3 Panel Doorwall Affordable Alternatives
I am trying to find an affordable alternative to the following: WeatherShield has been advertising a new wood frame, three panel sliding glass door in which two adjacent panels (one end panel and the center one) both slide all the way to lap over the end fixed panel. The door is available up to 12′ wide which provides an opening of about 8′ when it’s open. Two of these systems can be combined such that they can fill a 24′ long wall and provide an opening of about 16′. By the way, I haven’t been able to find it on their website yet.
I have designed a cottage with a screen porch which runs adjacent to the living/dining area. The wall between them is just over 20′ long. It would be ideal to use a 20′ long version of the WeatherShield sliding glass door, especially if the bottom track can be flush with the floor, so the living space can expand onto the screen porch in the warm months. Well, that may end up being just a dream. I found that the list price for the two doors would be around $20,000. They are prohibitively expensive even after the discount.
I looked at a couple of alternatives. Mall doors with thermally broken aluminum frames would work. Their cost is only $2500 (without glass) but the color is clear or dark anodized aluminum which isn’t too compatible with the planned rustic feel and wood window of the cabin.
Nanawall makes a series of bifolding doors that would open all the way but all of the clear space they need to swing would make furniture arrangement difficult in the small rooms. Also, the price isn’t much different from the WeatherShield doors.
Does someone know of other manufacturers of sliding glass doors like those offered by WeatherShield? Also, does anyone know of any resources on how to build my own sliding glass doors?
Thank you for your help.
Replies
consider using the really big Soss hinges & doing it bifold style...one fixed full light slab, two swinging....the hinges in the larger sizes hold an imense amount of weight & full light insulated fixed glass door slabs are cheap compared to the alternatives....
Thanks for your suggestion. I was trying to use sliding doors because of the tight sizes of the rooms. Swinging or bifold doors would make furniture arranging difficult; however, your suggestion may be the way I go to keep the cost reasonable and affordable. I might just have to move the screen porch furniture when operating the doors. I'll look into the Soss hinges.
The big Soss hinges are a lot of work to install, and not cheap...the Man. can supply a nice template/jig....
They work well....
Thanks for the advice. I'll be sure to ask about the template.