Find the Right Glass Door for Your Patio

The massive glass patio door hasn’t existed for very long. It took modern production practices to make it affordable. But what was once the province of the wealthy and aristocratic is currently available in a vast array of styles for each home.

From sliding to hinged, folding to telescoping, it is very likely that there is a patio door which will fit your home’s aesthetic and your budget. So let’s take a look at some of the terrace doors available and what you ought to know about every single.

Siemasko + Verbridge

French doors

The classic, in-swing French doorway is frequently an elegant and stately architectural element that connects the interior to the outside.

Since it’s a hinged, swinging door, it is going to occupy floor area — it does not just sit inside the plane of the wall socket. Incorporating doors such as these will have an effect on furniture placement and the way the room functions.

Also, these doors have limited width. Each door panel can not be overly large as the hardware could get rather large or the operation of the door would endure. These doorways are typically no broader than about 6 ft.

Schwartz and Architecture

The out-swing French doorway is a variant on the hinged patio door. When these doors won’t have an impact on the inside furniture placement, they don’t have any drawback.

The screening would be on the interior. That means these doorways are more appropriate to locations where screening isn’t necessary, like places where bugs are not a problem, or where the door contributes to a screened porch.

Second, these doors must possess hardware which prevents them from staying shut in wind gusts. In reality, a strong enough gust of wind could do any severe damage to the door and door frame when the door hasn’t been installed and designed to accommodate that.

Another item to think about when thinking of a hinged door, whether in-swing or out-swing, is your threshold. This part of the door frame provides a weather-tight seal along the floor and may project up an inch or more above the floor, preventing a smooth transition from inside to outside. If this “bump” bothers you, talk with your architect about the way that it can be removed.

Cost: The price of the doors varies broadly. It is ultimately a function of substances, glass type, finishing, hardware, muntin type, etc.. While you should expect to pay a minimum of around $1,000, a high-quality aluminum-clad French doorway with multi-point locking system and simulated divided lights may cost several thousand dollars.

Fivedot

Sliding Glass Doors

The sliding glass door has become the most omnipresent patio door. Made up of 2 framed glass panels which slide past one another, this door could be seen on modern, conventional and every style in between. That being said, it truly fits a modern aesthetic as the sliding operation and staggered planes are typically not very right for conventional fashions.

An advantage of those doors is the launching can be very broad. While the typical door is going to be 5 or 6 feet broad, doors which are 8 or 10 feet wide are available.

An important design consideration when selecting a sliding glass door would be your frame dimensions. The true frame measurements will vary considerably depending on the frame material. While metal eyeglasses, such as aluminum, may be rather thin, vinyl frames will probably be thick.

Cost. A sliding glass door will generally cost much less than a similar door. It has to do with mechanisms and operation. Simply put, the sliding glass door is a lot easier to engineer and construct and has fewer moving parts. Thus a sliding glass door could be had for as little as $500.

John Maniscalco Architecture

Variations on the Slider

A variant of the sliding glass door is exactly what some producers term the French slider. In various ways this doorway incorporates the advantages of a sliding glass door with the expression of a door.

Unlike the two-panel configuration of the normal sliding glass doorway, the French slider has four panels. Both outer panels are fixed in position; both internal panels operate. When closed, both operable panels butt into one another, resting at precisely the same plane, creating the expression of a hinged door.

Another advantage to these doorways is that the opening could be even wider compared to a regular sliding glass doorway. In widths of 10, 12 and 16 ft, these doors can produce a wall of glass while at the same time allowing for a lot of natural venting.

Whether it is the standard sliding glass door or the French slider, a significant design consideration is your track system. As in the hinged doors, those tracks may project up an inch or more and therefore are typically 5 to 6 inches broad. The huge track is something you are going to want to deal with by setting down it or establishing a lesser profile system as some producers can provide.

Stone Interiors

Another type of sliding glass door would be your telescoping patio doorway. This doorway includes several — three or more — panels which slide past each other. The wonderful advantage of a telescoping door would be the capability to acquire a really broad opening which may remove the barrier between inside and outside.

As with all the sliding glass doors, telescoping doors are sympathetic with a modern aesthetic but maybe not so much using a conventional design. It is only a function of the large, unobstructed glass panels and staggered configuration which yields a modern look.

Two particularly pleasant features of this design: You can get the door open a bit and have it open in either side, as there isn’t a fixed board such as the one at the typical two-panel sliding glass doorway.

Keep in mind the track can be really broad. A four-panel door may have four separate parallel paths that could encroach into the home a bit — particularly when a display process is added. With the glass panels as well as the display panels, a four-panel door may have a track system 18 inches broad. If that is a concern, consider using a variation of this doorway which you will see following.

Griffin Enright Architects

A lift/slide door may have a single track that each panel utilizes until the panels reach on the sides, where multiple tracks will begin. For the most part, the track remains inconspicuous, while the panels neatly fold up and disappear to an adjoining wall. It is a truly wondrous approach to have the most significant opening potential.

Cost. Expect to pay a couple of tens of thousands of several thousand dollars depending on dimensions, materials, setup, etc.. Although this type of door is much more expensive than a normal two-panel sliding glass doorway, the capability to get a really large wall of glass could be well worth it. Strategy on budgeting into five figures.

Klondike Contracting

Folding Glass Doors

The folding glass door is just another nice way of developing a huge opening which allows the distinction between inside and outside to disappear. The advantage the folding glass door has, say, the telescoping doorway is that it allows to get a big opening from corner to corner when there isn’t an opportunity to make pockets at the wall for the panels to slide into.

Folding glass doors could be set up so that among those panels is hinged, behaving like a normal door. This way, if you wish to go out or in, you do not have to open the whole door.

Cost: Folding glass doors could be pricey, particularly the better ones which are easily operated. You ought to budget approximately $1,000 to $1,500 per lineal foot. So a 20-foot-wide opening would cost approximately $20,000 to $30,000.

Charles Debbas Architecture

Pivot Doors

The pivot doorworks just like a hinged door since it swings in, outside — or even both. But unlike a hinged door, a pivot door is encouraged on pivots and pivot boxes. This permits the weight of the doorway to break in from the border, putting the stress closer to the center. This usually means that a really large opening using a single panel can be achieved.

Because of the door’s operation and setup, it isn’t really acceptable for an environment in which any screening is required (unless, of course, it results in a screened porch).

Cost: Like another large glass patio doors like the lift/slide along with the folding door, the garage door will be more expensive than a normal French or sliding glass door. But consider these doors can add considerably to the inherent worth of your home.

Can you add new terrace doors? We would love to see the way you made the transition from inside to out. Please upload a photograph to the Remarks section below!

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