Having a balcony adjoining your bedroom or living space is a great way to make your room feel larger. In recent years, smaller Juliet balconies have become increasingly popular as a way to improve upon apartments that do not have as much space, connecting the inside world with the outside world.
The doors you choose for your balcony will have an impact on the natural light in your home and the access you have to your balcony. When it comes to choosing the right doors for your balcony, you will find that sliding doors are a great solution.
Click the links below to jump to the relevant section:
Find out more about why sliding doors are a great option for your balcony.
Learn more about the benefits of installing sliding doors for your balcony.
Discover the disadvantages to consider when installing sliding doors for your balcony.
Find out more about the important factors to consider when choosing sliding doors for your balcony.
Learn more about Origin’s range of Sliding Doors.
Why use sliding doors for your balcony?
Sliding doors are a popular addition to balconies. While there are other varieties of doors that can be used for a balcony, sliding doors can be used to allow easy access, as well as allowing additional light into the adjoining room
Sliding doors can provide more light than other options, which is vital all year round and helps to create an amazing, almost uninterrupted view of the outside world. Whatever room your balcony is connected to, patio sliding doors are becoming an increasingly popular choice. A sliding patio door allows easy access between the inside and outside of your home and is perfect for making a space feel larger.
Juliet balconies, in particular, can benefit from a sliding door and will allow you to maximise the views from your existing window. In addition, the door can be opened slightly to provide additional ventilation or slid back fully to enjoy the warmer months. A sliding door can also help to improve the look of your home from the outside.
In fact, a balcony or roof terrace can add up to 10% to the value of your property, so installing beautiful sliding doors that improve access is a worthwhile investment.
The benefits of sliding balcony doors
Introducing sliding balcony doors to your balcony can have many wonderful benefits for the look, feel and convenience of your space.
Enjoy more natural light
Sliding balcony doors can introduce more natural light into the room connected to the balcony while creating a seamless connection between your inside and outside space. This could encourage you to access your balcony more frequently and enjoy it.
Allow better air circulation
Sliding doors can be opened fully or a little bit which allows fresh air to enter, which is great news for keeping the air circulation in your home whilst keeping pets and children safe.
Save space
An easy to open sliding door can improve the aesthetics for the inside and outside of your home without taking up a large amount of space. If, for example, you have a Juliet balcony, you may not have room for a door that opens inwards or outwards. Other doors such as bi-fold doors and French doors require more space to open, so are not always suitable for smaller spaces.
Security
When you have a high-quality sliding glass door installed from a reputable supplier and product manufacturer, you can enjoy the additional security it can offer for your home. If you have a huge sliding glass door installed in your home, security can be a concern as it can leave your home vulnerable to intruders. However, with a well-designed, modern sliding door, this is unlikely.
All Origin Sliding Doors are manufactured using premium grade aluminium which allows us to create doors with extremely slim sightlines, without sacrificing the strength or security of the doors. In addition, as the opening of our doors only happens on one track, there are very few security weak points in the doors which can be broken into. All Origin Sliding Doors are equipped with an ultra-secure multi-point locking system.
Slim sightlines
Aluminium sliding doors can offer some of the slimmest sightlines on the market, allowing you to fully enjoy the additional natural light and expansive views on offer with your new balcony door.
At Origin, our Artisan Slider OS-20 door system offers sightlines of just 20mm and our Patio Slider OS-29/OS-44/OS-77 is available with sightlines of 29mm, 44mm and 77mm. This allows us to maximise on the natural light allowed into your home without compromising on the quality or strength of the doors.
The disadvantages of sliding balcony doors
While sliding balcony doors are a great option for a range of reasons, there are some disadvantages to take into consideration before making your final choice.
Cannot be opened fully
A sliding door consists of panels of glass that slide behind one another. As a result, no matter what configuration you choose, you will never be able to fully open the aperture in which your doors are installed. On the other hand, French doors and bi-fold doors can be used to open up the space entirely. If your goal is to create a more open space, you may want to consider bi-fold doors over sliding doors.
