Bifold doors long have been a popular alternative to conventional swinging doors and bypass doors when space is at a premium. Furthermore, bifold doors can offer full access to a closet in sharp contrast to bypass wardrobe doors that typically allow access to roughly 50 percent of the closet at a time.
A bifold door consists of narrow sections or panels that are hinged together to form a larger door. A bifold door can be installed as a single unit for an average door opening or in pairs to accommodate larger openings. Aside from enhanced convenience, bifold doors can offer decorating flair.
They are available in a variety of sizes and patterns and can be purchased in virtually any material, although the two most popular are pine and fir. Doors constructed of pine tend not to have the integrity or lasting quality that fir provides. What's more, while pine doors can be stained, they are generally considered to be "paint grade." Fir doors can be painted or stained.
The bifold doors that can be found at most hardware stores or home improvement centers are constructed of pine and consist of a full-louver style. This means that there are open louvers throughout the entire surface of the door with the exception of, perhaps, a small horizontal piece of wood located about midway in the door called a "rail." The rail adds strength to the door and helps to prevent warping. Full-louver doors are attractive and work nicely for closets as they offer ventilation. Due to their open-louver construction, they are not recommended for openings where privacy is a requirement.
If you like the look of a full-louver door and privacy is essential, a full false-louver bifold should work just fine. In contrast to the full-louver door, the panels with this style are closed rather than open. Their appearance is essentially the same from a distance. It should be noted that even many of the best bifold doors do not provide the same level of privacy as their hinged counterparts.
Other popular bifold door styles include combinations of louvers and panels or simply a series of panels.
Bifolds, as with other types of doors, are available in several levels of quality. Essentially, the thinner and lighter the door, the poorer the quality. Thicker doors offer superior construction and better withstand the wear imposed by the average American family. Inexpensive and poorly constructed doors almost always contain cheap components such as hinges and rollers that frequently fail and require constant repairs. Better quality doors are between 1ñ inches and 1ò inches thick. Thicker doors are available for special configurations, but must typically be special ordered from a door manufacturer. Moreover, doors constructed of out-of-the-ordinary species, special designs and doors suited for unusual openings can also be ordered from a door and millwork company. Whereas a bifold door can be installed in an existing opening wrapped in drywall, the preferred method includes the installation of a wood jamb trimmed with casing. The latter offers a more finished appearance and increased stability.
As with other types of doors, bifolds sometimes need adjustment. Bifold construction commonly consists of metal pins that fit into corresponding metal brackets at the top and bottom of the panel's closet to the frame on the hinge side of the door. These pins serve the same purpose as hinges on swinging doors, but allow the door to be adjusted more easily. For example, if a gap exists at the lower portion where a pair of doors meet, the metal brackets at the base of the door can be adjusted with a screwdriver to draw the doors toward one another.
As in the case of bypass doors, there is a track above concealed with wood trim on better doors that acts as a guide for a plastic or metal roller. Broken guide rollers can be replaced by compressing the roller-guide spring, swinging the door into the closet or opening, and then removing the old guide with a chisel or small pry bar. Insert the new guide into the opening. A friction fit is all that is generally required. One of the advantages of a bifold, as compared to a bypass, is the absence of a base track. Instead, a pair of bifolds come equipped with a pair of metal clips installed on the inside face of the door which aid in aligning the doors at the bottom. These metal clips can easily be bent with a pair of pliers whenever the doors are out of alignment.
Changing flooring will sometimes require raising or lowering doors. This can be done by lifting the door and pin from the floor bracket, then turning the bottom pin clockwise or counterclockwise.
Repair parts can usually be found in the window or finish hardware section of your local home improvement center. If you're having a tough time finding the right part, give the folks at Blaine Window Repair Service a call. Their telephone number in Kensington, Md., is (301) 933-1310. They have a full-line catalogue of repair parts. Their $15 minimum order is a fraction of the cost of a new door.
