Patio Doors

Chosen well and especially as part of a new extension or property renovation, modern patio doors provide substantial daylight thanks to reduced frame sizes and larger glass sizes. They are a a stylish, secure and energy-efficient addition to any property.

What is a Patio Door?

A well-designed, attractive door set improves a living space, enhances the home viewed from the garden side and adds a focal feature in any room. You’ll also find aluminium doors widely used in high-end architectural glazing, featuring expansive glass, floor to ceiling windows and in some of the best house designs.

To choose the right doors as well as the best material, it helps to understand the options available. While doors are important of course, often they need integration with windows, screens and other products.

Comparing aluminium with PVCu, Timber and other materials

All of these popular patio door materials provide a variety of patio door types and styles. To illustrate the different types of patio doors, our at-a-glance table provides an overview.  Take a look at the different patio door types available in different materials.

	Aluminium	PVCu	Steel	Timber	Hybrid	Frameless
Single Door	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
French Door	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Bifolding Door	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Sliding Door	✓	✓		✓	✓
Slide and Turn Door	✓	✓		✓		✓
Steel-Look Door	✓		✓
Doors with windows/screens	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Ultra-slim Sliding Door	✓					✓
Pivot Door	✓		✓
Automatic Door	✓
Open/Moveable Corner	✓		✓	✓	✓	✓
Flush/Timber-look Doors		✓
Special shapes	✓		✓	✓	✓
Oversize Patio Doors	✓		✓			✓

Always check with your chosen supplier or contact us with any questions. And remember, if you’re having bifolding doors, there’s no reason why you can’t match your bifolding door profiles to your French Doors. Origin is one of many bifolding door providers creating French Door designs using either their standard or slimline folding door profiles.

All of the current generation of materials used in these types of doors offer the following benefits:

• Excellent door energy ratings and U-Values thanks to insulated profiles and glass
• Double and triple glazing with most products
• Latest security and weather protection from their design and high quality hardware
• Extensive choice of colours
• Solutions for lower thresholds, improved access or meeting specific requirements

The choices of doors are substantial for this part of the home. As well as this, some products work better replacing dated patio doors. Others are more suitable in new extensions.

An explanation of each type of material

For anyone looking to replace or provide new patio doors in their home, there is an excellent choice of materials. There is no absolute best material for patio doors.  Budget, house style, door function and personal taste are all important factors.

While we are an aluminium focused website, we do not necessarily say aluminium is entirely the best material for patio doors. There are also many good reasons to consider the other materials too.

Six ways patio door materials differ

• Price whether by cost or brand.
• Appearance, such as contemporary or traditional.
• Specifications and design.
• Quality of the product and components
• The capability of the product, such as sizes, strength and integration with other products.
• Security, weather and other accreditations.

As well as these, patio doors now form an integral part of many contemporary extensions and houses.  As a result, other external elements must complement and often work with patio doors.  For example, cladding, gutters, fascias, corner posts and steelwork, aluminium panels and even integral blinds.  

Consequently, how your patio door works with your other design or structural factors also determines the choice of material or brand.

In aluminium especially there is a big choice when it comes to finding who makes the best bifolding doors.  

For sliding patio doors, there are over fifty aluminium sliding doors to choose from, so invariably it is worth seeking advice on some of the best patio sliding doors on the market today. 

Thresholds options for patio doors

With larger door sets a low level, easy access and even flush threshold such as those found on bifolding doors is also available on sliding doors, pocket doors and open corner designs.

French doors by their nature don’t come with a flush threshold but most door brands do come with a low threshold option such as the type used on front doors.

Getting a low threshold is easier when designing doors as part of a new extension than when replacing dated doors. However, a good installer has the skills to modify an existing opening, allowing the doors to sit lower as a result.