Bi-Fold Doors

[Pink Rosé]

What should we be considering when replacing an exsisting sliding door and window with a bi-fold door in our family room? Do bi-fold's come in different mediums eg wood vs metal? and do they come in standard sizes or can they be made to order?

[Julie-Ann]

I'm not an expert in bifold doors but I will see how I can help.

Bifold doors come in either timber framed or aluminium framed finishes, and at the higher priced end of the scale I believe they can do frameless.

They don't come in standard sizes, they are custom made.

A couple things to consider with bifold doors:

The higher the door frame is the narrower each glass panel will be. A 2100mm door in timber will have a glass insert of only 1mt wide (max), and for aluminium 900mm wide (max).
A double sliding door will have a glass insert of 1.2mt wide.

A timber framed bifold door will cost about $2000 per liner metre
An aluminium framed bifold door will cost about $2300 per linear metre
A double sliding door will be about half that cost.

You can't use security flyscreens with bifold doors, you can only use retractable flyscreens, which even your cat will be able to open (mine thinks this is a fun party trick). And the retractable flyscreens can only be used on doors (I think) less than 6 metres wide.
With double sliding doors you can have security flyscreens.

With bifold doors that open from the middle and push back both ways, if you have an even number of panels each side (say 3 on the left and 3 on the right) to open the door to go out you will have to open 2 panels (min). With an odd number of panels you only have to open 1 door to exit.

Personally, I am a fan of the double sliding doors, especially where you want flyscreens or some sort of security. A 4 mt wide double sliding door when open will give you an opening of 1.8mts.

The other option is stacking doors but they have most of the negatives of bifolds. Except you can put security screens on stacking doors, but the frame for your door then becomes very wide and spoils that integration with the outside look we are after.

I hope this helps.