Multi-slide, stacking
Each panel runs in its own track, parallel to the next, and opening the wall slides the panels behind one another to stack at one or both ends. The stacked panels stay visible, but no pocket is needed.
Multi-Slide and Bi-Fold Doors in Austin That Open a Whole Wall
Austin Quality Windows designs and installs multi-slide and bi-fold doors in Austin, TX, and is Travis County's leading specialist in operable glass door walls, specializing in stacking multi-slide panels, pocketing systems that vanish into the wall and bi-fold panels that fold flat to one side. We offer flush sills recessed into the slab and raised weep sills for exposed terraces.
- Free in-home measure
- Elevations you approve
- Installed to manufacturer instructions
- One written price
About our multi-slide & bi-fold door walls
Our team provides the header, track and sill preparation behind every door wall, delivering a living room that opens fully to the outdoor terrace for homeowners and a wide, reliable entry for both residential and commercial projects. Every opening is measured on site by the same crew that hangs the door panels, and we set each sill pan and water-test the threshold before the interior floor finish goes back.
From leveling a sill to within a sixteenth of an inch across its full width to rolling the last panel home into its pocket, our team handles every detail. Serving Austin, Lakeway, Volente and The Hills, we open lake and terrace rooms to the air with a door wall that still sheds a Central Texas downpour.
Why Austin Quality Windows
How We Work
No handoffs between a salesperson, a measurer and a subcontracted crew. The crew that measures your openings installs the windows.
Measured on siteEvery opening measured in the wall it sits in, by the crew that will install it
Elevations firstYou approve the drawings, sizes, glass and finish before anything is ordered
Flashed to specSill pans, flashing and sealant to the manufacturer's written instructions
Water testedOpenings checked for leaks before the interior trim goes back on
Stacking, Pocketing or Folding: How a Door Wall Opens
A door wall is a run of large glazed panels that moves out of the way to open most or all of a wall. There are three ways to do it, and the right one depends on where the panels can go when they are open. The trade writes a layout as O for a fixed panel and X for a sliding one, so a four-panel stacking wall might read OXXO.
Multi-slide, pocketing
Pocketing systems slide every panel into a cavity built inside the adjoining wall, so the opening is completely clear. Wide versions use three to six parallel tracks carrying six to twelve panels.
Bi-fold
A folding door opens by folding back in panels hinged to one another, which gather at one or both ends of the opening. Most sets have more than two panels, and a modern set can run several meters wide.
Which suits your room
Stacking suits a wall with no room for a pocket and a view you want kept framed. Pocketing suits a wall you want gone completely. Bi-fold suits a terrace where panels can fold against a side wall.
Panel Weight, Tracks and the Header That Carries Them
Door wall panels are heavy. Manufacturers warn that the doors can be extremely heavy and call for an adequate number of people to carry and install them, with mechanical lifting assistance for the larger panels and glass. That weight is why a door wall is judged by how it rolls years from now, not how it looks on the first day.
Rollers and track
A sliding panel rides on rollers that glide in a fixed track, and those rollers are the part that wears. Some systems hang every panel from the head instead, leaving a trackless floor.
The header
One manufacturer's site preparation instructions require the header to be flat, carry the full load above it and deflect no more than one eighth of an inch over the span, because sag stops the panels operating.
Jambs and pocket depth
Side jambs must be plumb and true within three sixteenths of an inch, on solid substrate for fastening. Jamb depth grows with every track, so a five-track system needs a far deeper wall than a two-track one.
Framing the Opening and the Pocket
A wide opening in an existing house almost always means a new beam, and the same site preparation instructions recommend an architect or structural engineer be involved in planning the header and wall. The flatness limit is not a formality: a header that sags even slightly across a long span is the usual reason a door wall that rolled easily on the first day starts to drag.
A pocket has to be designed with the house. A pocket for a three-track system is deeper than the typical interior wall, so the wall is thickened as part of the job, and the interior wall that closes the pocket is framed after the door frame is in, leaving a small gap for the weatherstrip to meet. On hung systems, the panels drop slightly when closed to make a weather seal, and anti-lift blocks at the head stop a closed panel being lifted off its rails from outside.
Sill and Threshold Drainage in Austin Storms
The sill is where a door wall succeeds or leaks. Austin gets its rain in thunderstorms that can bring damaging winds, heavy rain and occasional flash flooding, and a door wall lying flat across a terrace takes the full sheet of water that runs off the house.
Sill pan flashing
Manufacturer instructions require a sill pan installed to ASTM E2112. The pan runs continuously across the bottom of the opening and ties into the weather resistant barrier, sending any water that gets past the sill back outside.
Level, then slope away
Sill height can vary by no more than one sixteenth of an inch across the width of the door, so we set it with a laser level. The exterior surface then slopes away about two degrees so the weeps drain.
Flush sill or weep sill
A flush sill recessed into the slab gives a level floor from the room to the terrace, and belongs under a covered terrace. Where the opening faces open weather, a raised weep sill with an interior stop is safer.
Where a New Door Wall Leaks, and How We Prevent It
Most leaks at a new door wall come from small installation choices rather than the product. Any shimming goes under the sill pan, not on top of it, so the pan still drains. Sealant never goes over weep holes or drain channels, a mistake that can make a brand new door wall leak on its first wet day.
A flush sill asks the most of the drainage, so cover matters. The same site preparation guide recommends an overhang whose depth matches the height of the door, measured on a 45 degree line from the bottom of the unit. If your terrace has no cover like that, we will say so at the measure and recommend the raised sill.
Glass for Big Sliding Panels
Sliding doors are on the list of places US building codes require safety glass, either tempered or laminated. Tempered glass is about four times stronger than ordinary glass and breaks into small granular pieces. It cannot be cut after tempering, so every panel is ordered to the exact size taken at the measure. Sliding doors are usually double glazed, and a low-E coating reflects infrared heat while letting daylight through, which protects floors and furniture in a room that sits open to the sun.
