What are Bifold Doors?

Bifold doors make the conventional French doors or sliding doors a great option. Thanks to their trending design and space-saving functionality, they are becoming increasingly popular, but many people still wonder, "What are bifold doors and what are their benefits?" Let's take a look at the pros and cons of bifold doors and decide what separates them.

If you want to know how door bifolds work, just think about the solid wooden effect. Bifold doors are basically composed of several leaves that fold back on themselves in order to open an entire aperture. The doors are designed for runners, and for smooth operation, they slide and fold at the same time when opened. This ensures that like regular hinged doors or French doors, you do not have to make as much space for the door to swing open. However it also ensures that as with conventional sliding doors, you do not have to settle for a smaller entranceway. 

Many bifold doors feature what is known as a “busy” door, depending on the configuration chosen. Essentially, this is a traditional door built into the bifold system, which has a regular lever handle and sits on a typical hinge. When you don't want to fold and slide open each single leaf in the bifold, this allows quick and easy access through the entranceway. For busy entrances that you prefer to use daily, this is particularly useful.

Advantages and Disadvantages of BiFold Doors:

The biggest pro of bifold doors is that they can open up almost the entire entrance, about ninety percent. Plus, they're ideal for large entrances that would be too small for conventional French doors. They also do not take as much room around them as French doors because they do not need to be swung open, but when the doors open, you need a small area of clear space to allow the leaves to stack up, which is a small disadvantage.

Sliding doors could be a more acceptable choice in circumstances where you just do not want your living or outdoor space to be violated while the doors are open. Sliding doors can however, block an entire portion of the aperture, which is unattractive if you love the concept of opening the entrance to your home. One of the strongest benefits of folding doors is that they can help bring the outdoors in and provide a feeling of open plan living that can simply not be reproduced by sliding doors. 

A further advantage of bifold doors is that they provide a lot of configuration versatility. The number of leaves, the size of each leaf, the location of the opening and the presence of a traffic door can be selected. Plus, particularly if you opt for aluminium doors, you also have a wide range of colours and finishes to choose from. This level of preference helps you to create a tailor-made entrance with sliding doors or French doors that would be a little harder to accomplish. Which way to open is a big decision when contemplating bifold doors. The doors may either open inward in which case within the aperture they take up a small amount of space, or outward, in which case they take up space outside. Your decision will eventually rely on the room within or out that you have available. If you have a small garden or patio area, it may be helpful to open the interior.

Nonetheless, if you have lots of furniture put near the doors inside your house, outside opening would probably be the best alternative. Although a choice of inside or outside opening may be provided by conventional French or patio doors, the amount of free space required to open the doors is far greater than with bifold doors. Many people notice that they actually do not have the interior space available for French doors to open inside. With bifold doors, for inside opening, many find it easier to make the limited amount of interior space available. Getting more options when choosing how to open your doors is certainly a benefit.

Many people assume that sliding doors or French doors are much more costly than sliding doors, and they look at this as a big con. It is true that, simply because they are more complicated and require additional development, bifold doors will cost more than the other choices. However, you might be shocked to find that there might be little cost difference between sliding and bifold aluminium doors if you are already considering aluminium sliding doors because of their durability and long lifespan. Sliding aluminium doors can potentially be more costly than sliding aluminium bifold systems. 

If you would like to further explore how bifold doors function and if they are practical for your home, please do not hesitate to contact one of our Bifold door experts and discuss your options. We will help you determine if bifold doors are acceptable for your home and run through the different configurations and design options available to help you make the right choice.

Article Source: What are BiFold Doors | Imagine Home Improvement