A sliding glass door can add elegance and character to your patio or bedroom. But sliding glass doors need curtains installed, or everyone will see into your bedroom or indoor patio!
Sliding glass doors come in various shapes and sizes, depending on the size of the room and the size of the threshold. So how tall is a sliding glass door?
On average, a sliding glass door is about 80 inches tall. However, some sliding glass doors can be as tall as 12 ft tall and as short as 6 ft tall.
The width of a sliding glass door is usually about 6 ft. When selecting curtains for a sliding glass door, the curtains must come out at least 6 in wider on each side.
How Tall Is a Normal Sliding Glass Door?
A typical sliding glass door is around 7 to 8 feet tall, or 80 inches tall.
However, sliding glass doors can be as tall as the contractor wants to make them. If there is enough ceiling height to install taller doors, sliding glass doors can be as tall as 12 ft. There are a few things to keep in mind if you choose to get a taller sliding glass door, though.
First, since tall sliding glass doors need more glass, the glass will allow more sun into the room.
Second, the more glass the doors need, the heavier they will be. They can be too heavy for some people to slide the doors.
How Tall Is a Sliding Glass Door With A Transom?
Some sliding glass doors will have a transom above the glass door to add aesthetic and uniqueness to the design.
Only homes and venues with high ceilings can have both a sliding glass door and a transom. Typical sizes for a transom are between 12 and 24 in.
A 7 ft tall sliding glass door with a 16-in transom will require two extra inches for height and 4 in to separate the transom from the ceiling. The ceiling height to accommodate the sliding doors and transom will have to be at least 106 in or 8 ft 8 in.
How Wide Is a Sliding Glass Door?
On average, a sliding glass door is about 5 to 6 ft wide. Some large homes can even have four to six panels on their sliding glass doors that are over 20 ft wide.
It is possible to turn a regular door into a sliding glass door. However, this type of door would have to be specially made and fitted for the threshold and the home.
How To Measure Curtains For Sliding Glass Doors
Sizing curtains for sliding glass doors is a bit more complicated than sizing curtains for glass windows. Here are two easy ways to size curtains for your sliding glass doors.
Curtain Length
When sizing curtains for sliding glass doors, it is not enough to measure the width of the doors. You all also have to consider several inches of curtain on each side of the door.
If you’ve ever sized curtains for your windows, then you already know what to do. You can’t just have the curtain end when the window ends. The curtain must go over the window and cover several inches of the wall as well.
Plus, you don’t want a perfectly straight curtain hanging from the curtain rod, as the fabric needs to be loose and enough so that there are several folds inside the curtain.
For example, if a sliding glass door is 72in or 6 ft wide, then add 8in for the curtain size. So, a 72in wide door plus eight extra inches will be 80in.
Curtain Height
Install the curtain rod on the wall above the sliding glass door and measure the distance from the rod to the floor. Since the sliding glass doors’ curtain starts above the door, the curtains’ height will have to be longer than the glass door.
On average, the curtain for the sliding glass door will have to be at least 4 to 6 in taller than the sliding glass door.
If you know the height of the sliding glass door, add 4 to 6 in to that height and you will have the perfect size for the curtains. The curtains should hang about ½ an inch above the floor.
The Dos And Don’ts of Caring For Sliding Glass Doors
Sliding glass doors require more upkeep than regular doors, but most people with these doors would consider the tradeoff fair.
Here are a few tips to keep in mind when you have sliding glass doors.
Lubricate The Sliding Door Track
In order for a sliding glass door to slide and open the door, it’ll be placed on a track with a rubber wheel below it. After a year, the rubber may start to wear out or thin.
You will notice when the rubber wears out because it will be harder to push the sliding glass doors open and the doors will make a noise whenever someone slides it on the track.
When the rubber wears out, you have two options: you can lubricate the track with WD-40 so it slides open easier, or you can call a repairman to remove the rubber and replace it with a new rubber piece.
Place A Light Colored Rug In Front of the Door
Have you ever seen dark colored drapes that look perfect on one side and then look completely washed out and bleached on the other side? The bleaching effect is because of the sun.
The sun’s rays can bleach anything made with dye or color. When the sun’s rays penetrate through the glass door and onto the floor of the room, the sun will bleach the curtains and any other painted surface.
In fact, the sun can even bleach human hair and change it from dark brown to light brown or from light brown to dark blonde. So when you purchase a rug to place in front of the sliding glass doors, the sun will eventually bleach that rug and change its color into a lighter one.
Purchasing a lighter rug will make the bleaching less noticeable, which means the rug will last longer.
However, this only matters if the side of the house that has sliding glass doors is exposed to the sun for hours. If the sliding glass doors are in a shady part of the house, then this will not be an issue and you can have whatever colored rug you want.
Conclusion to How Tall Sliding Glass Doors Are
The ceiling height for a room with a sliding glass door with the transom has to be at least 9 ft tall or the design won’t work.
The taller and wider a glass door is, the heavier it will be. Sliding glass doors will become harder to slide open over time and it will need to be lubricated, or the track will have to be changed.
