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When looking to enhance their patio or balcony entrance, many homeowners prefer the visual aesthetic and insulation properties of French doors and windows of various sizes. This particularly striking type of casement-window-turned-door allows for increased natural lighting on the inside of a home and an unimpeded view of the exterior. It may be constructed of various materials, such as wood or uPVC, as well as in various sizes and shapes – turning any home into a veritable estate, regardless of the space available.
French doors (or windows) might not be something that many people are familiar with. However, they feature a few design elements which, while not unique in their own right, certainly help define a unique identity when combined.
A French door is made up of insulated glazing that either consists of multiple panes of smaller sizes held together by glazing bars made of robust wood or a single pane of insulated glass visually divided into smaller parts by ‘false’ bars. This construction creates a unique set of attributes:
While any of these attributes on their own might not be enough to warrant the classification as a unique door type, their combination surely is: This particular type of door seems to many observers to be a purely aesthetic living space divider of various possible sizes.
At the same time, however, the large glass surface provides excellent thermal insulation, while integrated glazing bars allow for a great amount of stability at the same time. Installing laminated safety glass into a door of this type can allow it to stand up to most kinds of typical burglary attempts.
French doors are frequently made of wood and installed in pairs or even larger groups, in which case they may be referred to as ‘French windows’. Installed in pairs, they often lack a mullion – the fixed central vertical bar dividing individual leaves. This allows them to create entryways of large sizes, since they leave no mullion
to obstruct the opening. For this reason, this particular type of door is not only a popular choice for the patio or garden area, but also as a decorative element for the building interior, allowing homeowners to divide spaces or create seamless openings between individual rooms whenever necessary.
In terms of height and width, a French door does not differ drastically from other types of garden doors. They are available in most standard sizes, usually reaching from the floor to about two meters in height, with a more variable width – usually slightly wider than a person. Particularly when installed in groups, this results in a particularly elegant visual effect, creating a large glazed building
front without the need for massive single insulated glass inserts. Since French doors can be constructed in various sizes and individual leaves may be combined to form larger openings, this makes them not only elegant, but highly flexible as well, allowing them to fit into the layout of almost any home.