Glazed units are great for bringing in light and connecting your indoor and outdoor spaces, but are the sliding variety right for your project? Anamika Talwaria investigates

Main: Large format sliders, like these from IDSystems, allow you to open up a huge portion of the aperture so you can enjoy the connection of indoor and outdoor zones

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aving fallen out of favour in the early 2000s, sliders are gaining popularity again. Offering nearly uninterrupted views and tons of natural light, they have better sightlines than their main competition (bifolds) when closed. But this solution isn’t for everyone – so here’s what you need to know when selecting sliding doors, from design and configurations through to getting the best performance for your budget.

Why sliders?

Innovations in frame technology have put sliding units back in the spotlight. We’ll go into the materials available later, but modern sliding doors glide smoothly to offer you a strong connection between your indoor and outdoor spaces. The large format panels have ultra-slim sightlines, with as little as 20mm-thick framework. So, your views are less restricted than with bifolds, which consist of smaller doors with chunkier frames that concertina neatly.

The classic criticism of sliders is that, unlike bifolds, you can’t open the whole wall up and are instead limited to about a two-thirds aperture. “While people might want big openings, this won’t necessarily be a reality even with bifolds,” says Darren Long, sales and account manager at Internorm. “And with the weather in this country, they’ll stay closed for most of the year anyway.”

Unlike with traditional hinged doors, sliders don’t take up any extra floor area when opened. This can save useful space in smaller homes – and you can even put out furniture, such as a cosy window seat, close to the doors. One attractive wow-factor feature is using sliders to replace a wall for corner glazing, where the doors and windows meet in a corner. We speak to glazing specialists IDSystems about this setup on page 130.