Plain slider
The panel runs on rollers in a track. Light to use, the cheapest of the three, and fine for a terrace door that opens every day. The seal is less strict than a lift and slide, so in heavy wind you hear more.
Sliding walls
A wall
that opens
A sliding wall is the only window that makes your room bigger. Not because it holds more glass, but because the garden joins in the moment the panel slides away. So everything comes down to two things: how much profile you see standing there, and how lightly the panel runs under your hand.
Three ways
Slide, lift or fold
From outside they look almost the same and they work in completely different ways. The choice depends on your threshold, your weight of glass and how often the wall really opens.
Lift and slide
The handle lifts the panel first, then it slides. On closing it drops onto its seal and presses itself shut. Heavier to build, far quieter and far tighter once it stands. This is what we advise for large panels.
Bifold
The leaves fold against each other and disappear to one side. You free up the whole opening, which no slider can do. On the other hand you see more uprights when it is closed, and the hinges want a drop of oil now and then.
What goes wrong
Three mistakes you only notice after a year
The threshold is too high
A raised threshold keeps water out, but you trip over it for ten years. Flat thresholds with drainage underneath do exist. That has to be decided at shell stage, not at installation.
The panel becomes heavy
On a wide opening a single panel often carries a hundred and fifty kilos of glass. If the track does not sit on a flat, load bearing base, it starts to drag after one winter. That has to be checked before anything is ordered.
No solar shading was planned
A large glazed panel facing south turns your room into a greenhouse. Screens or an awning cost less when planned in advance than hung on the facade afterwards. We say so at the survey, not at handover.
Questions
About sliding walls
How wide can a sliding wall go?
Wider than most people think, but the weight per panel is the real limit, not the width. Above a certain size the glass is placed with a suction crane, and we plan that in advance with the partner who works with that equipment.
Can a sliding wall be made in pvc?
For an ordinary terrace door, yes. For a large wall we advise aluminium, because at the same weight the profile stays narrower and stiffer. Pvc stretched too far will bow over time.
Is a sliding wall a security risk?
A good lift and slide is not. The panel drops onto its seal and the hooks engage in the profile. The glass is the weak point, and laminated safety glass exists for exactly that.
We draw your opening first
Before a price lands on the table, you see what is left of your current opening with the new profile in it. So you know in advance how much glass you actually get.
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