Sliding door rails: tips for choosing

The widespread use of sliding doors is understandable, because they save space and have a number of significant advantages. But in order for these positive aspects to be ensured, a smoothly working mechanism is needed. It will not be so easy to create or select one without understanding the guides.

Doors are divided into the following subgroups:

• Radial. Such a door is always semicircular, most often it is made of tempered glass. The layer of material is at least 8 mm. Guides for sliding doors of this type cannot be cheap, because such structures are very aesthetic and outwardly attractive, and also add a sense of volume, and you will have to pay extra for such properties.

• Coupe. It also saves space. In addition, an original solution helps to save it, in which the sash not only moves along the wall, but also goes into a niche. It is housed in a "pocket" made of metal and plasterboard sheets.

• Folding doors. The mechanism of an accordion-format door to make at home will be somewhat more difficult than elements of previous types, but there is nothing super complicated in this.

Sliding canvases are also distinguished by the method of attachment. They can use only one guide or two at once. The first option is preferable in terms of saving time, but the second allows you to achieve much greater reliability and stability of the entire structure. It is he who is used when it is required to mount a heavy, very voluminous canvas.

The spreading mechanism must in any case ensure:

• uniform and calm movement of the canvas;
• tight closure of the structure (not just entering the opening, but the complete impossibility of peeping what is behind the door);
• exclusion of unauthorized closing or opening;
• prevention of sash blows when the door is opened and closed;
• acceptance of the load from the web without deformation of the device as a whole and its individual parts, without changing the gaps between them.

The sliding door mechanism consists of the following parts:

• direct guides;
• rollers;
• restrictive block;
• stopper.

The tracks are made from a profile of great thickness, because the constant "driving" of the parts of the doors, otherwise, will quickly disable them. The top and bottom points of the rail attachment are located respectively up from the opening and on the floor. Each of these parts can be either single or double.

The guide rollers for top-mounted guide rollers have a different number of pairs of wheels - from one to four. The heavier the strip installed, the more casters engineers use. According to the type of profile used, symmetrical and asymmetrical tracks are distinguished among the rollers for the guide leading from above. But below, with rare exceptions, the same type of technology is used.

The sliding system used in the hanging door is of three different types:

• bottom;
• top;
• mixed.

The first type is used very rarely, because it is enough to step on such a guide to make the door impossible or very difficult to use.And even if this does not happen, movement without support at the top is unstable, it occurs in jerks.

When the guide rail is one on top, the roller parts are exposed exactly there, and only clamps are provided at the bottom so that the sash does not hesitate while driving. Serious the advantage of such a solution is that there is no sill, and the risk of tripping over it is zero... If the door leaf is very heavy, or a special smoothness of opening and closing of the door is required, it is advisable to use a mixed sliding system. According to professionals, it is more correct to use systems without a threshold in partitions, interior and entrance doors, and the lower version in a wardrobe (where its shortcomings are not significant).

Due to the presence of bearings, roller mechanisms allow moving doors and partitions, the weight of which does not exceed a centner, gently and without unnecessary noise. If you choose guides for radius doors, then any part of this kind is necessarily curved, reproducing the shape of the main leaf. However, just such rails are easy to buy, they are still made according to an individual order for each project. How many gutters there will be in the arc can only be said based on the placement of the sections and the method of their movement.

The spike used in the roller mechanism does not really matter. Much more important is that threshold systems are inconvenient for children, for older people.

The profile of the guides is made from only two metals - steel and aluminum. Even professionals have no consensus about which one is better, because both have both strengths and weaknesses. So, aluminum blocks weigh relatively little, it is more difficult to damage them, there is almost no corrosion, and the service life is quite long. If the door is plastic, this solution can be safely applied. But for a heavy track, you will have to choose only more expensive and more reliable railways.

The subtleties of the installation process cannot be ignored either, because they are of great importance when choosing the optimal design. So, the length of the rails is calculated as follows: multiply the width of the canvas by 2 and add 3-5 cm to the resulting result.Next, you will need to leave some more distance for the plugs, and if there is a door closer in the door system, its width is also taken into account.

Certain difficulties can arise only when the sections are made of glass, since it is harder to drill holes for fasteners in it and not destroy the entire structure. A mortise lock, usually installed in sliding doors, is unlikely to somehow affect the choice of guides, because it does not directly affect them.

See the following video for the installation process of a sliding door.

Never buy products from little-known manufacturers or guides of dubious origin. The risk of getting a low-quality product does not justify such savings.

For sliding doors, choose rails with an additional roller mechanism located in the middle. Thanks to him, such structures can at least partially go into the wall.If you buy a cascade door, purchase rails with an increased number of channels, since each leaf will move in its own plane. There should be exactly as many tracks as the flaps can move in one direction.