Fenestration
Understanding Lift and Slide Doors
A lift-and-slide door lifts its panel off the seals to move, then lowers it back onto them to close. That single mechanism explains most of its advantages.
How the mechanism works
Turning the handle through its travel raises the panel onto the running gear, clear of the compression seals. The panel then moves with little resistance despite its weight.
Returning the handle lowers the panel back onto the seals, restoring a continuous sealing line around the leaf.
Why it suits large openings
Conventional sliding doors have to compromise between sealing pressure and operating force. Lift-and-slide hardware separates the two conditions, so seals can be firm without making the panel hard to move.
What to coordinate
Most problems on large sliding openings are structural or detailing problems, not hardware problems.
- —Head deflection above the opening
- —Threshold drainage where a flush transition is wanted
- —Panel weight against the running gear class
- —Site access and lifting for oversized glass