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

I think the doggy door stays stationary. It stays in place along the edge of the doorwall. Adding it means that the glass for the sliding door is never again in the closed position. You will see the metal or wood edge of the sliding door, the edge of the stationary door in the center position, and then the outer edge of the sliding door. It will be like leaving the sliding door open all the time. I decided against that setup. I got a doggy door that fits onto the screen instead. So if I have the sliding door open, I can close the screen door and the dogs can go in and out through the flap built into the screen door. It has worked okay for us. We don't want the dogs going in and out when we are not home, anyways.

E K, after extensive deliberation, we have decided to keep standard height interior doors throughout (6'8"). We are going with higher windows and sliding French doors in rooms with higher ceilings. I ended up deciding that the 6'8" interior doors looked fine and that windows can be set higher than the doors (I looked at lots of pictures and actual houses). I actually drew several walls to scale with the 6'8" doors and higher windows to ensure I would like that look. I decided the 7' doors were an unnecessary expenses and wouldn't look that much different from 6'8" doors. I think the higher windows will bring in more light and help the ceilings to look taller. There is one bedroom where I have one 8' wall that slopes up to 9' and I will have windows on both these walls - that was my trickiest problem. In that room, I've decided to have 6'8" window height on the 8' wall and 7'8" window height on the 9' wall with 6'8" windows. Its not built yet but I hope it looks ok. Below is a house that helped me think through my decision. It has higher windows than doors. In addition, in one room the windows on two walls are set at different heights. I think it looks ok and I think the sloped ceiling in my room will make the varying window heights look even more intentional. [https://www.houzz.com/photos/contemporary-farmhouse-farmhouse-family-room-san-francisco-phvw-vp~2207590[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/contemporary-farmhouse-farmhouse-family-room-san-francisco-phvw-vp~2207590) I do think you can do 7' doors with 8' ceilings (or 9' doors with 10' ceilings). In fact, I will be doing 8' sliding doors and windows set at 8' in our master bedroom that has 9' ceilings. This room will also have 6'8" interior doors. I can post pictures but it won't be built for several months.

As Mies said, the devil is in the details. A typical 2 panel sliding glass door jamb dimension (depth of frame) is 6 9/16 for a 2x6 stud wall. For a 3 panel sliding door, the jamb dimension is usually about 3" deeper (9 9/16"). So, for a 2x6 stud wall, you would need to make the wall 3" thicker. Adding non-structural thickness is called "furring". These dimensions would be shown on the manufacturer's installation details; you should always look at those details before ordering a window or glass door so you can put the necessary information on the plan. The detail below is typical. The difficult issue may be where you stop furring out the wall.