Popular Glass Door Styles

Posted: Sep 24, 2012
Author: G&S Contracting, Inc.

Nothing lets the light into your house quite like a glass door. Connecting to a patio, deck, or balcony, a glass door will add that extra refinement to the overall atmosphere. But what are the options available for glass doors, and how does each style correspond with different room designs and layouts?

One type of common glass door is a hinged door.  A hinged patio door opens like conventional doors, with at least one side of the doors swinging on a hinge. But the main part of the door is glass rather than wood, making it more appropriate for opening up to a patio or outdoor recreational area instead of a main entrance to the house.

A sliding glass door is used in mostly the same place within a layout or design of a house, but instead of opening on hinges, it opens by sliding or gliding horizontally. This method, requiring much less floor area, is ideal for rooms without adequate space for the opening of a hinged door. When selecting a sliding glass door, make sure the sliding motion is streamlined and offers next to no resistance.

French doors are a special type of hinged glass door with separate, framed panels of glass constituting the glass area of the door. There is also no vertical beam where the doors meet each other when closed, allowing an unobstructed path when fully opened.

Glass doors, nowadays, can even be made with material strong enough to withstand coastal storms. Materials such as impact-resistant or tempered glass are available for such situations. Glass doors built to withstand storms are also built with extra insulation to resist heavy rainfall conditions, and are therefore more energy resistant, a benefit even when the stormy season stays a little on the placid side.