SFGate

orangecamera akjones, what a beautiful view! Who is your question to? You started a new thread, and perhaps should have commented on an existing one that you were reading. But don't worry, I'm sure someone will have suggestions for you here. It's just not guaranteed that the person you were writing to will see this new thread.

About your view again...just gotta say WOW!

akjones Hey, thanks! I'm new to this whole thread thing. I was writing to someone who posted about the inutility of nanawalls when dealing with wind, weather and sand. Although they look lovely, they'll never survive my environment. The view is why I bought the house and I'm trying to maximize the indoor/outdoor space. Any ideas are appreciated...:)

Architectural Openings, inc. You might consider lift-slide doors - they are very different than sliding doors in that the doors lift about 3/16" of an inch before rolling them open. In doing so, the weather gaskets on the top and bottom of the door are disengaged and do not get abraided every time the door is moved as they do in a standard sliding door.

Lift-slide doors offer a less obstructed view (ie larger glass is possible) when they are closed, do not project into the room and require fewer adjustments and maintenance than folding doors do.

Best,

Guy

akjones Hi Guy, that is an interesting idea. What do you mean by "lift"? How many kilos have to be lifted in order to have the doors disengaged? We will be renting the house out, is this a reasonable system for lots of traffic? What kind of maintaintence do you see as necessary? Thanks in advance,
Andi

Ironwood Builders Lift and slide doors are sized for the hardware...or vice versa. The weight of the door determines the model of the hardware. Our experience with lift and slide doors is that they are as easy to use as a standard sliding door (they have rollers on the bottom)...at a considerably higher price point. Given that this is a rental, a more or less bomb proof door might be desired. As for the difficulties of maintaining a NaNa wall system, since their entrance to the market, most window manufacturers have come up with competing products. Almost all of these products hang from a top mounted roller system with only a guide track at the bottom. Weather stripping and sealing varies from manufacturer to manufacturer. I'd check out Loewen and Marvin as a price point and maintenance comparison. Fleetwood manufactures aluminum wall systems that seal and, because of the material, would do a bit better in your ocean community.

Architectural Openings, inc. Hi Andi,

The lever rotates and the wheels lower, thereby raising the door off the sill. When lift-slide doors are well made, the levers make it easy to lift the door the small amount required to lift off the weather stripping and roll the door easily.

Maintenance needed is mostly limited to keeping the sill clear of debris. Please see an example of a lift-slide sill in the attached photo.

Each of the doors shown in the photo I posted are for a family (with kids) vacation house in Maine and are about 9 ft high and 10 feet wide and weigh approximately 630 lbs. They work very smoothly and the homeowners love them!


Best,

Guy

Architectural Openings, inc. From my experience, aluminum is not necessarily a great material for oceanfront because the salt environment can cause pitting in the aluminum and then it can not be readily refinished.

And I would respectfully disagree about a folding door system being a bomb proof choice for a rental. We have been making European style folding door systems in the US for 26 years - 2-3/4" thick doors with multi-point locking hardware, multiple weather gaskets etc and they are very nice and durable but best suited for a homeowner who will learn how to operate it and make sure that it is operated properly by guests.

However for a rental situation, which will be used by many people who are unfamiliar with the proper operation of a folding door, I feel that it is not a good choice.

The operation of a lift-slide door is far simpler, more like a sliding door and less likely to be damaged by someone unfamiliar with it.

Best,

Guy

Ironwood Builders Guy, FYI, the Fleetwood doors are aluminum with a clear epoxy coating, similar to the cladding on other manufacturers windows and doors. As to NaNa or similar being bomb proof...far from it. But our experience with lift and slide does not mirror yours....they were and are finicky and require maintenance and adjustment. Given the poster's desire to maintain the home as a rental, I recommended a standard sliding door system as a lower cost option. Hopefully our two viewpoints give him a more or less balanced set of opinions.

Architectural Openings, inc. David, I agree about a standard sliding door being a low-cost option for a rental. A friend's cottage that my family goes to every year on Cape Cod has Anderson sliders and they are OK relative to their cost. On the down-side, they have been replaced a couple of times over that last 13 years.

I am sorry to hear that your experience with lift-slide doors was less that great. Design details, materials used and fabrication quality all affect the end product and the importance of a thoughtful installation job should is too often underestimated.

In my experience, well made lift-slide doors that are well installed have excellent weather sealing, operate very smoothly, are very durable and low maintenance and will last a long time.

Best,

Guy