Full glass door options

[boostedranger]

We are in the planning and shopping stages for our 40 x 60 pole barn. We are going to devote 20x40 of this barn for game room/man cave. At the corner that will be near the pool/ pool house gazebo we want to do some form of removable openable glass wall with the corner post in between.

After doing some looking around the net we found a system made by LaCantina that looked amazing, but price tag for 2 8ft doors is $21k!!! We then looked at panoramic doors and they are about %50 cheaper, but thats still $10k.

We also looked at some Aircraft hanger style doors and are waiting on quotes.

Anyone have any suggestions? I would not mind spending $5-6k and Im open to suggestions of other systems.

Thanks in advance
Jon

 

[longez]

It sounds like you were quoted "Lift and Slide" doors; Multi-slide are 30-50% less expensive; but still not cheap. Where are you located; if you need IG panels that adds a lot of $$

 

[James-W]

Can't help with the doors, but welcome to the world of posting.

 

[FANTM58]

I’m in the exact situation
I built a 40’x60’x12’ clear Shop and I too am devoting an area 20’x20’
I picked a pair of used glass doors from a commercial store front
And for the wall I’ll be using salvaged windows to create a glass
Store front appearance.

 

[driftpin]

LaCantina is a good product, the alternative which in my opinion is a better product is nanawall. If you compare the cross-sections of the aluminum extrusions of each, you will see what I mean. The price is nothing within your proposed budget however.

We have an 18' nanawall onto our pool deck, quite impressive open or closed. They are six, three-foot accordion doors which stack to either side, going from fully-open to secured closed in about 30 seconds. Here in Florida because of hurricanes, the wind loads on the doors are considerable, we are in a high-velocity hurricane zone (HVHZ) rated geographical area. The building materials have to be rated for withstanding the HVHZ wind loads specified for the area, known as Miami-Dade County Product Approval process for the doors or windows installed. A P.E. has to do all the calculations for the product to withstand the wind loads, and then the product itself is tested for compliance by firing a 2 x 4 at it from a compressed-air cannon to see if the building material resists penetration. If the material passes these tests and calculation reviews, it receives a certificate for a finite period, stating the product meets the HVHZ requirements to be used according to the Miami-Dade County code.

The P.E. may visit unannounced the factory where the building material is manufactured, and take a sample for testing.

We used the nanawall-approved contractor for the install, and the cost was about $1500/foot, for the doors and installation. Everyone who sees it is impressed with the product and the view they afford, open or closed. They also cut-down on sound from outside.
https://www.nanawall.com/

When I see people posting about using old reclaimed millwork finish doors or windows, I know they don't live anywhere in Florida where HVHZ-rated building materials are required.

 

[6768rogues]

I would use sliding glass doors to save money, but they would only provide partial opening of the wall. Then you might have the issue of having them self closing and latching if they are the barrier to a pool.

 

[tthornto]

what about something like this? https://www.overheaddoor.com/new-all-glass-frameless-garage-doors

 

[Hot Rod Grampa]

Most major companies offer full vision doors. Most are available with insulated glass but the extrusion is hollow with open ends. Kinda defeats the insulating thing. But they are a commercial rated product, and will give the interior an industrial feel, but should give you years of service. Good luck.

 

[driftpin]

PGT makes HVHZ--rated single light doors w/obscure glass. They latch top, middle, and bottom. The frame and door is extruded aluminum. Not cheap, but very secure. We used them for a whole-house remodel and are very satisfied.

HVHZ=high-velocity hurricane zone, commonly-referred to as "impact."

https://www.pgtwindows.com/doors/

 

[38Chevy454]

I looked into this about 1.5 years ago when I was building my house with an enclosed patio on the back. Wanted to be able to open the wall to the back yard when weather was nice. I soon found out as you did that sliding/moving glass wall panels get very expensive, in the range of $1000/lineal ft, plus installation. Nearly $20K wasn't in the budget or justifiable expense. Std sliding glass doors would only give half open, which was also not what we wanted.

So I did two all glass roll up sectional garage doors, with high clearance tracks that keeps the door closer to the ceiling inside when open. It gives the basic glass wall appearance and outside view, but at around $4K per each door. The glass has double pane panels in each section. See picture, I haven't finished building the steps yet, and the blue tarp is covering my fireplace woodpile in what will become a planter next year. The patio contractor had to bust out and repour some of the patio, which we delayed until Oct of last year. You can see the color difference due to fresh sealer on the sections near the house. I'll get it all finished this year once weather is nicer.

 

[Chris705]

I really like the above OH doors as a solution....because you can also put the garage door screens in them for that bug control option!

 

[Voi]

So I did two all glass roll up sectional garage doors, with high clearance tracks that keeps the door closer to the ceiling inside when open. It gives the basic glass wall appearance and outside view, but at around $4K per each door.

That looks fantastic. So the doors close down on top of that shorter wall? Is that at seating height?

That's exactly what I wanted to do for our cabin but in the process of pricing the glass garage doors we stumbled across a bunch of premium Pella sliders with internal blinds that had been returned and we got them very cheap.

What size are your doors? Do you remember the brand? We still may do this on a small guest cabin that will double as storage in winter.

 

[Radix2]

I looked into this a couple years ago as well. Decided against any of the glass wall systems due to winter snow and ice and compatibility with screens in the summer.

I went with a 8x16 Andersen sliding doorwall - this gives me a 8x8 clear opening and sliding screens.

Much less expensive also.