Sliding glass doors are the hardest opening in a Florida home to cover well. They're tall, they're wide, they get used daily, and they let in massive heat gain when uncovered. Plantation shutters solve all of that — but only if specified correctly for the door type.
Each configuration has a sweet spot. Bypass works best for 8' or wider sliders. Bi-fold is the right answer when you want full unobstructed access daily. Hinged works for narrower openings. Our designer recommends based on how you actually use the door.
A standard plantation shutter panel maxes out around 36" wide. A typical Florida sliding door is 6'-10' wide. You either need a bypass system with multiple narrower panels on a track, or you need bi-fold construction with hinged panels that stack at the side. Either way, the engineering is different from a standard window shutter — and most companies don't do it well.
Sliding-door plantation shutters get touched daily — opened, closed, leaned against. The panels need to be lighter than wood for easy operation but stronger than vinyl for daily use. AlumaCore® hits that sweet spot — hardwood-wrapped aluminum core, light enough for one-hand operation, strong enough for years of daily use without warping or sagging.
The tracks and hardware on sliding-door plantation shutters take the same daily abuse as the doors themselves. We use heavy-gauge aluminum tracks with sealed bearings, and corrosion-resistant rollers and pivots throughout. Cheap hardware fails first — usually within 2-3 years of daily use. Our spec is built for the long haul.
Every plantation shutter we sell is built in our Fort Myers, FL factory by craftsmen on our payroll, then installed by our W-2 install team. The same company that built it is the company that installs it and the company that warranties it. That's why our lifetime warranty is genuinely lifetime.
Lifetime warranty on every plantation shutter we install. Naples, Fort Myers, Sarasota, Cape Coral, and the entire Florida coast.