Patio doors for the home come in a broad range of materials, types and functions.  To choose the right doors as well as the best material for patio doors, it helps to understand the options available. While doors are important of course, windows, screens and other products also play a part.

A significant element of a home, patio doors provide access from any room to the outside. Patio doors also provide entry inside, ventilation and security.  Chosen well they improve the appearance of the house too. The benefit of patio doors, regardless of material, is their bigger glass sizes and increased natural light as a result. Choose a well-designed, attractive door and benefit from an improved living space, dining room or kitchen area.  Patio doors are also widely used in high-end architectural glazing, featuring expansive glass, floor to ceiling windows and in some of the best house designs.

Types of doors for your patio

With modern home improvements, patio doors come in several materials and different types. Homeowners have a lot of choices.  From the traditional hinged patio door to a bifolding or sliding door.  Then there are other ways you can open a patio door to the garden. For instance:

• Pivoting Doors, with an offset pivot at the top and a hidden floor spring.
• Slide and stack or slide and turn patio doors either fully framed or virtually frameless.
• A combination unit with more than one type of door opening method.
• Sliding doors disappearing into a wall pocket
• Sliding doors moving around a fixed or open corner.

As door design gets better and more sophisticated, patio doors now come with ultra-low thresholds and even no threshold at all.  For instance, there are doors designed to offer varying levels of weather resistance as well as helping with disabled access.

Glass options, colours, profile aesthetics and numerous accessories all work together to create impressive and durable patio doors for the home. Double glazed doors come with excellent thermally efficient units.

In spite of aluminium being popular for new patio doors, there are good reasons to consider the other material options as well.  For instance, planning constraints, listed buildings or personal taste means timber or steel provides a better option.

Helping you choose the best material for your patio.

For anyone looking to replace or provide new patio doors in their home, there is an excellent choice of materials. There is no absolute best material for patio doors.  Nearly all modern patio doors all offer good design, colour choice, textures, high security and reliability.  This especially applies to doors for external use.  Doors designed for internal use often come with simpler locking systems and usually less thermal performance.

While we are an aluminium focused website, we do not necessarily say aluminium is entirely the best material for patio doors. There are also many good reasons to consider the other materials too.

Where the different patio door materials differ is in six key areas.

• Price whether by cost or brand.
• Appearance, such as contemporary or traditional.
• Specifications and design.
• Quality of the product and components
• The capability of the product, such as sizes, strength and integration with other products.
• Security, weather and other accreditations.

As well as these, patio doors now form an integral part of many contemporary extensions and houses.  As a result, other external elements must complement and often work with patio doors.  For example, cladding, gutters, fascias, corner posts and steelwork, aluminium panels and even integral blinds.  To illustrate this, our main image on this page shows other structural and aesthetic elements also in coloured aluminium. Consequently, how your patio door works with your other design or structural factors also determines the choice of material or brand.