When people buy sliding door systems, we often get asked ‘Will the door flap around?’ or ‘What holds the door in place at the bottom?’ All our systems come with some form of floor guide to stop your doors from flapping around and to ensure they run smoothly at the bottom. There are a few different types of floor guides for sliding systems which we will be looking at in this blog.
Blade Floor Guides
Blade floor guides, or ‘shark’s fin’ floor guides are the most common type of floor guide. They are small blades around 40mm long, they sit on the floor just next to a skirting board, or inside of a pocket for pocket doors, and they guide the door as it slides. These guides do require a groove to be cut into the bottom of a door, but it allows for a clear threshold with no obstructions. Guide protectors can also be added to the door to extend the longevity of the guide and making the sliding motion smoother.
Because of how a system like this works, it means a doors movement is limited to its own width only, sliding any further would result in the door coming off the guide, meaning it is likely to flap around.
We also offer a rattle proof guide, which are an updated version of this system, needing either a plastic or metal guide protector channel. This roller system allows a smoother slide whilst also stopping the door rattling.
Full Length Floor Guides
Full length floor guides are perfect for sliding doors which need to move more than their own width. These guides use a full-length channel in the floor, rather than having a groove cut into your door. They can either be routed into the floor, by cutting a channel, or they can be surface mounted which is the easier fitting option however it does leave a threshold as the guide is not flat to the floor. One thing to note about this system is that you can get dirt in the floor channel, which if built up can cause the door to stick, and not slide. If used externally, the same applies to water, so drainage holes must be drilled into the guide to avoid this.
Telescopic Floor Guides
Telescopic sliding systems come with more than one floor guide, due to multiple doors being used in the system. The first guide, used on the first door, is a standard fixed floor guide which will sit in a groove at the bottom of the door. The others are door mounted floor guides, which sit on the second door, and how ever many doors you have in your telescopic system. This means the second door is guided off the first door. For example, for a telescopic system with 4 doors you will need one standard fixed floor guide and a further three door mounted guides, for the second, third and fourth doors.
For more information on how floor guides work, you can watch our YouTube Video, or contact us by telephone or e-mail with any questions and we will be happy to help.
