# Sliding Glass Doors resizing opinion required.



## murihikukid (Jun 20, 2009)

Hi...For some time now I have been buying sliding glass doors with the objective of using these in a greenhouse construction...
So I am nearly ready to construct but It would be far easier for me if I could do some slight resizing of the doors and get them to a uniform size......I am only talking about a few mm's here...

Obviously I basicly know nothing about this but have been told it is not difficult ...??
With no information on how these are constructed I am presuming the door aluminium frames are screwed together and therefore would have to fully come apart ..the Aluminium outer frame would have to be cut to size and I presume the most difficult part would be to cut the glass to fit the new frame or is this too simplistic....and then everything is carefully put back together...

I would be sincerely grateful for any information etc on how best to go about this from a trades person .....

Thanks Ron New Zealand.


----------



## SABL (Jul 4, 2008)

> cut the glass to fit the new frame


Nope.....can't be done. The glass is cut to size before the tempering process....any attempt to alter the glass size will result in a pile of small glass pieces. The best solution is to design the greenhouse to accommodate the existing dimensions of the sliding doors.


----------



## kendallt (Feb 21, 2007)

A lot of sizing issues are in the frame itself, the glass is usually very close in size, so if your greenhouse design uses frame and mullion construction you can simply use the glass slabs. If slabs are different sizes, frame the g-house for the larger size and use shims to fit the smaller ones in correctly. Ensure there are no sharp edges in the framing as a stress point will shatter tempered glass. 

Sliding doors are tempered glass for safety reasons, there is no cutting them at home. It requires slow, even heating to 900+ degrees (F) in an oven, then cooling very slowly to anneal the glass.
Attempting to cut tempered glass will result in a pile of pebbles. (which can add an interesting effect to a garden walkway).


----------



## Confounded Also (Aug 19, 2015)

Aside from all that, most glass door units here in the US are sealed, double pane 'thermal' units to aid in climate control. Even if they could be cut without shattering, resealing them would be impossible without the proper vacuum and pressure equipment.

Build around what you have.


----------



## Confounded Also (Aug 19, 2015)

kendallt said:


> Attempting to cut tempered glass will result in a pile of pebbles. (*which can add an interesting effect to a garden walkway*).


That's been done. There are recycling places that tumble it to knock off all sharp edges so that it can be used like coarse sand or fine gravel.


----------



## murihikukid (Jun 20, 2009)

Hi..Thanks for that..I never knew Glass Doors were made of Tempered Glass ...So I will try and design the greenhouse to accomodate the glass doors..I wonder why over here I can get used sliding glass doors which are usually a few mm difference in with and length at a fraction of the cost of window frames which come in all shapes and sizes ..i am sure there is a way to design round the doors ?? after all its only a greenhouse...

However I did buy some dark tinted glass doors with the intention of changing the glass to clear....Could I do this by buying some ordinary glass ?? Of course if I was in the USA I could probably get a polycarbonate at a realistic price to use in these doors ... Regards Ron


----------



## Deejay100six (Nov 24, 2007)

murihikukid said:


> Now I am sure there is somewhere I can mark my thread as solved? Regards Ron


Top of page, look for Thread Tools. :wink:


----------



## kendallt (Feb 21, 2007)

Confounded Also said:


> That's been done. There are recycling places that tumble it to knock off all sharp edges so that it can be used like coarse sand or fine gravel.



I just threw it in a cement mixer with a bucket of sand. One construction project I worked on was a bank with 300 double pane smoked glass windows. 
After they showed up we learned they were all 1/2 inch oversize. At first I panicked thinking I ordered the wrong size, but found out it was the glass company's fault. They said 'throw, sell or trade them we don't want them back'. So some of us built sun rooms, some got sold off, ended up smashing 70 of them and used them in the driveway. Incidentally, the best way to break tempered glass is a slow sweep with a fine tip propane torch across the center.


----------



## Confounded Also (Aug 19, 2015)

That'll work. Wish I'd have been there ... could have used a few.


If anybody reading gets any ideas of using the stuff untumboled, don't. The edges of the crumbles are sharp enough to do serious damage to bare feet and other exposed skin.


----------



## SABL (Jul 4, 2008)

> I just threw it in a cement mixer with a bucket of sand.


That was one clean mixer when you got done.....:laugh:

I've done limited glazing.....TG. The main office for the Limited had trailers of single glaze 3/8" glass that the architect wanted to make walls out of. Frames were made of 4" wide steel.....3/4" sill plate and 1/2" mullions and top plate. I had to design/fabricate according to what glass I had on hand. Lotsa drilling and tapping on that project......no actual glazing bead was used.


----------



## murihikukid (Jun 20, 2009)

Hi...Maybe my final question was missed....Can these doors alloy frames be taken apart and re sized with new ordinary glass cut the proper size to replace the tempered glass...Regards Ron


----------



## SABL (Jul 4, 2008)

A picture would be nice....not all sliders are created equal. I haven't seen an aluminum slider in 40 years and forget how they are assembled.


----------



## kendallt (Feb 21, 2007)

most of them can be taken apart and resized. Some are built with a 4 piece frame screwed at each corner, some are welded at the corners. 

Using the door frame as a structural element (screwing frame to frame to build a wall) is not recommended because the aluminum is too soft to hold screws safely. It needs a supporting framework. As in:
Grow Food All Year Long: Recycled Patio Door Greenhouse Project - The Prepper Journal
and:
Building a Greenhouse

Another problem is that unless glass is extremely cheap in New Zealand, it will be very expensive to replace the safety glass with regular glass.

The reason there are so many projects using sliding doors is because they are the cheapest way to obtain glass.


----------

