About Sliding Doors
As an architectural device, sliding doors have been around for a long time. Archaeologists have found evidence of sliding doors in the ruins of Pompeii dating back to before the first century AD. These types of door remain popular with contemporary architects and homeowners because of their space saving functionality and stylish appeal. Does this Spark an idea?
Function
Sliding doors are designed to operate in confined spaces that are inappropriate for conventional swinging door which require a lot of free area around the doorway. Rather than using hinges, sliding doors operate on rollers and tracks. They frequently function as partitions between rooms, as closet doors and as the door between the interior of the home and the back yard. In addition to passageways, sliding doors are popular on cabinetry, appliances and for many industrial uses such as tool chests.
Types
Any door that slides on casters, rollers or bearings can be considered a sliding door. However, most sliding doors fall into four broad categories: Bypass Doors, Folding Doors, Pocket Doors, and Arcadia Doors. Bypass doors generally consist of two or more door panels hung from parallel overhead tracks with guide tracks on the bottom. They can slide independently. Folding doors consist of one or more hinged doors that hang from a single overhead track. Pocket doors run on an upper and lower track, but slide back into a recess in the wall. Arcadia doors are designed similarly to bypass doors, except that one door is fixed and does not slide.
Considerations
Before installing a sliding door, you should carefully consider the purpose the door will fulfill. Important characteristics for any sliding door would include the aesthetics of the door and hardware, the durability of the materials the door is constructed from and whether the style you choose will meet the need you have in mind. If the door will be on an outside wall, you should also consider its energy efficiency as well as its ability to provide protection from the elements.
Benefits
The primary benefit of sliding doors is their space-saving quality. Bypass doors require no swing area. Folding doors allow you to access the full width of the doorway. Pocket doors are aesthetically pleasing partitions that provide Old World charm to a room. Arcadia doors, which are frequently made of glass, provide viewable access to the outdoors. Sliding doors come in an wide variety of styles, finishes and materials to complement any decor, making them both functional and beautiful.
Prevention/Solution
There is very little more frustrating to homeowners than a sliding door that won't slide. The primary culprit for this problem is dirty rollers. When foreign matter gets into the track the muck ends up on the rollers, and the ensuing clog prevents the rollers from sliding smoothly. An ounce of prevention will go a long way toward preventing this headache, however. Simply vacuum the track every time you vacuum the room, and you will rarely have a sticky sliding door.
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