One sliding glass door costs that much.

Do you mean $23k?

I wish I was talking $23k. We’re building a just shy of a million dollar house but our allowance isn’t much for the sliding door. Blows my mind how much these cost. We may be out of luck but I thought maybe someone would have a different idea.

here in wind/ impact rated land of Florida, i don't think there is even a small sliding door for that price...

if you want the view and the big glass door, where else can you cut and trade budget numbers?

Well thanks for the comments. I think. guess I’ll rethink the design.

Not sure I can cut $20k anywhere. That’s just too much money. It will all workout some how.

Standard sliders (vinyl, wood, etc) come as large as 16'x8' in 4x4' panels, with the center opening. I've found those to be typical of homes up to $1.3 mil. The homes I have underway have window budgets of $20-30K with these. We are in a vinyl market in this price range. The home I have with oversized sliders, have a Fleetwood budget around $60K installed, which was pretty reasonable. The largest is 22'x9', three other 9' tall sliders, a pair of standard 8' tall sliders. These were probably 75% of the budget. Smallest home of the bunch, largest window budget. Of course the cost per foot is not for publication!

Would you/should you find other cuts to fund this? I would have if necessary. Every home I've ever installed this kind of door on it becomes the centerpiece of the home.

Items I would have sacrificed in a previous home where the budget was tight:

• Excessive exterior masonry
• Part of the sound prewire
• Additional interior trim
• The wine tower (might get some push back on this from #1)
• Finishing the outdoor kitchen immediately

Most other times it is just planned in from the beginning as you need to preplan the structure around such an opening. My first one had steel posts with a 27' steel I beam above ("moment frame") adding about $10K to the "door".

Thank you, everyone. I’m going to take a hard look at our budget and find some places to save the money we need to do this. It’s something I do believe is super important in the design of the home. Thanks again for all the feedback. Building a home is no joke and this site has been so helpful.

Since we have no idea where you are, nor the size of your door, nor code requirements for your doors, cost is a guess. What does your architect say? your builder? Are you under construction now?
Jeffrey is right. if you have any kind if view, those doors are worth some tradeoff...
Talk it over locally with your group of professionals.

@Amy - it's a tough call because these doors are extremely expensive. Also the larger you get might require different engineering, e.g. steel beam versus LVL.

I'm not sure what's available in that range. We did a simple stacking 3x5 15' x 8' slider and it was like a 10k upgrade over two banks of windows and a nice double entry wood french door. As you've noticed, this stuff is expensive :(

Prioritizing is difficult. For us, the great room is the focal point in the middle of the house with high vaults, beams, and this 15' slider that leads to the screened in porch viewing sunset over the lake. We gave up a lot more other stuff for it. Good luck in your decision-making!

My top of the line Marvin 12' x 8' 4 panel slider was less than $6,000 (just cost of the slider delivered to jobsite)

My sliders make my living room. Mine is a 16' slider. I'm in FL so the price was more than in a non hurricane area.

I would absolutely cut somewhere else. Have you started building yet?

Originally our architect spec'd three sets of french doors side by side, but we replaced that idea with one large Anderson 400 four panel slider. You can get them up to about 16' across (8' span when fully opened). The only thing you have to be careful with is the header over this. We had to have steel filches on a lvl beam to be stiff enough.

I Like the idea of a Large Slider to give the space an open feel. Similar to what everyone else is saying.

We’re in North Ga (btw). We wanted a 4 seasons type room to open up to our pool area. Going to do lots of budget crunching to see where money can moved. Sounds like everyone who got the doors loves then. I really appreciate everyone’s feedback.

>>Following>>>

We used to live in the Chattanooga area and my father in law ran and still runs a restaurant down in the Fort Oglethorpe & Lafayette areas. $1 mil gets a lot of house there! I think I'll just caution that it's always great to be aware of the numbers, but have a contingency in there too. Everybody says you need one and you'll think no way I'm on it and then BAM stuff happens. I just got a change order for $1600 to build a mailbox today. Bleh!

Though, I'd have to say my wife's wish list might have been longer than but BAS aka (B.. A.. Slider) was number one on mine.

Sam's comment illustrates how important it is to think through every detail ahead of time. Nail down everything you can. Change orders are always expensive.
glad you are looking ahead now, Amy.

those giant folding doors are fabulous, but they always looked kind of difficult to open and close. (correct me if I'm wrong.) regular sliding patio doors will be more practical for day-to-day. or maybe french doors if you have the space - so you can open the room up to outside?

For sliders, always ask about roller options and buy the best.

@ Amy Roscoe - we spent a lot of time debating this during the budgeting stage, so maybe sharing some of the deliberations/thought process below might be helpful to yourself and others.

Everyone's use case is going to be a bit different. The folding doors look nice, but for our family they're a kid's finger waiting to be pinched. Also, the folded stack will either take up interior room in your house or exterior, but they have to go somewhere. Neither inside nor outside worked with the predicted traffic flow for our house as we had a shallow deck outside and major walkway inside.

With sliders, there are many configurations along with deciding on panel sizes. More panels give you flexibility on which ones stay stationary or not, so a 4 panel you can have the middle 2 open for example. But you might run into issues with having too many panels and that clacking when you have to open it all the way up as they pull each other if you go just L-R or vice versa is ultra annoying. And the ones that just open in the middle, my dingbat self would walk into the stationary portion lol. More panels = more "lines" in your view too.

You also have options for pocketing (which can be cool if they slide completely out of the way) as well as stacking options. Pocketing might require a bit more engineering but it's pretty attractive when the doors all just disappear. Pocketing or stacking means you're going to lose a little interior room. For a 3 x 5' stacking we had to add about 6-7 inches to the width of the wall I think?

