Adding Sliding Doors To Your Home: Worth The Investment?
If you’re searching for methods to make your home more fashionable and accessible, look no further than sliding doors! They’ll permit you to bust open walls, flood the space with more light and generate a sense of flow that runs through your entire home. But how do you determine whether doors are worth your property investment? Before doing anything think over the following.
Natural Sunlight
One of the greatest advantages of sliding doors, aside from practical benefits, is how much sunlight they’ll bring into your home, no matter where you choose to install them! If you use this style as a back door (leading out to your patio or decking) then you’ll be inviting lots of sunlight in, something that’s really desirable if you decide to sell up. If you use doors with clear glass to divide up rooms in your home, such as the dining room and lounge, all the light levels from one room will flood into another .
Creating The Illusion of Space
The room appears much bigger thanks to the large glass doors, it’s a similar effect that mirrors create with space. Glass panelling already surpasses what can be done with a wall or plain door, and that’s when they’re closed! When opened it’ll feel like the two adjoining rooms are really one big room . If they’re overlooking your yard don’t be afraid to use more decking and go a little inside out. You’ll adore the extra entertaining space that your home now offers.
A Style To Match Your Home
With so many designs available, you’re sure to find a model that you love! While a basic white frame is wonderful for any home, if you’re in the mood for something personalised to your décor there’s plenty available. Matte black is perfect for the current Industrial trend while neutral greys, blues or whites work well with a Hamptons finish. Sliding doors are a good investment to keep that cohesive look throughout your entire home.
Space Saving Option
If you can’t fit furniture because chairs hit the wall when a door is pulled open, or you have to keep all doors closed when they aren’t being used so that you can manoeuvre yourself around your furniture, space saving is vital. Your doors are going to occupy about the same amount of space whether they’re open or closed. They open wide so that moving heavy furniture in and out of your home is a breeze.
Cost Effective
Unlike bifold doors the amount of metal and hardware used in sliding panels is significantly less, so these are a lower cost option to think about if you’re operating with a budget that’s on the skinnier side. They can also be made in both single and double glazing according to your insulation needs.
It’s hard to go wrong with sliding doors for a lot of families. They’re convenient to use, they’re beautiful and they’ll make even the smallest space feel larger. What many people don’t realise is how these doors fundamentally change the way you live in your home, not just how it looks. The psychological shift of having that connection to outdoors, even in winter when the doors are closed, creates a sense of openness that’s hard to quantify but impossible to ignore once you experience it.
Timber Bifold Vs Aluminium Bifold Doors
Every homeowner asks this when they build or renovate. The main concerns are durability, upkeep, strength of material, cost and aesthetics. It’s no secret that wooden bifold doors require maintenance by way of painting or varnishing annually and if not maintained they’re likely to warp or rot, rendering them inoperable. Far too often timber bifolds need replacing after three to six years with an aluminium bifold door because they’ve become unusable. Aluminium meanwhile doesn’t need much maintenance, is very hard wearing and will outlive your home with ease.
The Timber Problem
In addition to this, due to the superior strength of aluminium over wood, aluminium bifold doors can be made significantly bigger and with fewer panels, which allows more light into your home. In general aluminium is cheaper than timber as the joinery of timber costs quite a bit, whereas fewer materials are needed and there are all the hidden costs in maintaining timber .
The real reason timber bifolds sell so well is that they look beautiful. Most of the time however powder coating enhances a home’s look. There are hundreds of powder coat colours to choose from so you’ll find one that matches your home. But there are other reasons to move away from timber: bushfire danger, weather resistance, soundproofing, recyclability.
Cornerless (Post Free) Bifold Doors
All four sides open (cornerless) bifold doors can transform a home in an instant. These units totally change rooms when installed properly. The pictures speak for themselves!
For technical reasons it’s better to have an odd number of panels on both sides. But at minimum cornerless bifolds can have only one side with an odd number of panels. Right angles are generally what you see, but with some engineering and customisation other angles are possible. As cornerless bifolds are a touch more complex to fit, expert installation is recommended. One important thing to cover here is that if you’re thinking about cornerless bifolds as an option it’s best to start planning ahead at design stage. Top hung bifolds need the roof to be supported, so require a strong lintel.
The expertise in cornerless bifolds has led to the development of some refinements over these cross sections to make your cornerless bifold appear, feel and perform even better. These aren’t just aesthetic choices, they’re structural improvements that address the real world challenges of thermal expansion, water ingress and long term stability that most suppliers won’t mention until problems emerge years down the track.
