Sliding Door Sills Should NEVER Be Above the Floor!

I see this constantly in luxury homes—and it’s entirely avoidable with just a little expert planning.

Hurricane-rated sliding door sills are often 3" tall for water resistance. That means they need to be set into a slab depression—while your ceiling needs to align cleanly into the top frame above.

Every frame type is different. Sliding doors, hinged doors, and floor-to-ceiling windows all have different sill heights and frame dimensions. Without knowing your exact flooring material and thickness, you risk sills sticking up and ruining a clean finish.

Even your slab may not be level—¾" to 1½" of variation is typical—and that directly impacts how your flooring dies into the opening.

I help architects and builders plan for all of this—slab depressions, ceiling alignments, pockets, cladding, counters, and all those subtle details that make or break a luxury finish.

Sliding Door Sills Should NEVER Be Above the Floor!