Zebra Shades & Blinds for Sliding Glass Doors

A sliding glass door asks for two things on the same day: privacy when the yard or the neighbors can see straight in, and daylight with the view when nobody can. Most shades make you pick one. Zebra shades and blinds for sliding glass doors do both from a single shade. Alternating sheer and solid bands run on one roller, and sliding them past each other moves the door from a screened view to a closed face in a few inches of travel. Every zebra shade is made to measure for your door and shipped direct to you.

Why zebra works on a slider

A slider gets more traffic than any window, and a shade that has to be raised every time someone walks out soon stays up for good. With a zebra shade you rarely need to raise it during the day. Line the sheer bands up and light comes through a soft screen; line the solid bands up for privacy in the evening. Raise it fully only when the door is in heavy use, for a party or a busy summer afternoon.

The fabric range runs to 16 colors across two collections, from frost, pearl and ivory through sand, stone and slate to smoke, onyx and obsidian. On a large expanse of glass, color carries more weight than it does on a window. Pale bands keep a family room bright and blend into a white frame. Darker bands frame a garden view and sit well with a black aluminum door. Zebra is built in a cassette only, so the roller is always hidden behind a clean squared front.

Sizes, cassettes and the 2-on-1 option

Zebra is built on two squared cassettes, and the drop usually decides between them. The CB-268 cassette reaches 96 inches wide and tops out at 80 inches of drop, which suits many sliders on an inside mount. A shade mounted on the wall above the door often needs more drop than that, and that is the job of the CB-235 cassette, which builds well past 80 inches.

On a wide slider, two zebra shades can share one CB-268 headrail. As a separate system each shade runs on its own, cordless, chain, wand or motorized, so you can open the half in front of the moving panel and leave the fixed side closed. With a middle mechanism one clutch or motor drives both halves in sync, which suits a door you treat as one view. The middle mechanism is not offered cordless, and because both versions sit on CB-268, the 80 inch drop limit applies.

Minimum widths only matter if you split a narrower door. A chain operated build starts at 11 3/4 inches, cordless needs 19 3/4 inches on CB-268 and 23 5/8 inches on CB-235, and a motor needs about 20 inches. Motorized zebra runs from a remote, a wall switch or an app, and works with Alexa, Google Home and Apple HomePod.

Measuring and installing it yourself

Decide on the mount first. Outside mount, on the wall above the door, is the usual choice on a slider: it clears the handle and the track and lets the shade overlap the frame on each side so light does not leak around the edges. Inside mount works where the frame has room and no handle projects into the opening. Send us the exact figures you measure; the factory applies its own deductions for the tube, fabric and bottom bar.

The cassette hangs on two brackets. Drill with a 6 mm (0.2 inch) bit, set the screws at 1.1 inch spacing, and use the anchor that suits your wall, since drywall and masonry anchors both come in the box. Each bracket has four pre-drilled holes, and above a door it is worth using all four. Hook the valance groove onto the bracket latch, press back until it clicks, and confirm the top and rear are both locked. To take it down later, press the metal washer at the rear of the bracket rather than prying from the front.

Order a zebra sample to see the bands against your own glass at midday and at dusk, then send us the door's width and height.