Heat on a west or south door wall
In Travis County the energy code limits glazed doors, like windows, to an SHGC of 0.25. That is the share of the sun's heat passing through the assembly, so a lower number keeps a west-facing room cooler.
Laminated panels
Laminated glass holds together when broken, is hard to get through, dampens sound and blocks nearly all ultraviolet light. On a ground-floor opening that faces a street or a lake path, it is worth the extra weight.
What Moves the Price of a Door Wall
We give a written quote after a free measure rather than a figure on a web page, because a door wall is priced on the wall it goes into. These are the things that move it:
- The glass package: dual or triple pane, the low-E coating and its SHGC, laminated panels for sound or security, tempered safety glass, tint and gas fill.
- Frame and panel material: thermally broken aluminum and steel for the slimmest stiles, or vinyl, fiberglass or aluminum-clad wood, with the wood species and interior finish on a clad panel.
- The system: stacking, pocketing or bi-fold, the number of panels and tracks, and corner units where two door walls meet with no post.
- Structural header work: enlarging an opening, a new header or steel beam, and an engineer's letter for a wide span.
- The sill: a flush sill cut into an existing slab costs more work than a raised sill on a new frame.
- Access: panels carried around a tight side yard, a second-storey balcony opening, or a hillside lot where the glass needs a lift.
- Historic review: a City of Austin landmark or local historic district house, where visible openings are not enlarged without review.
- Finish work: removing the old doors, interior and exterior trim, stucco, stone or siding repair, flooring at the threshold, and HOA architectural approval.
It starts with the free in-home measure, where we look at the wall, the header, the slab and where the water goes.
How a Door Wall Goes In
- Measure: the opening is measured in three places for width and height, and checked for plumb, level and square.
- Drawings: elevations and shop drawings go to you and your architect for approval before we order.
- Order: the manufacturer sets production, and the delivery date is in writing with your quote.
- Opening: header work, sill pan, weather barrier and pocket framing, to the manufacturer's written instructions.
- Frame and panels: the frame is set and shimmed level, then panels go in one at a time in their numbered order and are adjusted so every stile lines up.
- Water test: we test the sill and joints with water before trim and floor finishes go back.
- Handover: you get the operating and care instructions and a written warranty on our installation.
For a builder, we give rough opening sizes early and sequence around framing, the slab pour for a recessed sill, and the roofer for the overhang above.
Door Walls Around Lake Travis and West Austin
We check every door wall against the current local rule when we quote it.
Lakeway
Lakeway's building permit rules list framing modifications as permitted work, so widening an opening for a door wall needs a permit, and the fees are doubled when work starts before the permit is issued. We do not start before it is.
Volente
Volente enforces the 2018 residential and energy codes, takes remodel permit applications by email and accepts fees by check only. The door wall glass is checked against that energy code.
The Hills
In The Hills, the POA rather than the village approves window and glass changes through an architectural modification request, and our crew and the glass delivery come through the guard gate on private roads.
Rollingwood
Rollingwood does not require a permit to replace an existing door, but a new or enlarged opening is an exterior change that brings mailed notice to nearby owners before plan review.
The process
From First Measure to Finished Openings
Four steps, and nothing is ordered until you have signed off on the drawings and the price.
Free in-home measure
We measure every opening, check the framing and the header, and talk through glass, frame material and how each window should operate.
Elevations and a written price
You get drawings of every unit for your approval and for any HOA or historic review, with one written price.
Ordered to your sizes
Units are ordered to the approved sizes and glass package, and checked against the drawings when they arrive.
Installed and water tested
Old units out, openings flashed, new units set, sealed and water tested, then trim and cleanup.
More of What We Install
Questions
Multi-Slide & Bi-Fold Door Walls: Common Questions
What drives the price of a multi-slide or bi-fold door?
The system type, the number of panels and tracks, the glass, the frame material, any header or beam work, the sill, access, and finish work. The written quote after your measure lists each one.
Should I choose a flush sill or a raised sill?
A flush sill gives a level floor to the terrace but needs a covered opening and careful drainage. Under open sky, a raised weep sill keeps water out more reliably. We recommend one at the measure based on the overhang and exposure.
How long from order to install?
That depends on the manufacturer, the panel sizes and the glass. We give you the delivery date in writing with the quote and schedule the opening work around it.
How long will my wall be open?
We do not remove the old wall or doors until the new system is on site. The opening is kept weathertight between working stages, and you get the sequence in writing before we start.
Can you add a door wall where there is only a window now?
Often, yes. It means cutting the wall to the floor, a new header across the wider span, and a sill pan on the slab or subfloor. We ask for an engineer's letter on the header before we cut.
Will it need HOA or city approval, and who files it?
Most places we serve need something: a Lakeway permit for framing changes, a POA request in The Hills or Barton Creek, historic review for a City of Austin landmark. We prepare the drawings and product data for the submittal with you.
What glass handles west-facing sun on a door wall?
Tempered or laminated insulated glass with a low-E coating chosen for a low solar heat gain coefficient, ideally under a deep overhang. The code limit here is an SHGC of 0.25 for glazed doors.
Do you cover my area?
Yes, across Travis County, including Austin, Lakeway, Volente, The Hills, Rollingwood and Steiner Ranch. Call and we will confirm your address.
Is the installation under warranty?
Yes. We put a written warranty on our installation, and you also receive the manufacturer's product warranty paperwork at handover.
Free in-home measure
Talk to us about multi-slide & bi-fold door walls
Free in-home measure across Austin and the west side. We call you back to set a time.
Calls only, we do not receive text messages.