Pocket /Folding Lanai Doors or Set of 4 Sliding Patio Doors

11 years ago

Help! In uncharted water here. Originally planned on using 6' set of French doors to access the back porch from the family room flanked by casements to create a "wall of windows to the outside". The French doors were supposed to line up with the front door for a direct line of sight to our gorgeous view. Due to changes in the floor plan & trying to maximize space, it looks like we may need to go with something different like folding/sliding lanai doors (similar to a nana wall) or a set of 4 sliding patio doors with the 2 center doors opening in opposite directions. I've attached a photos of the patio doors below. So my questions are these--

-Any idea on cost? (Marvin sliding patio doors 4-3' panels as shown quoted ~$3000)

-Any information on quality/durability of different brands? (Nana for the folding system & Marvin, Jeld-Wen, Lift & Slide all offer both styles)

-Style Preference - Pros & Cons experienced with each

-Any other manufacturers I should look at?

-Reviews from anyone that has these types of doors-ease of use, appearance, worth the $$, etc

Thanks for your help!

Folding Door Style:

http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac48/mydreamhome/FamilyRoomIdea3.jpg

Jeld-Wen/Marvin Center Opening Sliding Patio Door:

http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac48/mydreamhome/FamilyRoomIdea2.jpg

http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac48/mydreamhome/FamilyRoomIdea2b.jpg

Totally Different Option--We would not do the arches, just standard 14" transoms above the windows & doors as in the photos above (Don't know if this one will work yet as it's just a single door):

http://i884.photobucket.com/albums/ac48/mydreamhome/FamilyRoomIdea1.jpg

Featured Answer

mythreesonsnc

11 years ago

I looked into the nana wall and several other options as well --- They are really cool, but in the end, we determined that our house location and set up didn't warrant the expense of these. Now, if we had an awesome view, we might have done this.

My recollection of this in terms of pricing for Nana Wall and some of the other brands: I believe it was about $800 a foot for this --- so for a 12' opening, it worked out to about $9600 --- I looked at several manufacturers and the pricing was all in that ballpark.

Will your doors open to a patio, a screened porch? This was a concern for us in this decision. We ended up putting a screened porch, so the Nana concept would have been great, because opening the doors wide would still be within the screen.... thus no bugs, etc invading the house. If not, you might want to consider with lights on in the house and the doors wide open, you might get every moth in town visiting!

Another consideration is how to stack the panels. In our plan it was working out to be awkward --- and the "stack" would have been in the way. Just make sure that if you go with these, you have that planned carefully... some of them can stack inside a wall, which is pretty neat.

Another consideration to think about..... look back at your pictures linked.... the transition from inside to outside.... if you are trying to make a very open space, be careful of that little half step transition.... it looks like a tripping hazard to me. I would want either a full step down, or preferably a level transition there to open up the space. The top picture has a small step, which can be an ankle breaker!

Finally, if you are trying to maximize your view through the house straight out the back, maybe consider an odd number of doors so the exact center is glass, not the door frames meeting in the middle (your bottom picture does this glass in the middle way). If you think about your set of 4 doors concept, the dead center part will be about 8" of door frame, vs. glass. If you use 3 or 5 panels, the center view would be glass. This is why in the first few pictures they show the doors open, because it looks way better open than closed. But in the last picture, the view is great regardless.

And.... while I think the standard is to have the center 2 panels open on french doors, it makes furniture placement more difficult, so just make sure you've thought about it!

Good luck would love to see pics of the view, etc! Rachel

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (6)

mydreamhome
Original Author
11 years ago
Sorry-the photos didn't appear as I wanted them to...If at first you don't succeed...:

Folding Door Style:

Jeld-Wen/Marvin Center-Opening Sliding Doors:

