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Bifold doors 3.6m opening - are 1.2m doors too heavy?

Portia D
3 years ago

Hello everyone!


First post here, but loving the community and thought I would ask some advice as my head is really hurting now trying to work this out. You may be able to tell by the fact I am posting at gone 1am!


My partner and I are in the process of building a rear extension for our kitchen/diner, with which we would like to have some bifold doors into the garden - our opening is 3.6m. Simple enough right? The complicated parts are that:

- budget is (very) tight

- a traffic door is a must

- when opened, we prefer all doors on one side - requires an odd number of doors


Given all of the above, it seems our best bet is 3x1.2m doors. We were actually quite excited by this too as it meant bigger glass and less frame, so would look nicer when closed compared to 4 doors (we could stretch the space to 4m).


The problem is a few different sellers have advised us against installing the Smarts 1000 or Aluk BSF70 in 1.2m as it is too heavy/big and will cause issues in the not too distant future. So it seems our options are to either reduce the size of our doors and opening with the 3 doors, or opt for a 4 door which is more expensive due to the extra door, and means we cannot have all doors opened onto the same side.


My questions are please:


1. What would you advise/do in our position?

2. Does the difference in door size between 1m and 1.2m really cause a significant difference with maintenance?

3. What type of issues occur in bifolds that are too heavy?

4. Do we need to buy more expensive doors or are the brands we mentioned ok?


Thank you in advance for any advice!

3.6m opening with 1.2m doors
3.3m opening with 1.1m doors
4m opening with 1m doors

Comments (2)

  • PRO
    Bespoke Glazing Design
    2 years ago
    last modified: 2 years ago

    Hi Portia, indeed Smarts 1000 or Aluk BSF70 are heavy doors. If you send across your phone number our designers can help you find the best solution for your project.

  • Jo Bloggs
    2 years ago

    In a previous house we had 3x1m aluminium bi fold doors. All doors stacked outside to the right. I loved them but I think anything larger than 1m panels would have been too heavy and unwieldy. One of the panels was our back door and clipped onto the second door to secure it. But a glass panel of 1.2m is a big door to be opening on a windy day. 
    I would go for the 4x 1m option. On a warm sunny day it will be lovely to have that large opening. Ours were SE facing and some
    days they would be open from 7 am to bedtime.
    We only had one issue with them. Sometimes in hot weather they would swell and be difficult to close until they cooled down. However I have never heard of this happening before.

Ireland
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