Types of sliding doors to the dressing room, selection tips
The choice of wardrobe facades is an important step in shaping the interior design and providing convenient access inside. Options such as sliding doors for the wardrobe room are the most common type of opening in this segment of furniture. We will tell you what are the design features of sliding structures and how to choose them correctly for interior design.
Advantages and disadvantages
The choice of sliding doors in the dressing room is due to both the layout and design of the room, and the functionality. This option has several advantages:
- sliding doors to the dressing room will be a good choice in conditions of a shortage of free usable space. They do not take up space in the open state, like folding options and are perfect for narrow corridors or small compact rooms;
- variations of facade designs presented by manufacturers of this segment of furniture will amaze even the most sophisticated designers;
- such doors do not close with strong drafts - they will be safer for small children. It is more difficult for small children to open a sliding door for a wardrobe room, so this is another plus in the matter of security.
The main disadvantages of coupe models are their complex design, as well as the need for careful use. You can highlight the main disadvantages, the knowledge of which will help to avoid mistakes when choosing them:
- sliding wardrobe door for a wardrobe easily let in air, respectively smells. When installing a closet near the kitchen, worry about quality insulation;
- the short service life of the working mechanisms can cause frequent repairs. You can avoid such problems by carefully choosing all the accessories of the wardrobe elements;
- fragility of the structure can fail at an unnecessary moment. The guest, who took the sliding facade for the swing, will easily incapacitate him with a strong jerk on himself.
- the inability to be open to everyone immediately prevents the use of the entire width of the doorway.
Despite the type of panels chosen to close the interior of the dressing room from the main room, it is worthwhile to carefully choose their components and carefully handle them, even if they are declared to be the most durable.
Kinds
The range of wardrobe facades offered by manufacturers is large enough for their application to any wardrobe rooms and any floor plans. There is a basic number of constructive solutions based on supporting sliding mechanisms or suspended sliding mechanisms:
- lower supporting structures include several basic types of sliding structures. This includes the most popular dressing room compartment doors. The main feature of this type is the load on the lower support rail or support rollers. The upper part of the whole mechanism serves as a guide. Usually the bottom is made of steel or aluminum. Aluminum is stronger, more durable than steel, but costs more. The lower rails are mortise or overhead. The first ones are technically more difficult to make, but they look better, and besides, they allow the door to fall close to the floor. The lower rail guide is often clogged and makes noise during operation;
- suspended structures are more modern and more reliable. The upper profile is wide and massive, which helps it withstand heavy loads. A special stabilization system prevents the doors from swaying and prevents them from falling. Suspended structures require a solid frame, so they are often installed on partially built-in wardrobes.
In addition to the structural diversity, sliding doors are divided into the following types:
- wardrobe compartment - conventional lower support sliding system;
- pencil case - a structure hiding in the walls when opening. It does not fit in the case of mounting a dressing room in a niche;
- book - looks like a swing door, but opens, folding in half;
- accordion - a continuous door-like screen. It looks like a door book, but has more wings;
- frameless sliding systems exist - these are glass modules that do not have an explicit frame, and the working mechanisms are mounted directly on the panel.
Materials of manufacture
Today, the main materials for the manufacture of sliding doors for the cabinet choose wood, MDF boards, metal, glass, plastic, combined materials. Natural wood is used when installing accordion doors, pencil cases and books. Such material goes well with the classic interior, emphasizing the high status of the owner of the house. This is an environmentally friendly, reliable material, but it is quite expensive. Most often, oak is used for these purposes.
MDF is the most common, and has established itself as an inexpensive and versatile material. MDF boards lend themselves to figured processing of any complexity, which allows you to create doors of any shape and style.
Glass and mirror doors are designed to visually increase the space of the room. They are suitable for modern and hi-tech styles. A feature of such wardrobe room doors is that, without going into the wardrobe, you can see its contents. The doors are also equipped with frosted glass, decorated glass, with a pattern, glossy and structural glass.
The combination of materials allows you to adjust the final result to specific customer needs. Combinations can be various: plastic with metal, glass with MDF or wood, glass and plastic, mirror panels with frosted glass.
Working mechanisms are made of steel and aluminum. Steel systems are cheaper than aluminum, but they are fragile and quickly fail. The reason for this is often the small thickness of the web. Thin rails of lower support systems quickly deform. Aluminum systems will last longer, although they are much more expensive than steel. It is clear that any system, regardless of its cost, will last a long time if handled with care.
