Transform your living space with more natural light and large openings. Our stunning sliding patio doors are bold, beautiful and come equipped with the finest German made hardware. With premium design and excellent energy performance, they add style, flexibility and security to any home while emphasizing your home's connection to the outdoors. Neuffer offers four frame materials, custom sizes, colors and glazing options to meet your architectural and performance needs.

Opening Styles and Options

The term patio door refers to a range of different types that share the same installation location, similar to front or balcony door. Any door that connects the inside to garden or yard can technically be a patio door. Today, there are three main sliding styles, each named for their operating mechanism. They are:

  • Lift and Slide
  • Bifold (also called: folding or bifolding)
  • Tilt and Slide

Each of these three feature large glass surfaces and are ideal for patios, terraces, large balconies and the like. Each offers a unique blend of features to choose from based on your installation space, type of view desired, amount of open space required, ventilation needs and more. Below you can find a summary of each option.

Bifold: For the Most Open Space

Unlike sliding doors with a fixed half and sliding half, folding ones slide away completely and create large panoramic views into your garden or yard. Bifold doors consist of two or more door connected panels that open concertina style, folding away along a track system to be stored flat against the wall when open. For the largest uninterrupted views when open, folding patio doors are the best option.

The other side of having multiple leafs is that when they are closed, the view is a bit more broken up compared to a sliding door which has larger continuous glass surfaces. For those in warmer climates where the doors will be open more often, bifolding doors are often the best choice. For those in colder areas where the door will be closed more often, one of the other options would offer wider unobstructed views while shut.

Neuffer only builds custom products with your choice of leafs starting with two. The opening direction and folding style can also be individualized, including for example whether the panels all fold to one side, or some each way.  

Tilt and Slide: Tilt and Turn Functionality for Patio Doors

Tilt and slide doors are unique, combining a new sliding style with the tilt and turn functionality of European windows. The sash slides free of the frame on rails, making it much easier than traditional models which require effort to move back and forth. This makes sliding easier and eliminates wear on the bottom seals. 

A turn of the handle will tilt the sash inwards for ventilation while still preventing children and pets from getting in or out. This unique combination of features makes them a superior alternative to standard sliding doors. 

Tilt and slide models are best suited to small and medium sized installation spaces. With no swinging leafs, they save spaced compared to French Doors. Like all sliding doors, one side is fixed and the other operable meaning larger uninterrupted glass surfaces when closed but only half of the total space can be opened. 

Lift and Slide: For the Largest Uninterrupted Views

Transform your living space with more natural light and largest openings of all three types. In contrast to old fashioned sliding doors that move along a bottom track horizontally, lift and slide doors feature a different operating mechanism that improves usability, security and energy-efficiency. They are also able to handle huge sashes and extremely large openings.

By rotating the handle, the entire sliding sash is effortlessly lifted off the ground and slid to the side. Because the leaf is physically lifted off the ground to glide along a track system, it is also lowered back down when closed. This means the full weight presses downwards creating an airtight seal, eliminating drafts and energy loss.

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