By adding a set of sliding glass door system to a room you will immediately transform that room. Can you imagine all the light that will flood in? When the doors are swept back to one side the outside will suddenly be inside.
Sliding glass doors will do all this. These sliding glass doors can be made from wood, PVC and aluminium. Aluminium has to be the most luxurious. They are strong, light weight, very durable and virtually maintenance free.
The following are the general requirements for aluminium glass sliding doors:
The Aluminium Framing
The aluminium 70 mm deep slim line framing incorporates a polyamide break within the frame for thermal efficiency. The doors run on stainless steel twin tracks and rollers allowing the door system to effortlessly glide open and closed. Structural openings of up to 6 m (19’8¼”) wide and 3 m (9’ 10”) high can easily be accommodated by the standard framing system with each panel up to 1 m (3’3¼”). The low thresholds will ensure minimum of step over.
Some sliding glass door hardware incorporates recessed handles, allowing the doors to fold and stack more tightly. The doors can fold either to one side or to both sides allowing up to 90% of the opening width available. If compared to a standard sliding glass patio doors these door systems will open wider.
Special features can include integrated blinds inside the glazing units.
These systems are used mostly as exterior sliding glass doors however they are also suitable for use as interior sliding glass doors to divide a larger room into smaller rooms.
Colour Range
The framing comes standard in black, white and brown, however a wider range of plain colours are available at special request. Wood grain effect is also very popular and a number of wood species effect are available including oak, cherry, pine, mahogany and many more.
Sample of wood grain effect
Frames can be dual with one colour externally and another internally e.g. black externally and white internally.
Security
Nowadays security is very important for the home with burglaries happening all over. The cylinder of the locking system can quite often be the weakest point. Burglars can bypass the cylinders on sliding glass door locks by means such as cylinder snapping or key bumping to gain access inside. When selecting your door system check that the cylinders on the sliding glass door lock incorporate bump resistant, snap secure, anti drill and anti pick technology. In addition the glazing beads should be positioned internally.
Glazing
Glass safety is very important especially at low level on any window or door systems. These types of doors have huge areas of glass therefore a potential safety hazard. There are two types of safety glass that can be generally used for these installations:
Toughened glass – this glass is also referred to as tempered glass due to the tempering process which is a special heating treatment to toughen the glass. When broken it will shatter into very small, blunt pieces ehich are relatively harmless. It’s much stronger than standard glass.
Laminated glass – this glass is made with at least two layers of standard glass arranged with a layer of plastic between. If the pane is broken the plastic layer will prevent the shreds of glass from falling out and reduce the risk of injury. Laminated glass is heavier and generally more expensive.
Sample of laminated glass - note the two panes of glass and plastic between
By incorporating thermal efficient glass such a ‘Low E’ you can reduce the effects of solar heat gain and also reflect radiated heat internally back into the room reducing heat loss and costs.
Thermal efficent glass
Some related information:
Try reading all you need to know about mahogany exterior doors.