There can be more to a patio door than meets the eye.
Homeowners are discovering they now have more options than ever when it comes to creating a seamless transition between outdoor and indoor living space. The expansive, but sometimes clunky, patio door is being redesigned with improved performance, easier installation, energy efficiency and greater prevention of water infiltration.
Most exciting is the expanded efficiencies of multi-slide and bifold patio doors that give homes, and even smaller patio apartments, more open-living options than ever before.
“Traditionally, we have seen the giant patio doors in the South and West where you have awesome views. We are now seeing homeowners in Cincinnati, and the Midwest in general, the colder climes, also interested in these doors,” says Fred Cernetisch, general manager, Pella Cincinnati.
Cernetisch says more people are planning new construction and remodeling products centered around giant multi-slide doors since engineering improvements permit them to work seamlessly in larger openings. Cernetisch says 20-foot openings and larger are becoming common. In fact, Pella makes such doors that can go to a whopping 48 feet.
Even more popular is the bifold patio door, which can practically double the size of an opening. In a multi-slide door, a panel is going to be there unless there is a pocket. But the bifold door basically opens all the way with options of in-swing or out-swing.
“A typical six-foot sliding patio door is a three-foot opening. You can put in a two-panel bifold door and get almost that full six feet of exposure in that opening. What was 30 inches is now 60 inches,” Cernetisch says. “We sell as many bifolds as we ever have.”
In Cincinnati, it’s common that the bifold patio doors are being used to expand a smaller living space.
“It’s not so much that people want to open up a view. They want the function,” says Nathan Madden, Pella sales manager. “It’s similar thinking to how people now want an open floor plan with the kitchen and dining room. It creates a flow for your party. A lot of people have these screened-in patio areas, but they are not as usable if you have to always mess with a sliding door. A bifold essentially lets you open the wall.”
To meet the new demand for these doors, Pella in 2019 redesigned its Architect Series Scenescape patio doors, putting out a line emphasizing the multi-slide and bifold styles. The Scenescape products focused on enhanced performance and weather proofing, expanded design features and easier installation.
The aluminum-clad, wood interior Scenescape series can come in any color with a myriad of hardware options from Pella’s Architect Traditional or Contemporary product lines. The doors also feature narrower frames to maximize glass exposure.
“Always the window and door challenge for places like the Midwest is the weather. Technology has caught up with the ability to offer weather resistance to wind, rain and cold in patio doors,” Cernetisch says. “We’ve made great strides with sills and how it transitions on the floor providing assurances when it comes to water issues.”
The remodeled Cincinnati Pella showroom, which opened in October 2019, has been a boon for people who want to fiddle with doors and windows. Dozens of styles can be easily accessed for people to understand how they function and look. It’s where one can see on display a massive 27-foot, multi-slide patio door with several panels, totaling around 1,000 pounds, that can easily be
pushed back with a gentle one-hand push.
“People also love to play with the bifold door display to understand the possibilities of opening up a space,” Madden says.
The trend toward the more expansive, giant patio door fits with a general trend in home construction Cernetisch has noted since the recession.
“We are seeing a smaller footprint, but higher luxury features in new home construction, which might keep the price about the same. People seem to be going for the amenities, but they will sacrifice square footage to get luxuries like a built-in espresso machine, heated floors or these big-use patio doors.”
It helps that window and door makers like Pella have finally made these expansive doors available in an accessible consumer product line. “It was just a few years ago when people might see a massive patio door in a California luxury home on HGTV and find out it was out of reach in cost and even availability,” Cernetisch says. “Now these types of big doors are readily available. They are not inexpensive, but they are in our market in any size and style. We feel Pella is a leader in the Cincinnati market in these types of patio doors and how we display them in our showroom.”
The Pella Experience Center is in the Montgomery Square Shopping Center, 9869 Montgomery Road, Cincinnati, OH 45242. For more information, visit www.pellawindowscincinnati.com, or call 513.936.5240.