Which are the Best Quality Patio Doors & Place to buy From for Cheapest?

Leodogger

JWhite wrote: »

We need white upvc 2 panes, one sliding, one fixed and it will be 6ft wide x 7ft high.

By the way, anyone know how I can tell if it is a poor quality patio door, or is it just down to the price i.e. you only get what you pay for !

Yorkie1

I think one of the most important things with sliding patio doors is the security aspect. I've read quite a few posts on here where people have been burgled because the doors could be lifted out of their tracks, or similar!

Leodogger

Yorkie1 wrote: »

I think one of the most important things with sliding patio doors is the security aspect. I've read quite a few posts on here where people have been burgled because the doors could be lifted out of their tracks, or similar!

Isn't the mechanism to ensure that doesn't happen called the 4, 5 or 6 lever locking system or is that something different ?

2013yearofthehouse

You can get a head rail that supposedly prevents the door from being lifted off the track. You can also get ones with bolts top and bottom that lock the panes together which supposedly ensures they can't be forced apart. How effective these things really are though I don't know.

abankerbutnotafatcat

Do you really want a sliding door? What room is it off and what are you trying to achieve? We chose French doors as we wanted to open the room up to the garden but couldn't afford bifolds so French doors were a good compromise. We actually replaced an existing sliding door with the French doors.

Leodogger

abankerbutnotafatcat wrote: »

Do you really want a sliding door? What room is it off and what are you trying to achieve? We chose French doors as we wanted to open the room up to the garden but couldn't afford bifolds so French doors were a good compromise. We actually replaced an existing sliding door with the French doors.

My idea was to have a conservatory off the lounge, hence the sliding patio doors, however if there is no sun at all on the back patio, I might just settle for the patio/french doors. Are french doors cheaper? Also don't you get draughts with doors as they don't have the same seals as patios do they ?

abankerbutnotafatcat

I think the doors have exactly the same insulation properties (ours are certainly well-sealed) and they are not cheaper, they're probably more expensive. However, depending on your set up they could be preferable. For us they are an upgrade from a sliding door (which was old and therefore less secure and made from less well-insulated glass anyway) as they give a more polished finish to the room and enable us to open the room up to the garden. The size of the opening in our French doors is twice as big as the sliding door had been and also in the middle rather than over to one side.

If your doors are to a conservatory then you will have different considerations though, ours is straight on to the patio.

I've just re-read your post and realised that you think that in French doors I'm not talking about a pvcu door. I am, just a different style of patio door from a sliding door.

abankerbutnotafatcat

I think these are where ours are from although it seems to me the photo at the top of the French door page is of a sliding door. I should add that we have a Victorian property which is perhaps why we feel the French doors provide a better finish to our room.

http://www.eurocell.co.uk/homeowners/75/french-doors-1

Leodogger

abankerbutnotafatcat wrote: »

I think these are where ours are from although it seems to me the photo at the top of the French door page is of a sliding door. I should add that we have a Victorian property which is perhaps why we feel the French doors provide a better finish to our room.

http://www.eurocell.co.uk/homeowners/75/french-doors-1

Yes they do look nice and I agree it depends on what setting you need the doors for. I will keep this web site and get a few quotes in I think.

Did you have them to fit the doors for you? How much extra does it cost to have them fit them ?

abankerbutnotafatcat

We got them through a local independent company who supplied and fitted them.