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Home Repair Design Dilemma Windows

Easy/Temporary walls for sliding glass doors?

Janie Elizabeth

4 years ago

Hello! Looking for suggestions. We have a Florida room that is surrounded by sliding glass doors. Winters in Ohio get very cold. Last winter, I hung canvas drop cloths and then fleece fabric over the glass doors. This helped tremendously. However, this year, I’m looking to “upgrade” to prevent kids from pulling down the fabric and to increase the protection from the cold. I’ve thought of getting those thin insulation boards to pack in the glass door frames. But it doesn’t seem sturdy and able to stand appropriately. Any thoughts or ideas? Looking for cost effectiveness. We have 6 sliding glass doors, 1 double replacement door, and 2 triple replacement doors (if that’s what it’s called).

Featured Answer

acm

4 years ago

I hate to say it, but when I was growing up in Michigan, our house had a "solarium" with lots of glass, and we pretty much just had to close it up for the winter -- it was just too hard to insulate or heat it properly. If you can't really do that, then I'd get an energy efficiency audit to suggest ways to prevent heat loss and/or add insulation to what you have, for all seasons and for winter specifically.

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Comments (7)

mad_gallica (z5 Eastern NY)
4 years ago
Insulated or lined drapes. I think they are easiest to handle with traditional pinch pleats and traverse rods so a simple cord pull moves them out of the way. Growing up, we *always* had heavy drapes over windows for this very reason, and we often moved the couch in front of the sliding glass doors for winter for even more insulation.
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apple_pie_order
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
Look into window quilts, for example https://www.windowquilt.com/ Lots of instructions on the web, including http://www.manytracks.com/Homesteading/winquilt.htm

Also have a pro check the HVAC system to see if the room is getting enough heat or if needs adjustment. For example, if you have a forced air system that's blowing 55 degree air into the room, that will not heat up the room effectively no matter how much insulation you have on the doors.
kathyg_in_mi
4 years ago
We have a 3 season room that we close off for winter.
Janie Elizabeth
Original Author
4 years ago
Thanks for the suggestions. We are really not looking to block the room off. This is our dinning and living area. The blankets we have work well at blocking some of the cold. We are able to keep the room around 70 degrees with the fireplace. Really, I’m looking for suggestions on what material I could use as a temporary wall inside the sliding glass door frames that might be light weight (if possible) and inexpensive. I was thinking the thin insulation boards but they are flimsy; unless someone has a suggestion on how I can make an easy support for it.
apple_pie_order
4 years ago
Look for instructions on building shoji screens in tracks or suspended if you want something to encase the insulation boards that would make them less flimsy and floppy.
Janie Elizabeth
Original Author
4 years ago
Apple Pie, the Sohji idea looks like a great idea! Thank you. This looks not only fairly easy, but can be an easy set up for the following years.

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