Gentek Sanctuary Sliding Door Reviews

The Sanctuary sliding door from Gentek is the nicest sliding door option that Gentek produces. Is it a nice enough door for your home? Let’s find out.

As readers of the site will know I tend to be a fan of many of the Gentek products and as a result my company does offer them in some markets. Of course there are Gentek products that I’m not a big fan of, like the Concord Plus window. Luckily the Gentek Sanctuary sliding door is a pretty decent option and here we’ll look at it in more detail.

For starters, the Sanctuary sliding door is available in three configurations.

This is a little unusual, but this door can be ordered with a typical 3″ wide sash, a wider 5″ sash or it can be ordered in a French style.

That terminology may be a little confusing, but it’s actually pretty simple. Below you can see a few pictures that will illustrate the differences.

As you can see above this is the door style that is designed to maximize light. When we’re saying this model has 3″ rails we’re talking about the parts that are circled in the picture. They call this the contemporary style.

You can see the Classic style in the picture below. This option uses 5″ rails for a more substantial look. The downside is that the glass is a little smaller due to the thicker rails.

As you can see in the picture above the thicker rails of the Classic style do give the door a nice look. This option is a little more expensive and it does have less glass area so you’d need to decide which you prefer.

What about the French style sliding doors?

Here’s the French style door and you can see how it has a thicker bottom and top rail to look more like a French style door. This Sanctuary door still opens by sliding which means it doesn’t take up space when it opens and it seals very well.

This is a bit of an unusual style. To my knowledge Gentek copied this style from Andersen. It’s not the most popular option but the people who order it tend to be very happy with it.

What about the energy efficiency?

The Sanctuary doors are available with all of the same Barrier XP glass packages that you can get in the Gentek windows. That means there are hundreds of available packages. You can get just about any configuration that you’d like or your dealer can probably make a recommendation or two.

Here are a handful of popular packages. You can see U-Factors are available down to 0.20 with triple pane glass and common double pane packages are at 0.27.

What colors are available for the Sanctuary sliding doors?

There are a wide range of color options available. Here you can see the interior and exterior color options.

It’s important to note that all color combinations are not available so you’ll want to talk to your dealer about the availability. Also, custom colors are NOT available at all. For most folks this isn’t an issue, but something to be aware of.

What are the other popular features?

You’ll get make great standard features with this door like multi-point locks, extruded screen frames, powder coated hardware, durable rollers, etc.

Then, there are a range of optional features available like a foot lock for added security or an exterior key lock. You can also get upgraded decorative interior handles, shown below. The standard hardware will be color matched to the door.

Can you get blinds in the glass?

Yes you can. The blinds for this door are a little unique in that they come with a 20 year warranty. Most other manufacturers only offer a 10 year warranty on blinds so that’s a pretty big difference. The blinds raise and tilt and you can still get efficiency packages with the blinds, also a little unique.

What sizes are available?

These doors are available in 2, 3 and 4 panel configurations from 4′ wide to 12′ with custom sizes also available. They’re also available in 8′ tall models which is not the case with every door. If you have a challenging door opening this could be a great model. Just be aware that custom sizes can get a little expensive and they can take a long time to come it. Gentek tells us they’re working to improve lead-times for custom doors, but we’ll believe that when we see it.

What’s the bottom line?

This is a good quality door with great efficiency options, many common color and style options and a lifetime warranty to back it all up. It doesn’t have some of the newer features like a top hung screen or an additional locking bolt at the top of the frame, but those are features that are often more fluff anyway.

Overall Gentek has a very solid door option in this Sanctuary model.

Other posts you might find helpful:

• Gentek Sequoia window review
• Why you should NEVER buy Simonton windows
• Is triple pane glass worth the cost?
• Top lies told by window salespeople
• The easy way to get window prices by email?
• How to find the best window companies in your town?

How can you find a great window company?

This part is easier than some people thing. If you’re looking for a great window company you can find recommendations all over the country right here. We list companies that we know and my company too so you can make the process of getting new windows just as easy as possible. 

Let us know how it goes.