A typical interior door is about 30" wide. Double doors (eg. French doors) could make that wider, up to maybe 60". But I'd like to build a sliding wall section, perhaps 90-120" wide in place of an interior wall.
I imagine something like a sliding glass door (some people call them "sliders"), but made of some typical interior wall material like paneling or sheetrock (maybe even insulated to reduce sound transmission when the wall section is shut) instead of glass.
I think the critical design element must be the sliding tracks that I would probably not be able to build myself. But I would guess that once I have the tracks, I could build myself a wall section to fasten to the tracks and accomplish the goal that way. I'm sure that using lighter materials for the moveable section of the wall would be important. Does anyone know of a sliding wall track product like this?
And any suggestions on the best way to implement this idea using typical wood building materials?
Best Answer
I have overseen the install of, and eventually tuned up a set of sliders that were 5 sections of glass panels 8 ft each. 2 of the panels, one at each end, were stationary, the other 3 were operable. Each panel weighed about 500 lbs each with 1 3/4" thick insulated glass panels. The wood frame was about 3" thick. The hardware was lift-slide hardware The link is to the manufacturer that was used on this job, sorry the pic is crappy. It was shot from a long ways away.
The screen doors are in the way of the glass panels, but they are huge.
The point is I am trying to make with this is you don't need to use a glass door to do this with, although you can. It could very easily be a full wood panel as well.
The pic below shows another door system I did install from scratch, but the only picture I have that really shows anything, shows the bottom track and the panels. There are 6 panels in this wall (a different job than the other pic) 2 stationary and 4 operable. These doors were much lighter.