Curved sliding doors are intricate products designed for new build extensions and house builds. If you’re thinking that a curved wall with patio sliding doors would work in your home, we give some tips and advice on what to consider with curved doors as part of your design.
Understanding Curved Sliding Patio Doors.
First of all, there are two different designs of these shaped doors. One is doors with curved aluminium and glass. The other is flat doors, faceted and creating the curvature.
The shaped glass doors arrangement remains the most complex, expensive and technically challenging. Not only do you have to find a suitable system. These curved glass doors usually come single glazed. You find them most in offices, partitions and interior use. While it is possible to find European systems in a curved design, the complexities come with creating curved double glazed units. Again, while technically possible, this glass construction is not for the faint-hearted. You need to find a product having all these complex requirements.
- Curving the aluminium door rails and other door sections.
- Finding a suitable glass manufacturer to curve glass and made the sealed units. Toughened glass is especially hard to create.
- Ensuring the entire project is absolutely precise with regards to the building structure. The tolerances on curved doors are unforgiving with little margin for building tolerances.
Therefore, while having a curved glass sliding wall is for the ambitious, the project management and the products themselves need careful consideration. By far the most complex element of curved sliding doors is the glass and the accurate bending on plan of the aluminium extrusions. Do your research and you’ll find very few companies offering these products.
Curved sliding patio doors on plan.
Having conventional sliding patio doors, faceted on plan, remains the better and easier option. Here each door is flat in design. The same door used for flat openings gets used for the faceted type. Importantly, how we angle the doors and the work between each set of doors, creates the desired curved effect.
At Aspire Bifolds, we create faceted on plan doors using any of our aluminium sliding door systems. Then we create bespoke pressings for the angles. The pressings come in powder-coated aluminium with either a timber or metal support behind or insulation. These pressings comprise an inner and outer part.
The design of these pressings is similar to a round conservatory design, also using individual window and door elements with bay poles. We have found this arrangement to be the best overall and allows much more tolerance too. In our experience, a builder rarely gets a new opening 100% square and true, especially the bigger the sizes.
This is the best and most cost-effective way to create curved sliding doors for your new extension. The doors work better, the installation is faster and the entire project works just like having regular patio doors fitted in the home.
For suitable doors, the Schuco sliding door is especially good in these types of projects, thanks to it’s slimmer sight lines and greater flexibility compared to other types of sliding doors.
Get in touch today to discuss your home improvement project.
Our Epsom showroom has several sets of sliding patio doors on display, all of which are suitable for the creation of sliding doors in a faceted design. Contact us today to arrange a free home visit and quotation or visit us in our showroom.