Working door systems are equipped with rollers or bearing mechanisms. Often the standard equipment is equipped with roller elements that do not have bearings, but they can be replaced with better parts of the door to the dressing room with your own hands.
MDFMirroredChipboardWoodenGlassDressing
Dressing sliding wardrobe doors is a creative and time-consuming process. Before you learn how to make it yourself, you should familiarize yourself with all possible options, because a cabinet with sliding doors can be decorated in various ways. Common is the decoration of glass doors or doors with glass inserts. Also popular is the application of photo printing to plastic or chipboard panels. We offer you to learn how to make your dressing room even more attractive:
- glass and mirror sliding doors for the cabinet are painted in a variety of ways. Sandblasting remains the most popular in glass decoration. Using an air-sand jet, you can make the glass frosted, apply a pattern or drawing to it;
- faceted glass elements are applied to the glass wardrobe doors of the compartment and are designed to ennoble the furniture with their elaborate forms. They are mainly made to order, so they have exclusive shapes and unique designs;
- photo printing is gradually replacing glass processing. If you want to replace one picture with another, or change the color of the door, it does not require replacing the entire panel. This applies to images printed on film. Photo printing conveys colors better, and it can decorate glass, plastic, leather and other materials. Just select an image, and a large-format printer will recreate it on film and you can decorate any compartment door for the dressing room you can see the photo in the selection;
- contour stained-glass windows - the most popular type of stained-glass windows. Fill stained-glass windows, as they are also called, are made by hand, so that each of them is unique and exclusive. This also affects the quality of the result, which can be seen in high definition, saturation of the drawings;
- Art painting is another type of stained glass painting. This is a time-consuming process requiring a highly skilled artist. The uniqueness of the technology of hand painting is that the drawing is applied on the inside by layers. The first layer serves as the foreground outside, and all subsequent layers are the background of the image;
- film stained glass is a quick way to create a stained glass window on a cabinet door. A method of manufacturing such a stained glass window consists in gluing layers of a film simulating glass. After that, a lead tape is glued at the joints. This method is gaining popularity due to its simplicity and speed of implementation;
- ion-plasma spraying is a high-tech, sophisticated and beautiful method of decorating a glass or mirror surface. Ion-plasma stained glass is a rather expensive way of painting on glass, but the result of this method exceeds all expectations;
- airbrushing can be applied to the sliding facade of the dressing room, and the door can also be made in such a way that a mirror becomes its decoration;
- the combination method will create a glass mosaic on the doors. Often create large elements of the pattern in the form of simple geometric shapes.
Despite the complexity of decorating, an upgrade can be done for the dressing room with your own hands, you just need to show a little creative start in this matter.
Care and maintenance
Of course, every furniture, regardless of its cost and class, needs proper care and compliance with the rules of operation. The sliding door for the dressing room is equipped with working mechanisms that are constantly subject to stress. We will tell you how to avoid the serious consequences of improper use of such furniture.
Wooden compartment doors for a case and doors from a chipboard are afraid of too humid air and at the same time drying out. The use of such doors at temperatures no higher than 45 degrees Celsius will be optimal. Humidity should be between 55-75 percent. Otherwise, cabinet doors made of such material may become deformed. Do not place heaters near the doors of the dressing room. Dust on a wooden surface is allowed only with a well-wrung microfiber cloth. In addition, it is necessary to control the level of overload of shelves and hangers of the cabinet in order to avoid breakdowns.
Guide profiles and roller systems of door support elements are responsible for their normal movement within a given trajectory. Special care is required for floor support profiles of lower support systems. Such profiles become clogged, so they constantly require regular cleaning. Otherwise, clips of any quality will quickly break. If necessary, all moving mechanisms of the sliding facades must be lubricated.
A careless attitude to such mechanisms will sooner or later lead to their breakdown, which may affect the family budget, since replacing such parts is not cheap.
Care must be taken to care about the surface of the doors, if stains have formed on the furniture, then they must be removed with a mild soapy solution that is wiped dry with a clean rag. Mirrored sliding doors for the dressing room must be washed only with mirrors, not glass. Otherwise, surface clouding may occur. It is worth remembering that no matter how expensive your furniture or its equipment will be, with sliding structures or others, care for it requires exactly the same.