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lainey_hope

1.2m/4ft French door thoughts?

lainey_hope
4 years ago

Hi all,


I posted a while back about French doors and I'm at the point I need to make a decision. We have a wall that is 2.7m wide and can have an opening up to 1.9m wide…


Originally we were going to go with 1.5m wide French doors, but then I saw the below photo online, I emailed the lovely @apartmentapocathery and she told me that opening is 1.94m. Which has made me rethink things. So now I'm wondering about 1.2m double doors with slim fixed panels either side.


Does anyone have any advice/thoughts about slimmer French doors (I assume we'd always need to open both doors, is that a faff?!)


Thanks in advance



Featured Answer
  • minnie101
    4 years ago

    Traditionally a lot of french doors were narrow. Each of mine are just 56cm wide with the shutters either side. Mine are from living to garden but you definitely don't need both doors open to walk through them. If yours are from the kitchen to the garden then taking rubbish out would be easy but I can't comment on carrying food etc as it may be a bit trickier although if you're eating outside I would assume it's warm and would want both doors open anyway!

    Your space is only 4cm narrower than the one pictured, can you not lose this with the side lights and maybe a slightly narrower door frame?


    Comments (6)

    • PRO
      Specialist Glazing Projects Ltd
      4 years ago

      Hi Lainey_Hope,

      We would always advise that bigger is better when it comes to French doors, the bigger the aperture the more light you can get in to your home, which is always a good thing.


      In terms of the doors themselves, depending on the material you are looking to have them made from (aluminium timber uPVC), each leaf could be up to 1000mm wide, (depending on the height) I assume that the door would be a standard height of approximately 2.2 metres or so?


      There are also slim line options available for the doors and the side lights, based on the sizes you have talked about this would be very much achievable too.


      If you have some drawings or a sketch of what you are planning, we would be happy to take a look and offer some ideas.


      Regards

      Ryan Gillson

      Specialist Glazing Projects

      lainey_hope thanked Specialist Glazing Projects Ltd
    • Maths Wife
      4 years ago

      The answer i guess is, yes having to open both doors to get out is a Faff, but it's your house, so if you're happy with that, then ok.


      Our doors are quite narrow at only 1.5 including the frame and you can get in and out of one door easily, we do it all the time.


      If you're having thin frames, then a span of 1.9m is a good span. Try and get the doors in the middle as large as you can without looking out of proportion to the flanking panels.

      lainey_hope thanked Maths Wife
    • Ribena Drinker
      4 years ago

      We have french doors in two rooms both set in bays, opening onto the garden. The overall width of each of the pairs is approx. 110 cm.


      They're fine to come and go through just one open one, most of the time. If you're carrying stuff on a tray or anything wide, it may be a struggle.


      This was as one set were being installed:-



      And this is from the outside




      lainey_hope thanked Ribena Drinker
    • lainey_hope
      Original Author
      4 years ago

      Thanks for all your comments, really helpful. I guess it's just decision time, in an ideal world we'd have 1.5m doors with side windows, but we don't have the space. So we just have to decide whether slimmer doors with side panels making a total area of 1.9m is better than double doors at an opening of 1.5m. I wish I was more decisive!

    • PRO
      Williams-Holden Home Improvements
      4 years ago

      I would say the minimum size french doors should be depends on the individual(s) in the home. You should be able to comfortably get in and out with just one door open because opening both just to run out to the bin would get annoying I feel.

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