Traditional sliding glass doors have two panels with one that slides along rollers to cover the other.
French doors vs sliding doors.
Also often one has to step over the track to prevent stubbing the foot or tripping.
French doors have a wider door frame.
Because sliding doors and french doors operate.
French patio doors are mostly made of glass and look similar to windows.
Also as winds blows against a french door it tends to bow thus causing additional air leakage.
French patio doors can be considered a little more energy efficient as the central glass panels can be smaller by being set into wider frames whereas sliding doors are almost exclusively created from glazed panels.
A considerable difference between french doors vs sliding doors is the track involved with sliding doors.
French doors really open things up.
Although don t forget that they meet in the middle and can let air in.
If you want to move something large through sliding doors you re going to have to take them out.
Sliding doors overlap which is a more efficient design and creates a tighter seal where as french doors come together with no overlap and an increased chance for air infiltration.
French doors quickly give you a large opening to move through.
That large opening is also nice if you have a large number of guests moving back and forth between two rooms.
A sliding glass door frame is typically narrower than a french patio door.
Design differences between french patio doors and sliding patio doors.
French doors and sliding doors have different hardware.