Rear patio doors - design + product suggestions

[bmj1]

Hi all,

 

I'm struggling to make decisions on our rear patio doors, options as follows:

 

1. French doors (~1.2m wide per leaf), I'm concerned that when open these will take ~20% of the patio, and with 6 of these, will feel v cumbersome - render #1 in attached PDF
2. French doors with sidelights (0.4m per sidelight, 0.8m per leaf), this is a compromise in that they will fold back and take less of the patio, but obviously opening no longer 100%  - render #2 or #3 in attached PDF
3. Sliding doors - 3x leafs of 0.8m, on 3 tracks. The compromise is more stylistic - in that our design is traditional  - render #4 or #5 in attached PDF
4. Bifold - I've broadly discounted this option due to thickness of the mullions

 

Ceiling heights are 3m, see structural opening diagram below:

 

 

Floor plan attached for context.

 

I think steel is likely beyond our budget (needs to be thermally broken, building regs, etc), which takes us to aluminium. While the architect renders might look good, I'm concerned about finding the right aluminium product to actually make this work. A lot of the 'heritage style' aluminium products I've seen - just feel 'wrong' as the bars are too thick...

 

Comments + suggestions very welcome!

 

Many thanks in advance

ground-floor.pdf 475910428_21-02-RearDoorOptions.pdf

[Radian]

3 minutes ago, bmj1 said:

French doors with sidelights

That would be my choice but with equal door and sidelight width (~600mm) and in pitch pine 😁

[Jenni]

Love my triple pane sliders, same width as you too. 

 

[Jenni]

Think thinner bars are down to budget - mine didn't stretch to skinny. Luckily I'm happy enough with these wide ones. 

[Mr Punter]

It is very unlikely that you will have all 3 sets open at once.  Render 2 looks OK.  There looks like a potential clash with the plinth bricks but if this can be avoided the sidelights will allow the doors to open further and be held open with cabin hooks.

[Modernista]

IMHO option 1 looks wrong visually in any case because the glazing square proportions don't appear to follow the golden ratio as (it appears as if) your windows do follow it. I agree re the french doors with sidelights option as 2 and 3 look to accord with the general look as far as I can see. Visually the sliding door options look ok also as they are sufficiently different (think how often you see that in an extension to a traditional house and it doesn't jar particularly). Essentially, anything but option 1!

[LaCurandera]

I'd vote option 2 FWIW

 

[Radian]

4 hours ago, Jenni said:

Think thinner bars are down to budget - mine didn't stretch to skinny. Luckily I'm happy enough with these wide ones. 

I know, everyone seems to make a big deal about slimline frames. But sometimes there's also an aesthetic or practical reason to go with wider ones. we had a pre-existing theme of black posts to a loggia porch and corner posts forming our pavilion-style extensions so we reflected that in the choice of slider frames.

[bmj1]

I really appreciate all your feedback, thank you !

 

My concern remains that option 2 looks really nice as a render, but isn't achievable in reality as the bars will be so much thicker..