and sliding on the glass sliding door track at the same time to one side. Eventually all the doors will be parked to the side. Up to 90% opening can be achieved with this door system. Glass sliding door hardware these days is of very good quality allowing such large doors to open with ease.
Ideal for the home, but used quite often used in restaurants. Opening the door facade will allow access onto a terrace increasing the sitting area. During poor weather the doors are closed and everyone returns indoors.
Example of sliding, folding and stscking doors
These doors are available in wood, PVC and aluminium. A aluminium sliding door system is probably the most expensive of all three but also are the most luxurious. Aluminium is quite strong therefore the framing profiles can be slim providing greater sight lines.
How to decorated your glass pantry doors.
The choice is yours……