Reuniting your home and garden with Bi-folding or Sliding Patio Doors

Bring the outside in!

Copperfield Windows explores the new options for connecting your home and garden spaces through either Bi-folding or Sliding Patio Doors

How your home connects to your garden outside it, can have a significant impact on the sense of space in internal rooms. The ‘hardscape’ outside - flagstones, decking and containers  - can all contribute to a sense of flow between interior and exterior spaces.

Ultimately, however, the final physical connection is made your choice of door and the options – French doors, patio doors and bi-folding doors - are today wider than ever before. So what do you need to consider? Craig Smith, Director at Copperfield Windows gives his top tips:

Space

• French doors and bi-folding doors need it! Copperfield Windows offers both and our doors can be designed to open in or to open out, maximizing flexibility in design. But if space is at a premium, you might want to consider an inline-sliding patio door. See some examples at http://www.copperfieldwindows.co.uk/doors/
• Patio doors, or inline sliding doors are a great option where space is at a premium because they do exactly what they say they do – slide back on each other. With triple track options, they can also span large spaces, stacking neatly at one end of your room to create a large opening.

Maximise openings

• Regardless of your ultimate choice of door maximise the size of the door aperture (the space in which your door will sit). You want to create as seamless a connection between your home and garden. The bigger the space the larger the glass area and the more the space will flow between them.

Glass

• If you’re using more glass you need to make sure that your choices are right for the installation. The most obvious consideration is thermal efficiency. You’re opening up a large element of your room so you need to specify a high level of performance. Low-E energy efficient glass will help you to keep your heating costs down.
• It’s also important to consider aspect. If your garden faces south or west, you may want to consider a solar reflective finish, or you may find that the energy gain from the sun makes your inside space uncomfortably warm.

Weather performance

• Aspect will also play a part in how weather resistant your doors regardless of whether they’re French, bi-folding or patio-doors will need to be. We can supply doors suitable for any aspect but if your property is particularly exposed to the elements we would generally recommend a standard, rather than low threshold option, which will form a more robust weather seal, unless there is a particular reason for specifying one e.g. wheelchair use. 

 Choice of material

• Choose a material that is durable and easy to maintain, especially if you plan on using your patio door or bi-folding door as a main entrance to your home. PVC-U doors will never need painting, while a wide variety of low maintenance and foiled wood-grain effect and colour finishes means that you won’t have to compromise on style.

Bi-fold door, French Door or Patio Door?

• We have left this to last as really it’s down to your individual taste and the character of your property. We have seen that inline sliding patio doors, may be a preferred option if space is tight or restricted. French doors, remain the classic choice, while bi-folding doors deliver contemporary style. See all these options at http://www.copperfieldwindows.co.uk/doors/

For more information email admin.copperfield@btconnect.com or call a member of our team on 02476 452688.