Bifold door track and hinges?

[Stormer1940]

Hi,

I've been asked to make a internal Bi-Fold door for someone. Dimensions 1970 (h) x 737 (w). What I am looking to source is the hinges to connect the 2 leafs. Also where do you get a rail kit that you can cut to a custom size... ? Any help would be much appreciated... Cheers guys

 

[DonJohnson]

B & Q sell two track kits - strangely the descriptions say that their cheaper, shorter track kit is for four doors, whilst the longer track one is for only two doors.
The cheaper one is fine for a normal doorways, and you have some hinges left over!
see
http://www.diy.com/nav/build/doors-wind ... Id=9283821
and
http://www.diy.com/nav/build/doors-wind ... icamp=recs

I used the cheaper kit when I cut one of B&Q's 6-panel moulded doors (priced at around £19) in half to make a bi-fold door instead of buying their bif-fold door unit at around £54. Admittedly I had to dig out polystyrene infill from inside the centre cuts and put in a filler strip each side, but worked out a lot cheaper. If you cut too much of the bottom of these doors you again have to insert a filler strip ( made by shaving off the top and bottom moulding of the cut-off bit)

I wanted my doors to fold together as closely as possible, but you do need a knob on the outside to pull the doors shut, and this keeps the doors apart when folded. To avoid this, I used a recessed handle in place of a knob

see
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Flush-Recessed- ... B0087CMCEK

I actually used this trick on two of these doors. On one polystyrene was used as a filler where the handle was fitted, but the other one had solid pine (that was one of their £54 units). The latter one took a bit more work with a chisel after using a circular cutter to cut the perimeter of the recess needed.

I hope this helps

Don

 

[GCR]

My first bifold doors used Wicks gear but I found the clearances suggested around the doors irritating so much filler strip was required to get a decent look. This meant difficulty in adjustment and when the wood moved the doors scraped the raised cill at the base. After two years the swivel mechanism on one corner wore away and the door slumped.

Recently I have made up semi bifold doors - no track used, just hinged to allow the door to "flop" open. Not as bad as it may sound and the action is much quieter. A magnet catch is required for each door section to hold the doors closed. The hinges used were the simple flat non-recessed type.

Bob