Patio and Sliding Doors

Rear walls of the house, and any opening where you want the glass area more than you want a door that swings. Sliders suit tight decks and patios, because they take no floor space to open.

Sliders take no floor space and suit tight patios. Hinged French pairs seal better and look better open, but need clear space for the doors to swing.

Before replacing a sticking slider, ask about a track cleaning and new rollers. More often than people expect, that fixes it for a fraction of the cost.

A patio door is the largest opening in most houses and the one with the most foot traffic, so the track takes both weather and grit. Here, sliders fill with the same pollen and debris that clog a sliding window, except the track sits at floor level where it also collects whatever gets walked through.

The threshold is the other pressure point. It sits at or near ground level, so how water is handled there is the difference between a door that lasts and one that quietly rots the floor framing beneath it.

A slider that is hard to move usually has a dirty track and worn rollers. Cleaning and new rollers cost a fraction of a new door, and we check that first.

If the frame is racked, meaning pushed out of square, if the glass has fogged between the panes, or if the threshold is soft, replacement is the honest answer.

Patio doors are mostly glass, so the glass package does most of the work. Low-E glass, which has a thin, invisible coating that reflects heat, is the practical baseline in this climate, and the coating can be chosen for how much afternoon sun the door gets.

On a wide opening, more panels give more glass and a wider view, while a two-panel door keeps it simple. On an exposed wall, ask about impact-rated glass, since hail is a real risk here.