Sliding doors have been around almost as long as doors have been. In fact, crude sliding doors were used even before hinged door systems were invented. Over the centuries, improved engineering and technology have resulted in an array of sliding door tracks for just about any type of door or door opening imaginable. With so many available, which sliding door tracks should you choose?

When making your decision, there are a few things to take into consideration:

• The weight of the door.
  
  
• How much security you require?
  
  
• Is it for interior or exterior use?
  
  
• How wide an area do you want to open?
  
  
• Do you want your door to tuck away out of sight into a door cavity?

Which Sliding Door Tracks Should I Choose?

If you are choosing doors to lead out to your patio or deck, you probably want sliding glass doors. The most popular varieties of these are aluminium framed doors with separate tracks for a door and a flyscreen door, both of which slide behind a fixed glass panel. One of these systems is fine, but there are newer systems available that might suit your purposes better:

• Frameless sliding glass door systems give you an unobstructed panoramic view.
  
  
• To open up an even wider passageway, there are glass sliding door track systems that enable you to do so. Some of these are even designed to effortlessly glide synchronistically together, opening two or more doors at the same time.
  
  
• Tilt and slide doors allow you to tilt the door slightly to provide ventilation or slide it open. These can be locked in the tilted position, so you don't have to worry about closing and locking the door when you aren't home.

Indoors, cavity doors (also called pocket doors) are still the most popular choice. Usually hollow core doors are used in conjunction with top mounted sliding door tracks, but there are also heavy duty tracks available for heavier doors and special door hardware is available for flat handles and locking systems. You can also choose between single or double cavity sliding doors for both glass and timber doors. The sliding door tracks for these are so well engineered, even heavy doors can be opened with a single finger and there are even double cavity door tracks made for 90 degree angled walls.

With so many options to choose from, you are no longer limited to whatever you can get in sliding door tracks. Today, you can make your sliding doors suit your needs and sense of style and find sliding door tracks that will be just perfect.