Wardrobes
A mirror in a sliding wardrobe: safety-backed 4–5 mm, and why it matters
Safety backing holds the shards when a mirror breaks, it adds seven kilos to a door, and that decides how the track is fixed to the ceiling. The glazier prices it, not us.
A mirror on a sliding door is the most requested extra in a wardrobe and the only one where a mistake can hurt someone. Everything worth knowing about it comes down to three things: it must be safety-backed, it is heavier than it looks, and its price comes from the glazier, not from us.
Safety-backed, 4–5 mm — and you have to ask for it
A safety-backed mirror has film bonded to the back. When it breaks, the film holds the shards together instead of letting them onto the floor.
Plain mirror in a door that gets pulled every day is not a question of whether it will break but when: the door hits its stop, passes its neighbour, and takes that every day for years. So ask the glazier for a safety-backed mirror 4–5 mm thick, and say it out loud when ordering — it is not the default.
The weight decides how the track is fixed
A 920 mm door with a 10 mm board panel weighs about 19 kg. The same door with a 4 mm safety-backed mirror weighs about 26 kg.
Seven kilos per door does not sound like much until you remember where that weight hangs: with top-hung doors the upper track carries all of it, and the track is fixed to the ceiling.
- Concrete or render — the track is fixed normally, with the plugs the system specifies
- Plasterboard on battens — the track must go into the battens, not into the board
- Suspended ceiling — find the height of the structural slab before anything is ordered
How many mirrors, and on which door
- One mirrored door is the usual choice: a mirror to dress by, the rest of the doors in a decor finish.
- Every door mirrored visually doubles the room, but it also doubles the weight and the cost, and shows every fingerprint.
- A mirror taller than 2500 mm is hard to carry and breaks easily in transit — tall doors get a divider and two panels instead.
Do not put the mirror on the door next to a wall or a corner where a switch sits: that is where furniture hits it.
What it costs
The glazier prices a mirror per piece, by size and edge finish, and it varies from shop to shop. That is why a mirror is a price-less line in our calculation, with its size and a note that it must be safety-backed: a number we invented would be a guess, and a guess in a quote is worse than a blank.
What you do get from us is the exact size of every mirror, ready to take to the glazier.
Common questions
Can a door be mirrored on both sides?
Technically yes, but the weight doubles and the inner face is not visible when the wardrobe is shut. It almost never pays.
Can a mirror be added later?
It can, if the door is built for it — the panel comes out of the profile and a mirror goes in. But the gear was chosen for a lighter door, so its capacity has to be checked, and that is a cost planning ahead avoids.
How is a mirror for a door measured?
Not by hand — it follows from the door width, less what the profile swallows. The wardrobe planner gives that size in the panel list, per door, together with the safety-backing note.