How it works
A sliding window has two sashes side by side, and one slides past the other. The first view shows it from inside. The second cuts down through the sill to show the track, the glass and the weep hole.
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The frame and the two sashes
The header, two jambs and the sill make the frame. The fixed sash stays put and the operating sash slides past it. Each sash is two stiles and two rails round its glass. Where the sashes overlap are the meeting stiles, with the sash lock on one and the keeper on the other.
Down at the sill
The second view is cut down through the sill, outside on the left. Each sash sits over a track. The glass is an insulating glass unit: two panes held apart by a spacer. The screen stands in the outer track, and a weep hole lets water out.
- Glider, slider and gliding window are different makers' names for this same window.
Questions and answers
What are the parts of a sliding window called?
The frame is the header, two jambs and the sill. In it sit a fixed sash and an operating sash, each with stiles and rails round an insulating glass unit. Add the meeting stiles, sash lock, keeper, track, screen and weep holes.
What is the middle of a sliding window called?
The meeting stile: the upright edge of each sash where the two overlap when the window is shut. The sash lock is on one meeting stile, and the keeper it hooks into is on the other.
What are the small holes at the bottom of a sliding window?
Weep holes. They are small openings on the outside of the sill that let water drain away to the outside.
Which sash moves on a sliding window?
The operating sash slides sideways along the track. The other sash is fixed, also called stationary. Some sliding windows have three sashes, where two slide past a fixed one in the middle.