In brand new homes, people often have 14’ patio doors or even 20’ patio doors out to their backyard. It’s one of the features that they paid extra money for. They love it and they want the doors to be open.
So when we’re covering the other windows in a home, customers often ask us to leave the sliding glass doors blank. People say, “It’s north-facing” or “It’s got a patio cover, so it’s going to be fine.”
When we’re covering the other windows, we always take a measurement for it.
Then, almost always, we get a callback. They say, “We’re going to need to do something with that window!” They’ll often add, “there’s too much glare” or “it feels too open at night” (even though it’s just to their backyard).
We almost always end up covering it. Then our customers are always amazed that they get the functionality they’re looking for without giving up their view – the reason they like their sliding door in the first place.
The Challenge with Sliding Glass Doors
A large window brings the outdoors in, flooding your room with light.
But when you cover it, it’s like hanging a large picture or adding an enormous accent wall. The fabric can dominate a room!
A sliding glass door covering will bring a large block of color and a large block of fabric. So, it needs to integrate well into your interior design.
Questions to Ask
We like to start with these questions:
- Do you want your sliding glass door’s covering to be seamless? Do you want it to blend into the wall? Or do you want it to stand out with a complementary color?
- Do you want to see out your shade when you have it closed? That way you can block heat and glare, and still enjoy your view.
- Or are you looking for ultimate privacy, something room-darkening? In this case, it will inevitably become more noticeable when it’s down.
Most Customers Want to Avoid Standard Vertical Blinds
Typically customers have already explored the “ordinary options”. They often want to get away from standard vertical blinds.
Vertical blinds cover up your view. They’re clunky. To many customers, the only advantage is that you can tilt it so that you can partially see through it.
That said, if you like them, you can find beautiful options, like Hunter Douglas’s Luminette Sheer Panels. Vertical blinds are a staple, and they’re available in a wide range of colors, textures, and materials, including vinyl, fabric, and aluminum.
Screen Shades Work Best
Nine times out of 10, big sliding doors are at the back of a house leading to your covered patio or backyard. So often there’s not a lot of sun and glare to block. For most customers, the main goal is to preserve a view.
Given this, the most popular option is to set up a screen shade or a roller shade. These shades have a minimal footprint.
They’re available with different openness factors. We most often would do a 3% or a 5% openness. Three percent will give you a good view, but it will block 97% of the glare and UV rays coming through your window.
A screen shade like this comes down in sections over your sliding glass door, then it disappears when you roll it up.
For Color, Choose Black, Bronze or Charcoal
With a screen shade, most customers choose black, bronze, or charcoal. Like a dark screen on your window, your eyes see through it. You don’t notice that it’s there.
The lighter your screen color, the more the sun reflects off of it. This turns the shade into a focal point that you see, rather than one that “disappears” from notice.
Mounting Options: Exposed Roll, Fascia or Valance
A roller shade rolls up into a tube. There are three options for covering this:
- Leave the tube exposed. This leaves a clean, modern, slightly industrial look.
- Add a 5” metal fascia. You can match it to the window frame. This neatly conceals the mounting hardware.
- Add a valance. With this option, you can install a soft fabric like a Roman shade to elegantly hide the roll.
It all depends on what look best matches your design aesthetic and the other materials in your living space.
Cellular Shades Are Best for Energy Efficiency
Windows are very efficient now. While you don’t feel drafts and heat as much as you used to, you still lose a lot of energy through a window.
The most energy efficient option for a sliding glass door is vertical cellular shades. These shades add insulation by creating an extra air pocket. You’ll notice the extra energy efficiency the most in extreme temperatures, when it’s really cold or really hot.
Regardless of the size of your sliding glass door, the fabric stack is only 6.5”. This is small enough, you can easily hide it along the side of your door.
If you want to know the technical details, we achieve the small stack by flipping the fabric vertically and placing the rail at the top. This allows the cellular shade to move smoothly with the door.
Another advantage of the cell shade is that you’ll get the best privacy when you close it at night.
Plus, you’ll have the option to close the shade any way you like. You can do a split draw, where the shade opens from the center and stacks on both sides. Or you can do a one-way draw to the right or left, where the fabric stacks entirely to one side.
Drapery and Side Panels
While we don’t see high demand, occasionally we will add draperies across sliding glass doors. These are super heavy, but they are gorgeous and they give you a nice custom look.
If you add a vertical cellular shade, you can add drapery side panels to hide the stack.
Side panels are a great way to get the soft look of drapery without the downsides of covering your whole window with drapery. (Compared to full drapery, side panels dramatically reduce the cost of fabric and they get rid of the large stack that would otherwise intrude on your view.)
DIY Installation Mistakes on Sliding Glass Doors
We see a lot of DIY mistakes when it comes to installing shades on sliding glass doors.
We’ve done installations where someone bought a roller shade, stuck it up, and thought, “Oh, this is where the sun comes in. I’ll just put it right here.” They tack it up—only to realize later that when they open their door, the shade runs into the door hardware, and they can’t fully open the door.
That’s the biggest issue we see—failing to plan for how the door moves!
A lot of sliding doors don’t have enough depth in the framing to fit an inside-mounted shade, so an outside mount is usually required.
One of the most common mistakes we see is placing a roller shade too close to the door. Homeowners install it to block the sun but don’t consider the door handle or sliding movement. When they try to open the door, the shade catches on the handle or rail, blocking the door from fully sliding open.
Because sliding doors move back and forth, anything mounted too low or too close can interfere with the door’s function. The rail at the top needs enough space to operate, and the fabric must clear the door handle.
If you’re installing a shade on a sliding glass door yourself, it’s important to get the height right, extend the shade far enough from the door, and ensure nothing blocks the door’s movement.
Cost for Sliding Glass Door Window Coverings
Depending on the size and features you choose, pricing can range from $1,000 to $5,000. The biggest factor is whether you opt for manual operation or motorization.
Motorization vs Manual
For large sliding glass doors, we recommend motorization. It allows for smoother, more consistent movement and prevents shades from getting misaligned, which can easily happen with manual operation on oversized windows.
You’re usually breaking up the window into two or three sections. With manual shades, you don’t want cords hanging down the middle of your window when the shade is up—you want a clean, open view.
Also, sliding doors are often too tall for manual operation to be practical. If you can’t comfortably reach the top, motorization makes daily use effortless.
Window Covering Brands
For sliding doors, we often use Insolroll, which integrates with both Somfy and Lutron automation systems. For interiors, we also offer Hunter Douglas shades with PowerView® motorization.
If you’re not motorizing your shades, you’ll have even more brand options to choose from.
Installation Timeline
For sliding glass door shades, installation typically takes 3–4 weeks from the date you place your order and submit a down payment.
Most other shades can be installed within 2–3 weeks, but because sliding glass door shades are extra long and wide, they often require special shipping, which slightly extends the timeline.
Pets and Kids
Our customers actually need more repairs due to pets than kids!
Roller shades are great for homes with pets. You can raise the shade high enough so your dog can put their nose on the glass without damaging anything.
Most pets have a favorite window where they love to sit and look outside. If you don’t plan for this, you’ll keep replacing that shade because pets will scratch, chew, or tear it down.
Maintenance
All sliding glass door options are low-maintenance. Because you probably use your door a lot, dust doesn’t accumulate on it.
To supplement, once a month you can rub a Swiffer over it or whatever you use for dusting.
Reach Out to Us for Free Advice
If you’re in Idaho or Eastern Oregon and you have a sliding glass door that could use a window covering, we’d be happy to give you recommendations. Contact us today for a free design consultation.
