One of the fastest-growing trends when it comes to a modern home and office design is installing a set of beautiful folding glass doors. The only reservation that some people have about these doors is that they fear a loss of privacy after installation.

Thankfully, though, many folding door manufacturers allow customers to custom-order folding doors with privacy glass. Privacy glass typically comes sandblasted or laser-etched from the factory, but may also be accomplished by applying an aftermarket film over the glass. They even make switchable privacy glass that can be turned on and off with the press of a button!

If you’re considering installing privacy glass on your next set of folding doors, then we definitely recommend that you read this post! Below, we’ll go over some of the top reasons why you may want to consider installing privacy bi-fold doors and go over the most common types of privacy glass offered by multi-fold door manufacturers. Let’s take a look!

Why Use Privacy Glass For Your Folding Doors?

There are a number of good reasons that you may consider using privacy glass for your folding doors. Perhaps you have nosey neighbors or you want to create a private office space that you can open up on occasion. Whatever the case may be, though, here are some of the top reasons why homeowners and businesses choose to customize their folding doors with privacy glass.

For Office Use

Most companies that provide commercial folding doors for office or retail spaces allow their customers to customize folding doors with factory privacy glass. The biggest reason for this is to keep meetings private.

While folding doors can do a lot to open up your office space, there will likely be times when you’ll want to host a private meeting or unwind without your employees staring at you. For example, if you’re discussing confidential details with a client or having a personal phone conversation, it helps to keep your personal business private.

For Bedroom Installations

The most popular location to install folding doors in a home tends to be the porch leading out to the back of the home. However, many homeowners and designers have begun installing folding door systems in their bedrooms as well.

After all, who doesn’t want to roll out of bed and open up their entire wall to fresh air rolling in from an ocean breeze. It’s about as romantic as you can get.

However, if you’re house is surrounded by neighbors or the entrance is facing a busy beach, then you may not want everybody staring in through your wide-open glass folding doors. At first, you may be thinking, “Well, in that case, why wouldn’t I just install some drapes or curtains?”

However, drapes and curtains are designed to block out the outside light, and will end up defeating the entire purpose of your folding door system – to open up the room. By installing privacy glass, you’ll still allow plenty of light to enter the room without compromising your personal privacy.

To Minimize The Light That Comes In

Sometimes, the best reason to install privacy glass is to reduce the amount of light that comes in. This is a common reason why homeowners installing folding doors in a sunny state like Texas or Florida may use privacy glass.

Sometimes, the light in the middle of the summer can be almost blinding! Privacy glass will still allow around 75% to 85% of the light to pass through the glass windows while taking the bright edge off of the glare.

Can You Install Privacy Glass On Select Panes?

Depending on the company that you’re working with, you may be able to custom order privacy glass on select panes. For instance, perhaps you want the right two door panels or the primary swinging door to remain transparent while installing frosted privacy glass on the remaining door panels.

While many companies do offer this, other companies may require you to select one or the other for all of the door panels in the system. For this reason, we always recommend contacting the manufacturer directly to verify how their process for customizing privacy glass works.

Etched Glass Vs. Aftermarket Film

If you’re purchasing privacy bi-fold doors directly from the manufacturer, then chances are that they will be manually etched using a laser-etching or a sandblasting process. These results tend to look the most natural and will last for the lifetime of the glass.

However, some people prefer to install an aftermarket privacy film on top of the glass instead of having it factory etched. While this won’t look quite as natural, it will still provide the desired privacy that you want. The main advantage to using aftermarket privacy film is that you can remove it whenever you want to reveal the transparent glass underneath! Removal is easily accomplished using a heat gun and some cleaning solution.

Types Of Privacy Glass For Folding Doors

So now that you know a little bit more about why you may want to consider installing privacy glass on your folding doors and how the whole process works, it’s time to discuss the various types of privacy glass that you’ll come across while shopping. There are four main types of privacy glass that we’ll describe below:

• Translucent privacy glass.
• Textured privacy glass.
• Smoked/colored privacy glass.
• Switchable privacy glass.

Each has its own specific benefits and drawbacks, so it’s worth taking a few minutes to try and decide which is best for your particular needs.

1) Translucent Glass

Translucent glass is one of the most common ways of privatizing your folding glass doors. Imagine applying a bunch of steam to a piece of glass… You can still see the light and the color behind the glass, but you won’t be able to any specific details. Translucent glass is commonly used in bathrooms, showers, and public facilities to prevent outsiders from seeing inside, while still allowing plenty of light to pass through and illuminate the space.

This translucent effect is achieved by rigorously and evenly sandblasting the entire surface of the glass. In order to do it correctly, both sides of the glass are sandblasted to ensure complete privacy.

2) Textured Glass

If you prefer to add a bit more style and flair to your privacy folding glass doors, then you may want to consider customizing them with textured glass. Textured glass works on the same principles as translucent glass. However, instead of sandblasting the glass to create an opaque surface, texture is added to the surface of the glass to bend the light and distort the image on the other side.
This process is achieved by laser-etching patterns into the surface of the glass. Some of the most common patterns used are:

• Reeds.
• Circles.
• Frost.
• Rain.
• Hammered.
• Cracked.

3) Smoked or Colored Glass

If you don’t want to completely block outsiders from seeing in, but you simply want to make it a little bit more difficult, then you may consider installing smoked or colored glass instead. While this can be done at the factory, most people accomplish this by adding an aftermarket tint to their folding glass doors instead.

4) Switchable Privacy Glass

The most high-tech innovation in privacy glass is switchable privacy glass. To achieve this, a thin layer of electrically reactive particles is sandwiched between the glass panes. When a switch is flicked, the particles within are electrically charged and can switch to complete privacy mode, either turning dark or developing a frosted, translucent appearance.

This type of privacy glass is obviously the most expensive. However, it is the most versatile and convenient.

Conclusion

Just because you want to install a set of folding glass doors to open up your space doesn’t mean that you should have to give up your privacy as well. Thanks to innovations in modern-day glass