No traffic or lead door
Unlike bi-fold doors, which can be fitted with a traffic door (a hinged door that opens separately from the rest of the doors), sliding doors cannot have a traffic door. However, sliding doors do not need to be fully opened back to gain quick access to your balcony.
Factors to consider when choosing sliding balcony doors
Once you have decided to have sliding doors installed for your balcony, you still need to consider other factors that will contribute to them looking and functioning in the best way.
Size and configuration
One of the main considerations should be the size of the doors. When fitting doors to an existing balcony, the doors will have to be measured to fit into the existing opening. It is also important to take the configuration of your doors into account too. It’s important that the opening of the doors is suited to your needs and your home.
At Origin, our Origin Artisan Slider has an aluminium frame that can accommodate a maximum individual panel size of up to 2.2m wide and 3m tall (or up to 6m2). The Origin Patio Slider can accommodate a maximum individual panel size of 2m wide by 2520mm high, which will provide you with a widescreen view of the outside from your balcony.
When you choose an Origin Sliding Door, you can work with your local installer to make sure your new door is fully tailored and bespoke to your requirements.
Glazing
You should also consider the type of glazing you want in your sliding doors. This will depend on how much insulation you want the glass to provide and whether you need it to be noise cancelling. This will impact the overall cost, as triple glazing can carry much higher costs than double glazing. However, triple glazing offers a range of benefits such as improved thermal efficiency, security and improved acoustics.
Colour
Another consideration is the colour you’d like your sliding balcony doors to be. Ensuring that they fit in with the overall aesthetic of your property is vital if you want to match the look, feel and style of your home.
Our Origin Artisan Slider and Patio Slider are both available in over 150 RAL colours to help you find the best colour to suit your home. Our most popular colours include:
- Jet Black (9005M)
- Hipca White (9910G/M)
- Anthracite Grey (7016M)
- Slate Grey (7015M)
- Dark Silver Metallic(9007M)
- Black Grey (7021M)
Material
The material you choose for your sliding doors is another important factor to consider. Materials such as uPVC and timber are available for sliding doors, but due to the nature of the materials, they are often unable to offer the slimmest sightlines and longevity.
On the other hand, aluminium offers an extremely strong material with slim frames without compromising on overall strength and is lightweight to operate. Aluminium doors allow you to easily slide the doors back without the heavy weights that can be associated with other materials and large expanses of glass doors. All Origin Sliding Doors are manufactured with the highest grade aluminium which means they come with industry-leading guarantees and offer optimal security for your home.
Why choose Origin Sliding Doors?
Origin has a wide selection of Sliding Doors. Our high-quality Aluminium Sliding Doors come with a guarantee of up to 20 years. They are also incredibly strong, lightweight and weatherproof, so you can find the perfect doors for your home.
OS-20 Artisan Slider
The Origin Artisan Slider offers a stunning solution for any balcony. The ultra-slim sightlines mean less frame and more natural light will make for a beautiful feature in your home. With sightlines of only 20mm, the frames are barely visible.
If you’re concerned that installing a huge expanse of glass in your home may compromise the thermal efficiency of your home, all of Origin’s Sliding Doors are thermally broken which helps to limit the transfer of heat from inside to outside, keeping your home cool in the summer and warm in the winter.
OS-29/OS-44/OS-77 Patio Sliders
The Origin Patio Slider is available in three different sightlines:
- 29mm
- 44mm
- 77mm
Our 29mm Patio Slider is one of the slimmest semi-dry glazed systems on the market, which allows natural light to flood into your home. This Slider can be installed into apertures as wide as 11.9m and can be configured in a range of ways to help transform the look of your balcony and the adjoining room.
To find out more about Origin Sliding Doors for your balcony, please contact your local installer today.
