Bifold doors can be used in areas where swinging door are not suitable. Bifold doors can fold to provide space for item or individuals and can be closed to provide privacy. However, bifold doors will only work correctly in the required dimension of the opening.
The size of the bifold doors is important. If the size of the bifold doors is too small or too large for the door opening, then the bifold doors will not open and close proper. The hardware may break from the excessive swinging of the doors.
How to Measure and Install Bifold Doors
A bifold door’s finished width is less than the rough opening of the framed doorway. The relationship between the two measurement is important to understand. For instance, a bifold door that is thirty inches wide requires a rough opening of thirty-two inches.
This extra space accommodate the door’s tracks and brackets. If the rough opening does not contain the required extra space, the bifold door panel will not open and close properly. Eighty inches are the most common height of bifold doors.
This height provide visual continuity with the other doors in the home. In homes with ceilings that are nine feet or higher, bifold doors that are eighty-four inches high is common. In homes with large open areas, people use bifold doors that are ninety-six inches high as room divider.
However, ninety-six inch bifold doors have a different door panel stacking when opened compared to bifold doors that are smaller in size. Thus, ninety-six-inch bifold doors has different hardware than smaller bifold doors. A bifold door can contain two panel, four panels, or six panels.
A two-panel bifold door is used for narrow areas in the room. Four-panel and six-panel bifold doors divide the doorway into more section. This division of the doorway reduce the amount that each panel must swing to open the bifold doors.
Reducing the amount of swinging that each panel must perform helps the bifold doors not to obstruct the movement of individual who pass through those hallway areas. The material of a bifold door has an impact upon the size of the doorway opening. Hollow-core bifold doors is light in weight.
The standard doorway track can support the hollow-core bifold doors. Solid-core bifold doors are heavier. These doors provide more sound control.
However, the weight of the solid-core bifold doors puts more stress upon the pivot pin of the doorway. Bifold doors that are wide in opening require more heavy duty hardware. Bifold doors that have louvers or glass insert must also have their door panel balance accounted for in case one panel is heavier than the other panels.
Many mistake occur when installing bifold doors if the measurements are not taken correctly. Bifold doors should not be measured at eye level. The width of the doorway opening may vary at different height of the doorway.
Three separate measurements must be taken of the doorway opening. The smallest of these measurement should be used to establish the size of the bifold doors for that opening. The floor pivot point must also be placed in exactly the same position indicated on the manufacturer’s instruction for that bifold door.
Any error in this position will cause the bifold doors to lean in the doorway. Bifold doors have several hardware component that are necessary to open and close the doors. The top track of the bifold door must be attached to solid framing in the doorway.
The floor pivot point must be placed on a floor surface that will not compress. Soft-close bifold doors are helpful in areas where the bifold doors are used many time each day. The soft-close doors will not slam shut.
Slamming bifold doors can loosen the door hinge over time. Bifold doors can be installed by following three step. First, check the rough opening against the size chart for the bifold doors.
The dimensions of the opening will determine the size of the bifold doors for that space. Second, account for the weight of the material that will be used in the bifold doors. Third, ensure that the bifold doors have enough space to allow the panels to stack in the open position.
Following these three steps will ensure that the bifold doors will open and close correctly in the room where they will be install.
