Patio and Sliding Doors in Leicester and Leicestershire

Why patio sliding doors are specified the way they are

A sliding door is the right choice when the view is the point. Because nothing swings, the glass can be very large and the frame very quiet, and the room gains floor space that a hinged pair would occupy. What you give up is the full width opening, and that trade needs to be understood before you buy rather than afterwards.

The specification we fit as standard

Heavy sealed units carried on stainless steel rollers running in a bottom track, with an interlocking stile where the panels meet. The roller and track quality decides whether the door still glides in year ten. Anti lift blocks so the sliding panel cannot be jacked off its track, multi point hook locking into the interlock, laminated glass across the panels and a 3 star cylinder. The sealing line is a brush and gasket arrangement rather than a compression seal, so the track detail and the interlock are what keep the draught out. A good slider is not draughty, a cheap one always is.

• Stainless rollers rated for the panel weight, with anti lift blocks as standard
• Laminated glass on all panels, 3 star cylinder on the locking panel
• Track set dead level at installation so the panel does not run under its own weight
• From £1,650 fully fitted for a standard two panel set. Wider three and four panel arrangements are quoted after survey, and the price tracks glass area more than anything else.
• Track and roller quality is the whole of the long term story. A slider that runs sweetly on handover and grinds three winters later has almost always been fitted on a track that was not level, or rollers that were the right size and the wrong weight rating. We set the track with a level along its whole length, not just at the ends.