Closet sliding panels look simple on a drawing. Two or three flat leaves on a track, and the wardrobe is closed. The trouble starts when those panels arrive on site and do not sit level, bind on the track, or clash with the finish schedule the designer approved. Most of that trouble can be removed before the purchase order is raised, if the procurement team documents the right things.
Our Santerson Closet Sliding Panels sit inside the Sliding Panel Systems collection and are built for residential wall system projects. Finish, layout and dimensions are specified per project, and the standard configuration covers made-to-measure sizing plus material and finish options. Because each set is configured rather than picked off a shelf, the documents you send us do most of the work. Below is what we ask project teams to record, in the order we normally receive it.
1. The opening, not the wardrobe
Record the finished opening the panels will travel across: clear width and height, measured at several points, with the floor and ceiling finishes already accounted for. A sliding panel runs on a track, and a track follows whatever it is fixed to. If the screed is still to be poured or the ceiling lining is not yet set, note the tolerance you are allowing for the final set-out and who is responsible for that setting-out.
Document the headroom and the side clearance for stack. Two panels that pass each other need a pocket to disappear into, and that pocket is often where the first surprise is found on site.
2. Number of leaves and the traffic line
State how many panels you expect, which direction they travel, and where they stack. The access opening you end up with is smaller than the total run, so a bedroom wardrobe that looks generous on plan can give a narrow access gap once three leaves are stacked at one end. If the bedroom layout places a bed or a dresser close to the opening, record the clearance from the opening face to the nearest obstruction so the stack depth can be checked against it.
3. Face material and finish
Our listings describe material and finish options rather than a fixed surface, so the finish should be written into the specification sheet, not agreed verbally. What we need on paper is the finish family, the reference code or sample you have approved, and the direction of any grain or texture. The Santerson Textured Sliding Panels in the same collection are a useful reminder that texture behaves differently under bedroom lighting than a flat panel does, and the approved sample should travel with the order.
Where a project matches closet panels to bedroom doors or wall panelling, put those items on the same finish schedule and issue them together. Panels and doors drawn from different production batches are the most common cause of a colour mismatch that nobody intended.
4. Hardware, track and operating expectation
The product listing asks you to confirm project dimensions and hardware requirements. Write down what you expect the panel to do day to day: how often it is opened, whether it needs to close quietly, whether a soft-close or a particular handle detail is wanted, and whether the client expects the track to be visible or recessed. Hardware that is decided after production has started is a variation, and variations on a made-to-measure item usually cost time as well as money.
If the wall the track fixes to is not solid, say so in the same document. The fixing method follows the substrate, and we would rather design for a lining board than discover it on site.
5. Interface with adjacent trades
Closet sliding panels meet flooring, skirting, cornices, lighting and sometimes an integrated interior light. Record who sets out the opening, who lays the floor, and who signs off the level before the panels are installed. Where the closet interior carries storage components or an integrated lighting detail, list it so the panel layout and the interior layout are drawn against the same dimensions. If a related opening in the same room needs to slide, that is often handled by the Santerson Partition Sliding Systems, and the two openings should be drawn and documented together so the tracks sit on one line.
6. Verification and sign-off before manufacture
Close the documentation loop with a named person who signs off the measured dimensions and the approved finish before manufacture. Configurable product listings of this kind carry limited technical detail, so dimensions, materials and hardware are confirmed per project; the same applies on your side. A signed dimension sheet and a signed finish sample protect both parties, and they are the reference the site team works to on the day of installation.
What to send us
In practice, one pack answers all of the above: measured opening dimensions with the measurement date and the person who took them; the panel count, direction of travel and stack position; the approved finish reference; the hardware expectation; the substrate behind the track; and the sign-off name. Send that with your enquiry and the review comes back against a defined scope rather than a set of assumptions.
SANTERSON is a China-based furniture and building materials supplier working on villa, hospitality and office projects, with custom and OEM service, door-to-door logistics and installation support. If you are specifying closet sliding panels for an apartment, villa or hotel bedroom package, our team can review your dimension sheet against the Sliding Panel Systems range and confirm what is standard and what needs to be engineered for your opening.