Does anyone have these? Opinions?
We have large sliding glass doors in our Florida condo, and I’m thinking about these as an option. Sliding across, not top to bottom. I like how small they stack. Doors open to the center, but I’d be good with the shades opening to the center or sliding to one side - which might be preferable? Haven’t seen them in real life.
I bought the honeycomb shades for Windows, but not for sliding glass doors. I really liked them on Windows. I haven’t seen them On sliding glass doors, sorry. For the cost, I’d want to see pictures
If you find pictures, please post. We gave wooden sliding doors to the back yard and the drapes are definitely aging and I’m ready to consider other options.
I chose cordless Bali brand Horizontal honeycomb shades for many windows and doors. Easy on French doors- can open/close them with shades down and they fit between the lever door handles and doors. For the triple sider in our living room I chose 3 shades that drop from the inset “ceiling”. One, two or three shades can be raised at a time. No cords means needing to lean down to the floor to raise them but nothing in the way. I liked the appearance of the horizontal top piece best on the Bali brand. Avoided mechanized shades as motors can fail et al. You can order the shades measured for least gaps (goofed on a slider in the family room- the bottom trim takes up more room than at the top- they really mean it when they say to measure the various places- or pay professionals) and when ordering Bali there was a way of stating they were for the same opening- the folds line up perfectly when down. Using three shades means each is not that heavy- can do the open/close with one hand (another window set has 4’ wide panes and should use two hands). We used separate shades for each of the four windows instead of linking two like the old ones (so heavy)- I would avoid this for ease in manipulating them. It is interesting how the professional who measured those (free for 9 shades with Lowes installation- did the rest myself later) varied each by a small fraction of an inch because the windows were like that. Replaced the windows and they are now equal- can’t tell any differences. Was able to work on dinette windows that were three in a row so no noticeable gap between them- much better than the single very wide mini blind for ease of opening closing as well (no privacy issues).
Got rid of vertical blinds which covered a bit of the opening when fully opened. I imagine it would not be possible to have shades inside the thickness of the opening without losing a bit of the opening, especially with wide /large doors using the type of shades you propose.
I wonder about the appearance of vertical folds when fully closed- not appealing to me.
btw- we chose Levolor mini blinds for bedrooms and baths. These are good quality metal- more opaque plus have the string holes that do not show. We can leave them down and open midway for maximum view in that mode or turn up/down to direct light or the ability to easily see in. To get the most light we can raise them. Honeycomb shades would be an all or nothing for light and privacy. In our old house we did not have any privacy concerns and used room darkening honeycomb shades in bedrooms.
A long post but wanted to share info as I spent a lot of time going over so many significant details.
https://www.hunterdouglas.com/patio-door-and-sliding-glass-door-treatments
The first image on this page shows the Vertiglide. The pleats go up and down so it’s like an accordion. Googling around, I found some images that had both types (horizontal and vertical) used within the same room. Typically all horizontal with just the vertical over a slider.
@wis75 - I agree about using multiple shades over sliders. Our friends did a single one, and it is now failing because of the weight. Good to know that the Bali brand has a more attractive top. We are not doing anything this trip down, but might the next time we come. Just starting to look at options now. I understand about covering the opening, but they are supposed to only stack at around 6-7 inches with the he vertical option. I do worry about light gaps with the horizontal. My dh is 100% with you on not going the mechanized route because of breaking issues. We have plantation shutters on all other windows and plan to keep those (but have them painted). We talked about switching those out as well to have a less weighty effect. I think for now, we will not. They afford great privacy, and TBH, the windows in our building are not all that lovely to behold.
Thanks for the thorough reply - did you purchase from a major chain? Or use a more local-type (franchise) company? Oops - edit. I see you used Lowe’s.
@HImom - you can find some images on Houzz and Pinterest. Some videos on YouTube. Think I looked under “vertical honeycomb shades.” Or maybe “vertical cellular shades”
These are great for people who live in areas that do not have insects. Antarctica, perhaps. If there are insects, they will fly into the cells, and die in the part that is hardest to reach. And you will damage the cell trying to get them out. Maybe somewhat less of a problem for vertical than horizontal, but those tiny little bug legs can catch on things.
We have had the vertiglide shades for our bedroom slider for about 15 years - I love it! No complaints.
Looked at the Vertiglide site. My only concern would be how much glass is covered when a wide expanse cover is pushed all the way to a side. Concerns about insects- ours open onto a screened lanai so that is not an issue. I suspect same thing for OP as well. If open onto nature use the screens that you would have with the sliders.
@wis75 is correct. We have a small screened lanai.
We stopped by Lowe’s and it looks like if we did a split door, there would only be about 9" of stack on either side. There is 6" of Sheetrock on either side, so stack over the actual slider would be pretty minimal. Might be 13" of stack if we did one that went to only one side.
I do like the horizontal look better, I think, but I am concerned about light gaps. We have time to ponder.
I like the look of the vertical panels, but those definitely have too much stack.