We would like to put glass lift and slide doors (or some other sliding door with a minimal threshold) into our apartment in NYC in order to allow us to have separate office spaces which are still somewhat sound resistant but still let light through. Someone on another one of these posts recommended lift and slide doors, which I had not heard of, but which sounds like this is exactly what would work for us. I was hoping there might be a few people here with expertise in this area that could offer some advice. Here are our questions: 1) Can we even use lift-and-slide doors in our floor situation? This is a high-rise condo bldg with concrete subfloors (and the bldg won't give us permission to do any drilling into the concrete subfloor). We will be putting in new bamboo floating floors which are 9/16" thick on top of FloorMuffler underlayment - is this enough room for the tracks in the lift and slide doors systems to be laid into the floor so that they are still recessed as they are supposed to be? (I've tried to look at the specs on the various websites, but wasn't clear about how much space you needed in the floor to install the recessed tracks.) 2) Any particular recommendations on brand? These will be all interior, so weatherproofing features are just a waste of money in our case, but we do want something that slides easily and which is a sound resistant as possible, and which is hopefully reliable and durable. We'd also prefer less framing and more glass, to let more light and views through. The brands I've found so far are: Marvin, Panda, Kolbe, Weiland, Nanawall, and Weathershield. Anyone have any particular recommendations about one brand being better than another (in particular for our described usage)? Thanks in advance for any advice!

We had a similar situation and went with outward opening french doors. Only potential issue is using a screen (since they open outward, this is not a problem for us). This is a Marvin Integrity with wood interior. We have the same size slider in the basement. Very smooth, but it is heavy. You can save a fair amount of money going with a 96" tall door vs using a transom. Add a cottage grill for the same effect.

OK, they just left. I am happy to say this finally brings my thread to its ending. I hope this thread ends up helping other people when they encounter issues during their install. While I may of vented here at times, I was never disrespectful to the company providing their services. Even today after they were done, we sat around, talked and drank some water I offered before they left. This was probably one of the nicest group of guys I have ever hired, unfortunately we ran into a lot of roadblocks. Not only was there some install quality issues, but I had 5 panels of glass that arrived with large factory defects that was completely out of their control. When you combine everything, it just felt like a lot to deal with. I will post up some final images. All flashing was done properly this time, and they redid the exterior trim and added wood behind the trim as before it was just hollow without support which is why it started separating. I am now happy and just wish this could of been done the first time. I just left my review for the company involved and gave them 5 stars. While it took 5 visits to get all this corrected, they never disrespected me, and always responded to everything. That is a sign of a good company. I told them I never tried to be difficult, but I wanted to be sure I protect my biggest investment which is my home. Thank you to everyone who helped me along the way, I appreciate all of the support/guidance/advice your provided. Have a great summer!

We installed a solar shade on the outside of our patio door with a remote that stayed mostly up until the sun was pounding in the window. Least expensive option for us. We had Pella windows with blinds on the inside on the other windows installed by the previous owner. I believe it has an effect on R value since you can’t have the panes completely sealed due to the cord, not to mention you will need to clean 4 panes for every window rather than just 2.