Don't forget threshold options - do you want water resistance, low profile, zero profile but no stubbed toes. Tracks, etc? Each manufacturer is a little different in what they'll warranty and our builder was adamant that if we did stuff like hose off the deck with a zero profile threshold that water intrusion into the building envelope was our problem.

In our application, we had a 20' wall leading out to a narrow screened in deck that wraps the house. The room this was in borders the kitchen and morning room so it's the focal area. We used a 3 x 5 x 8' to maximize 15' of view with the least amount of panels. 2 stack to the side for 10' complete opening to the screened in porch (damn mosquitoes!) if we want to link inside to outside. 2.5' left on each side leaves enough room for light switches and fan controls (this is an afterthought in some houses leaving stupid locations like switches on the other side of where the doors open/close).

The ultimate "look" that I wanted was the corner slider with no post. We could have done 22-24' of continuous glass that spanned 2 rooms that opened to the outdoors. Pockets on both sides like around 0:41 in this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upoCQOayJFs). Turns out that because of the weight of the 2nd story as well as the span, some serious steel beams and engineering would have to be done. I guess that's why we're doing a not quite a million dollar house :) Compromise... and budget!

aside from money, consider privacy, light control, and whether they will need screens. all of these things will drive how you have your windows arranged and how large the openings will be.

We are going through a similar decision process.

@seabornman - can you share what exactly you are purchasing? How many panels move?

Thanks!

Sliding/Bifold doors are awesome but hard to justify unless if you know you'll be using them like that frequently enough. Another option to consider would be french doors though - gives you 6' of clear opening for closer to your $3k price

Marvin Sliding Patio Door. Extruded aluminum exterior, wood interior. The center panels open giving a 6' x 8' +/- opening. Here's a photo.We're still under construction.

Definitely shop around. We have a three paneled multi slider wall and it was $6000 for the whole thing. Of course, we benefited from an economy of scale situation. But we love it! It’s so nice when entertaining to collapse the wall and be able to have guests spill out onto the patio.

Also, to echo another poster, keep in mind privacy. We paid a lot premium for the view, then again for the multi slider, then AGAIN for the black out shade to cover the slider at night for privacy. Unless you have a super private view, you need to factor in the cost for coverings as well. It’s an expensive enterprise all the way around.

With a $1M budget I'd think there's a way to economize somewhere else. And all of the houses in your ideabooks look pretty high end.

If you have a great view, might as well maximize. We went to a custom home being built 3-4 doors down and they had about a 40 foot wall of just windows. Too mesmerized by the sunset to take pictures next time there.

Sam Goh - I’m in Chattanooga! (Well Hixson). and i agree that 1+million in N. GA area can get you a lot house. What restaurant does your FIL own? Where did you live while in Chatt?

Hi Vanessa,

Small world! I used to play a lot of soccer at the Hixson YMCA. We lived mainly in the East Brainerd area with some stints in Highland Park (in the 1990s avoid!!!) and East Ridge.

My father in law and wife owned Maggie's restaurant in Fort Oglethorpe for a number of years and brother in law and him currently own and run the Dari Dip in Lafayette.

Small world indeed! ;) We are currently in the Birmingham area. About to the point we could use some advice on window coverings if you're down to analyze, I can start a thread.

Sam I grew up in Montgomery in my teen years until i moved away in my early 20’s. (A long time ago). I am familiar with B’ham from years of stopping through on the way to Montgomery! You are probably close to my kids age. Heck you may have played soccer against my son while yo7 loved here. (He’s almost 32). Yes I would be happy to have you pick my brain regarding window treatments. And if you want a recommendation for someone in B’ham, I network with pros In your area.

This is the neighbors. 11 4 foot wide 9 or 10' high windows and a set of French doors.

Vanessa - we can't get in the house till Wednesday while they are doing hardwood floor stain. Will start a new thread and tag you unless I can find some saved pictures.

Wow HUGE windows! Are you wanting something you can lose for complete privacy? Blinds, shutters, draperies? Have you seen solar shades? They allow you to still see out and get a bit of the view bit it s great for cutting UV rays and glare down. During the day it’s hard for someone on the outside to see in, but at night with the lights on, you can see silhouettes.

Amy, you don't state what size of slider/s you are considering; Configuration, width, height, # of panels etc. What type of material are you comfortable with? Vinyl, Composite, Wood or Aluminium; price from lowest to hghest. Do you need something floor to ceiling, do you need a transom window above, what is your ceiling height? Lots of questions. There are several options out there, not all will break the bank.

It is affordable if you don’t go crazy like some of us. We don't have privacy issues though we've planned/wired for motorized sheers for each individual panel should we find it necessary.

@Vanessa - hah not my home, that neighbor is working from a different budget than we are :) We've got traditional wood windows, jam is filled and casing on the surface of the sheet rock + stool. Used to blinds that fit on the inside, but obviously won't work in this situation. They never got around to staining floors so I can't take pictures yet argh!

Start a new thread when you get ready. I hope I see it!! You can send me a PM through Houzz when you start it so I'm sure to see it.

I am looking for large 2 panel slider 10' x 6.8' with a DP50 rating for our home on the intercoastal in Wilmington NC with narrow frames/sightlines. Does anyone have a recommendation? I've been looking at Eurowalll and Fleetwoods. Fleetwoods are super expensive, but the quality is there although for the price $8800 for one door (not installed), you would think it would be impact / hurricane rated, but it is not. Want to maximize view with minimal sightlines and framing while also keeping with wind DP50 requirements and strength. Anderson and Marvins require a 3 or 4 panel and I want to avoide multiple panels. Thanks for any help!

Large sliding doors...er...do you live in an area where there are lots of flying critters for some or all of the year...?

Just wondering...!