A set of wooden sliding panels looks simple on a drawing: two or three leaves, a track, a timber-look face. On site it becomes one of the more awkward items to buy from overseas, because the panel has to fit an opening that is never quite square, slide on hardware someone else installed, and match a finish already specified for the rest of the joinery. If you are sourcing wooden sliding panels from a China-based manufacturer, most of the risk sits in the first two weeks of the job — what you confirm before tooling starts.
Why sliding panels punish vague specifications
Sliding panel systems are made-to-measure by nature. Panel widths, track type, floor clearance and the wall build-up behind the track all interact, and each decision changes what the factory can build. When a buyer sends only a width and a height, the manufacturer fills the gaps with their own defaults — and those defaults rarely match the site condition.
The failure pattern is consistent: panels arrive in the right colour but 15 mm too wide for the finished opening; or the correct size, but hung on a track that cannot carry the leaf because the substrate was never confirmed. Both are specification problems, not production problems, and both are settled in writing before the order.
Step 1: Confirm the opening as built, not as drawn
- Finished opening width and height at three points each — floor to ceiling slab is not the finished dimension once floor coverings and cornices are in.
- Floor finish build-up and threshold detail: whether the track sits recessed, surface-mounted, or flush with the finished floor level.
- Substrate behind the track fixings — timber framing, steel stud, masonry or existing joinery — and who is responsible for providing blocking.
- Panel stack zone: where the leaves park when open, and whether that zone has to clear a switch, air grille or door swing.
Send this as a marked-up drawing rather than a list of numbers. A manufacturer working from a dimension schedule alone will produce exactly what the schedule says, which is not always what fits.
Step 2: Fix the panel specification in writing
Santerson's Sliding Panel Systems range is listed as configurable, with made-to-measure sizing, material and finish options, and a layout tailored to the project. That flexibility is useful only if the buyer locks the variables down before production. For each leaf, specify:
- Core and face material — solid timber, engineered board, veneer or laminate — and the grain direction.
- Finish system, including edge treatment on both long edges, since edges are what show wear on a sliding leaf.
- Total panel thickness and the allowable tolerance you will accept across the set.
- Whether the same face material is needed elsewhere in the project. Sliding panels often have to match wood veneer panels, textured sliding panels or wooden sliding doors in the same dwelling, and matching them is a batch decision, not two separate orders.
Where acoustic separation or a wardrobe front matters, say so at this stage — acoustic sliding panels and closet sliding panels are configured differently from a plain room divider, and the difference is in the leaf build.
Step 3: Decide hardware responsibility before you ask for a price
This is the single most common sourcing dispute on sliding systems. Three questions settle it:
| Item | Ask the manufacturer | Confirm locally |
|---|---|---|
| Track and runners | Are they supplied with the panels, or sourced on site? Same load rating either way? | Availability of replacements for that hardware system |
| Load path | Leaf weight per panel, in kilograms, as built | Whether your framing carries that load at the fixing centres given |
| Installation | Who sets the track: your builder or their team | Local trade sequence and who bears snag liability |
For a full partition sliding system, get the track layout drawn on your plan, with expansion gaps and end stops shown. A price that excludes the track is not a cheaper price — it is an unfixed interface.
Step 4: Use the manufacturer's own process as your checklist
SANTERSON describes its cooperation steps as project brief and design proposal, then quotation and detail confirmation, then production, shipment and follow-up. Its service scope covers custom and OEM work, door-to-door logistics, and installation and after-sales support. Treat those stages as the audit trail you want in writing:
- Brief stage: your marked-up opening drawing, reference images, and the finish sample you are matching to.
- Quotation stage: a specification sheet per panel type, with hardware listed line by line — not one lump figure per room.
- Production stage: a signed-off shop drawing, plus photographic approval of the first leaf's finish before the set is packed.
- Delivery stage: packing method and container loading plan for oversized panels, and who handles customs clearance at destination.
Buyers coordinating several trades at once usually find it easier to place panels with the same supplier handling their turnkey interior project solutions, because the joinery, wall panelling and doors then come from one batch with one set of tolerances.
Step 5: Verify before you release production
- Shop drawing dimensions reconciled against your site survey, initialled by your builder — not just by the buyer.
- Finish sample shipped to site and checked under the actual lighting of the room.
- Written confirmation of panel weight per leaf and hardware load rating.
- Named responsibility for track setting and final adjustment, with a snag list at handover.
Send your marked-up opening drawing, panel layout and finish reference, and ask for a per-panel specification sheet with hardware itemised. That single document is what turns an overseas panel order into a predictable one.