Onsite with Andersen: A Closer Look at a Liftslide Door Installation
For this Nordic cabin in the woods, a strong connection to place was essential. Our Liftslide Doors serve as monumental floor-to-ceiling windows throughout the home, and their installation had to be flawless to realize the design. Here’s how Nick Schiffer’s NS Builders team pulled it off and how we supported installation at every step.
Installing the track
This project features a slab-on-grade foundation. In order to create a flush sill, recessed areas, called dap-outs, were created when the concrete was poured. The dap-outs were waterproofed. Then, threaded screws were installed for the patented flush drainage track. The track comes equipped with vertical and horizontal adjustments so fine tuning up and down, as well as inward and outward, is possible. It’s important to get the track into the optimal place within the dap-out.
The extruded aluminum track includes grates in between the rails allowing it to filter through while keeping debris out. The water then drains via attached tubes that are positioned to direct water away from the house. Although not shown in this video, the final step to completing the sill was going back to fill in the space between the tracks with concrete for a completely flush threshold.
A properly installed frame is the key to a properly installed Liftslide Door. On this project, they used our patented flush drainage track. The tolerance between the top of the concrete slab and the bottom of the door panels is less than 1/8”, allowing for the zero-threshold envisioned in the plan.
Installing the jambs
With the drainage track in place, the next steps were to install the head and side jambs. The adjustment that’s built into the track is also built into the jambs through a system of jacking screws. A jacking screw includes a plastic exterior barrel that acts as an adjustable shim and houses a structural screw. The jacking screws used to attach the frame to the rough opening allow for fine tuning at installation and later, if needed. Once sill and jambs were in place and they checked for plumb, level and square, the bulk of the work was complete — getting the frame right is the key to a successful Liftslide Door install.
Jacking screws offer adjustment over time, not just at the moment of installation.
Installing the panels
The door in the video has operable panels flanking a large, fixed panel — XOX is how we describe this configuration. It’s essentially a monumental gliding window since it’s intended to be for airflow rather than access. The operable outside panels were installed first. Panels were lifted up into the header, giving enough clearance at the bottom for the panels to swing in and set on the track. Last came the extra-wide fixed middle panel. The two operable panels were opened enough so the interlock between them and the middle panel wouldn’t get in the way. Then, the fixed panel was inserted, centered and finally attached permanently.
To open a Liftslide Door, the hardware is turned 180 degrees to point upward. This deploys the wheels at the bottom of the panel and lifts it up so it slides easily along the tracks. To close the door, the panel is slid back to the jamb and hardware is turned down 180 degrees. This retracts the wheels, attaches to the catches along the jamb and sinks the panel back into the track.
Why Liftslide Doors?
In this home, Liftslide Doors, rather than windows, were the right choice for several reasons:
- Monumental sizes served the design goal of focusing on the landscape. The Liftslide Door featured in the video is 16’ wide by 9’ high, and Liftslide Doors can be up to 60’ wide and 16’ high.
- Aesthetics matched the pared-down style of this Nordic cabin with an elegant, anodized finish on the outside and a warm wood-cladding of white oak on the interior.
- Functionality fit the program. Due to the way the Liftslide Doors operate, a zero threshold was possible.
- Performance allowed for weather conditions in Massachusetts. With drainage built into the track, it was possible to install a flush sill while still planning for the water management needs.
Finally, our team provided support from beginning to end. We prepared the shop drawings that allowed for door manufacturing to take place concurrently with sitework and off-site framing, allowing for a more efficient construction timeline. An installation specialist consulted onsite so the team had support in installing the frame just right, including details like planning for sill drainage. We also worked with the team on details like the custom screens.
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