Glass Sliding Windows Open Up Outdoor Vistas and Views

When homeowners select new or replacement windows, they often choose glass sliding windows. Sliders are perfect for many spaces throughout your home, like laundry rooms, bathrooms, and kitchens.

Why Glass Sliding Windows?

Also called gliding windows, they provide both view and functionality. Like stationary windows, they offer unobstructed sight of the outdoors. With a single-sliding window, one of the two sashes opens, with either a horizontal or vertical sliding motion on its tracks, to allow for ventilation. With double-sliding windows, both sashes slide.

Glass sliding windows are easy to operate, and because they contain no mechanical parts, rarely have problems. Typically, the sashes, which either lift-out or tilt-in, can be removed for easy cleaning. For maximum safety, these windows should have a secondary locking system.

Window installation, however, can be difficult. It is best to have a window contractor do it for you.

Glass Sliding Windows: The Aesthetics

With all of the options for your glass sliding windows, you can create the perfect look, from simple to elaborate, for your home. Window frames come in various materials, such as vinyl, composite, fiberglass, aluminum, and wood. Frame colors range from white to brown and include the several earth tones in between, such as tan, clay, almond, and sandstone.

The glass itself comes in various hues--whites, cobalt blue, emerald, clear, yellow, amber, ruby red, and more. Several styles of glass are available, too, including tempered, tinted, curved, and bent. The various looks provide a dramatic effect. Designs in etched glass, for instance, range from contemporary to traditional. You may choose a glass for its energy efficiency, privacy, and/or sound control. For example, low-E glass decreases heating and cooling costs while keeping your home more comfortable year-round.

You may want to embellish your new windows with a grille, or grid, in the pattern of your choice, from colonial to diamond. Mullions can be added to your windows to create a modern look with clean lines. Glazings can be applied in between the mullion sections for an artistic flair.

Glass sliding windows are easy to find, as several manufacturers of replacement windows make them.