Architect says External Glazed Sliding Pocket Doors are "Impossible in a Timber Frame"

[Iceverge]

Beware of the internet when idea searching. 

 

The picture you showed has a few things that won't work for you. 

 

As Dave said it slides both ways, not one. 

 

The "pocket" shown is external to the main structure and there's a step in the fasade to accomodate. An external pocket will be full of leaves and starlings before you know it. 

 

The door sliders are very thin and wouldn't meet building regs. Fine in the Southern US ( where I suspect this pic is from, note the sockets and gas stoves and sliding sash windows). 

What you want to do is no doubt possible but perhaps not within a reasonable budget. 

 

I think you would need build say an 8.5m aperture with all the associated steelwork etc. It'd need to be seriously beefy to avoid too much deflection.

 

Then install a full 8.5m wide slider with 4 panes, 3 of them sliding and 1 fixed. The fixed one could be just a solid insulated panel.  Then brick up outside to only reveal the sliding doors and not the fixed one. 

 

Get a joiner to make an internal pocket to hide the doors once open. It would need a sprung flap to hide the pocket when the doors when closed and be able to be completely removed for access for cleaning and maintenance. 

[SteamyTea]

1 hour ago, Iceverge said:

The "pocket" shown is external to the main structure

Wouldn't that be the better way to do it.

Why encroach on internal space when it can be outside.

[Iceverge]

43 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

Wouldn't that be the better way to do it.

Why encroach on internal space when it can be outside.

 

Rats will move in. 

[SteamyTea]

41 minutes ago, Iceverge said:

 

Rats will move in. 

As I say to farmers, only if you leave food out for them.

[Iceverge]

 

 

Here is a workable rat free solution I think. Maybe some of our onboard glazing genius's will elaborate if such a sliding door is possible.

 

Pros. 

 

1. Creates a perfectly open 5.9m expanse of frameless door when open, and a tidy hidden edges when closed thanks to hinged flap ( integrated rollers on the tip so it doesn't foul the sliders. 

2. Full access to all the mechanism of the door via internal access panel. The pocket will be cleanable and not outside for vermin to inhabit. 

3. Relatively easy to tape the perimeter of the frame for airtightness and wind tightness and detail for weathering, I have drawn an aco drain at the threshold too. 

4. Secret cubby hole to created to the right of the drawing for aesthetics! 

 

Cons. 

 

1. Supporting the brickwork outside the unglazed panel. I can't imagine fixing wall ties to the window is recommenced!  Perhaps a decorative external pier or internal strengthening of the wall would  be enough. 

2. 8.3m span is chunky. You can buy 140mmx630mm glulam's off the shelf. This would be better for thermal bridging and fixing to and fit nicely with your 140mm stud wall. I imagine your SE will know better but I'd push them away from steel if I could. The window      suppliers will require a tolerance above the frame to allow for settlement in the house too. I don't know much about sliders but it would seem prudent to fix the frame in a manor that allowed for adjustment later to keep the windows running smoothly. 

3. You loose quite a lot of internal space and cannot put anything to the left of your plan to allow the access panel to be opened. 

4. You will need a tidy joiner to make the internal access panels look well and function properly without fouling the doors. 

5. It's different from the norm so inevitably you'll have to fight hard and pay lots of extra "just in case" money to the builders and designers. 

 

Best of luck! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[AliG]

That's a good solution, but you could take it a step further and bring the entire window inside the frame. Thus the opening would only be 6m and there would be no issues with insulation and wall ties where the fourth pane goes. You would then just build a stud inside it to cover the extra pane.

 

I see how the fourth pane fixes airtightness, but whatever kind of gasket is used to attach it to the next pane could maybe be applied to the corner of the wall instead.

 

Clearly this loses you around 500mm of inside space, but if you have the room and money that is not a problem.

 

One point I would make is that you can do anything with your own money, but this all seems pointlessly unnecessary and expensive.

 

You could use a triple slider with one fixed pane, or bifolds, or a 4 piece slider opening in the middle, or two fixed panes and french doors in the middle. We have French doors all over the house and we rarely leave more than a single door open.