Patio doors are an important part of your home, serving as both a connector and divider to the outside and the rest of your house.  The wide selection of sliding, swinging, French, and bi-fold patio doors gives home owners the flexibility to create a custom looking design that compliments your home’s style while helping to define your outdoor living space.  The type of patio door you choose will depend several factors including your lifestyle, your home’s design, and your personal aesthetic.  Here we present a quick guide to finding the right patio doors for your home.

Available Space – There are 2 popular types of patio door style: sliding doors and French doors.  Sliding doors have panels that slide along rails, while French doors have panels that open wide. If you have the space for French doors, you can expect a door that provides uninterrupted traffic and plenty of ventilation. Since swinging French doors need room to open, consider factors such as furniture and wall placement before deciding which opening method works best for a space.  If you’re a bit tied up for floor space, you may wish to consider a sliding door, or one with  a stationary panel with a single swinging door.

Your Local Weather – Patio doors play an important role in protecting your home from the elements, so you’ll want something that can survive the wear and tear caused by your areas climate.  So for those of us living here in beautiful northern California that means choosing doors that can handle the wind, the rain and mostly the scorching hot summer sun.

Frame Materials Care and Maintenance – Depending on the frame material, some patio doors require more care and maintenance. Wood patio doors, for example, typically need to be sanded and repainted on a regular basis. Vinyl and fiberglass doors minimize some of this exterior maintenance. Remember to research how the material will fare in your geographic location. Aluminum is durable, but is not a good insulator and not suited for coastal climates. Wood, while versatile, is vulnerable to moisture; clad-wood is paired with a different material on the exterior for improved strength against damp weather conditions. Ultimately, choose the material that performs well for where you live and how much maintenance you are willing to handle.

Your Preferred Style – The indoor-outdoor patio living trend has grown consistently in the past five years, if you’ve worked to make your outdoor living space as stylish as your indoor space then it deserves a patio door that looks just as good.  Patio doors come not only in different styles, but also different finishes.  If you’re into a classic aesthetic you may want to pick doors with a traditional wood finish, on the other hand if you’re interested in more of a contemporary style you may want to look at a sleek black or white finish.

Glass Options – A solid glass patio door can create the illusion of a perfect transition from inside your home to the outdoors.  Skip ruining your view with drapes or blinds to keep the heat out, with the development of innovative glass technologies, patio doors are becoming more equipped to insulate and protect the home. If you live in a warm environment with a lot of direct sunlight, tinted glass provides additional shading against the heat. Obscure glass protects privacy and allows abundant light to enter the room. High-performance options such as heat resistant glass coating and argon gas further improve thermal performance. Learn about how Low-E glass can save energy.

When it comes to glass patio home doors, you don’t want just any doors. You want stylish patio doors that operate easily for years of trouble-free use. That’s why at Dick’s Rancho Glass we proudly carry Milgard patio doors, they offer a wide spectrum of patio home doors in vinyl, fiberglass and aluminum framed glass, and each designed to make a statement in virtually any home. What’s more, since all Milgard glass patio doors are custom made to your order, we give you the freedom to think outside the box. Tweak a size here, add a distinctive grid configuration to the glass or combine doors with a transom window or sidelite windows for a one-of-a-kind patio entrance. Best of all, Milgard patio home doors come with an industry-leading Full Lifetime Warranty including parts and labor. Many even include Glass Breakage Coverage for an even more worry-free investment.

Want to learn more about patio door options?  Call Dick’s Rancho Glass to schedule a consultation.  At Dick’s Rancho Glass we have many years of experience in door and window installation, and we are happy to serve homeowners throughout the Sacramento Area, give us a call, click Dick’s Rancho Glass to contact us, or visit one of our two glass showrooms in the Sacramento region:

Dick’s Rancho Glass Sacramento at 2900 ROUTIER ROAD

Or call us at (916)363-6554
Dick’s Rancho Glass Fair Oaks at 5349 SAN JUAN AVE.

Or call us at (916)863-2500

~ At Dick’s Rancho Glass our versatility and pride of craftsmanship are keys to our success. Our excellent reputation has been built on the foundations of quality, reliability, and maintaining a dedicated staff. ~