Totally Different Option--We would not do the arches, just standard 14" transoms above the windows & doors as in the photos above (Don't know if this one will work yet as it's just a single door):
Related Discussions
Sliding glass doors, or French doors opening outward - crossposte
Q
Comments (30)
marti8a- We have 2 sets of aluminum clad, low e, argon filled sliders and a set of the same outward opening french doors, all by Eagle (now owned by Andersen, but independent when we purchased them 8 years ago). They all operate easily, close securely and have no air infiltration, we are in NNY and have wind, cold and snow and have never had a problem. While I like the look of french doors better, we chose sliders in two our of three locations because we wanted screens on the doors, we don't have or want A/C, so screens are on the doors are a must for us. The one french door we have will someday open onto a small sunroom/conservatory (hopefully), that's why we chose a set of french doors in that area. Eagle, as well as the other well known manufacturers, have lots of options on the interior; primed, painted, stained, different wood species, hardware options, etc. We rented a house with vinyl sliders when we were building and I would not recommend them at all, they didn't work well, ice built up in the channels and the cold air poured in seemingly from the entire opening. I strongly prefer the wood interior and aluminum clad exterior, but overall I would get the best ones you can afford, good doors and windows pay for themselves in the form of lower energy costs. Good luck- sandyponder
...See More
Interior use for 4-panel sliding door?
Q
Comments (1)
There are better options than using an exterior slider: those door require a bottom track, whereas a traditional pocket door does not, and retreats all the way out of sight when not needed. You could also do a non-pocket slider, where the door is still visible when open. There are a lot of threads about sliders in this forum, and heres a link to one on the building forum with some photos: Here is a link that might be useful: sliding door trhead
...See More
Sliding or Hinged Door for Patio Door
Q
Comments (28)
We replaced our French patio door with a slider last year (here 27 years) and we are sorry we didn't do it much sooner. It is much easier to operate since the french door was so heavy and it was a pain to open and close as compared to the slider which operates beautifully. We didn't replace it with a French styled slider, ours has minimal casing to open-up the view. It gives our room a lift.
...See More
Multipanel Stacking door or traditional patio door
Q
Comments (21)
We installed two LaCantina doors a few months ago. The 144" x 96' cost $10,200 plus $1500 install. Our general contractor installed the LAM header. We also installed a 158' x 96", it cost $11,530. I dislike the screens La Cantina sells. We just ordered Vista View retractable screens. Centor makes nice doors with a nice hidden retractable screen, but buying two of those was just too much more money for us. I'm very happy with our La Cantina doors, we are in Southern California so they are local for us.
...See More
juniork
11 years ago
Exactly what mythreesons said!
Our La Cantina doors were the cheapest out of Nana, Lanai, and L Cantina. When you actually get down to the bids, things start to add up...hardware, divided lites, etc.
So we have 4 panels (12'), brushed nickel hardware, clad wood (so exterior is alum. clad, interior is wood) 9' tall doors, 3 lites over 1 - Craftsman style, and it was $9500 (total, including shipping and CA tax). I think that TOTAL, everything was at least $1000 more with the other two companies. My sense is that Nana is most expensive, since they were first, then Lanai, then La Cantina. (The funny thing is, we still call it 'the Nana door', cause it's so much easier to say than La Cantina, and we all know which door we're talking about!) Our builder had put in a Nana in a prior house, and was comparing to this La Cantina, and he felt that the door was at least equal, and the sliding mechanism was much smoother than the Nana. We had see the prior house, and the sliding mech. on that Nana was definitely not smooth (it was only 2 years old, and the door wasn't used much!). In fact, it made my husband hesitant! We were soooo happy when the La Cantina turned out fine! We don't have drywall yet, but when we go up there and open the La Cantina, we feel like it's really becoming a home! Everyone who's been up there loves the door. I figure, hey, it's still cheaper than a Sub Zero, and it adds so much to the house in terms of WOW factor. We won't have italian marble, triple stacked crown, or fancy kitchen cabs, but we will definitely be enjoying that La Cantina going out onto the big front deck!
juniork
11 years ago
oops....I meant 8' tall doors!
They do have a zero step sill option, but our builder didn't want to take the risk with rain, and water intrusion even on our covered patio, so it will be step down. I think he said it was only a few inches...nothing like a full 7-8 inch step.

Also, because of cost, during the design phase, we went with the 4 panels for 12' instead of 5 panels for 16'. Now I regret it, because it would have been truly a 'wall of windows', as you said, since the room is about 22' across. For us, though, since we have another floor above it, it would have meant returning to engineering, and resubmitting that part to the building dept! So my advice is to engineer for a true wall of windows, and if you change your mind, there's no problems with framing smaller during building - it's the bigger openings that cause problems.
lucydecorates
11 years ago
My husband and I are considering the folding doors and have found all the comments helpful. We are interested in knowing what states/areas you are building/living in. We will be in the low country/coastal area of South Carolina. I am also concerned about how easy these doors are to open and push back.Please share any comments/experiences about this. Or living area will open to a very large screened area. Finally, currently the design calls for this to be the only access to the screened area. Do you think we should add a single door leading from another area to the screened area?
lucky_in_nc
11 years ago
Some time ago folding doors by Oceanside where considered. Can someone please comment on how happy they are with their choice?

Pocket /Folding Lanai Doors or Set of 4 Sliding Patio Doors

mythreesonsnc

Comments (6)

mydreamhome
Original Author

Related Discussions

juniork

juniork

lucydecorates

lucky_in_nc

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Pocket /Folding Lanai Doors or Set of 4 Sliding Patio Doors

mythreesonsnc

Comments (6)

mydreamhomeOriginal Author

Related Discussions

juniork

juniork

lucydecorates

lucky_in_nc

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

mydreamhome
Original Author