Bi-fold dilemma
I am having some walls removed (marked in red in the picture) in order to open up my downstairs living / kitchen area. I am looking to add in a 3m bi-fold along the back of house (in place of the door and middle window where the kitchen currently opens up onto the garden). However I am unsure if I should have a longer bi-fold which incorporates the window in the family room/ study(currently we use this room as a playroom but going forward it will be the dining area.) I think asthetically it will look better to have a longer bi-food (as opposed to lots of small windows / doors along the back of the house), however from a practicality perspective I am concerned that a) we will never fully open such a large bi-fold area as my garden in north facing so the back of the house is quite cold (even in the summer) and b) with the loss of wall space from other walls being removed, having a longer bi-fold will add to this (as opposed to a window where I can at least put storage underneath it). Any advice would be greatly received. Many thanks
Comments (26)
rinked
3 years ago
Kat739
3 years ago
Photo added, the old boiler cupboard (by the pink car) is going, the brick shed next to the hot tub is staying for now. We already have plans to cut off the end of the kitchen and create a utility room. The bi-fold is going in the place of the large middle kitchen window, my dilemma is just whether to connect it with the current family room window or leave the two separate. Thanks
Related Discussions
Quality of bi-fold doors
Comments (4)From all our suppliers we have not had an issue come back to us. as for leaks the gaskets should always sort this problem unless not properly fitted. when closed the doors will be fully waterproof. and when open any water that gets into the track will filter through weep holes located underneath the frame and out onto the cill. I guess the horror stories are from ill fitted doors or poor fabrication. like I said we spend time sourcing our manufacturer and supplier so problems are extremely rare. as for the even door panels I just like to make people aware before they buy. glad to hear you have a work around on this. the 2/2 door option woukd mean the locking mechanism is in the center. im not sure how the seals would hold as we havnt fit one to this spec....See MoreBi-Fold or Sliding Doors on our extension - advice please??
Comments (15)There is no right or wrong answer - and as suppliers and installers of award winning versions of both bifold AND sliding door systems we have no bias towards one or the other. Our teams install nationally, from Shetland to the Channel Islands...and everywhere in between. When we get asked this question by customers there are a number of initial things we would ask to try and make some recommendations - and we have written a blog all about these. Probably the most valuable question is realistically how often are you likely to have the doors fully open. Our SF55 aluminium bifold doors can be manufactured up to 1.1m wide and have an industry leading narrow sightline of 115mm (the amount of frame visible when closed) and over a 29' 6" run of 9x1m panels you will have 8 intermediate frames totalling 920mm of aluminium. We do two aluminium sliding door systems the Grand Slider (83mm sightlines) or our award winning theEDGE (narrow 24mm sightline) - both can take glass sizes of up to 3m wide so over a 9m run of 3x3m panels you will have 166mm of intermediate aluminium visible with the Grand Slider and just 48mm visible with theEDGE. So if your doors are closed more often than open there is significantly less frame than glass in sliding doors - maximising your views - however the trade off is that unless you opt for a pocket slider you are not able to open a sliding door completely to create a total 9m opening like you are with bifold doors - you would only open 6m of the 7m (or 6.75m if you went for four sliding door panels). In terms of thermal performance both SF55 and the sliding door systems can be double or triple glazed and achieve pretty similar U-Values and in terms of price the SF55 and Grand Slider systems work out to be almost identical - although theEDGE is a bit more because of the advanced engineering required to create such a narrow profile. There is also the option of the SF75 bifold door which has a U-Value of 0.9W/m2K which is the lowest of any aluminium system on the market. Given your location and your views, my personal recommendation would be sliding doors, because you maximise your views even when closed - but it is whatever is best for you and it may well be a combination of sliding doors and fixed frames provide the perfect and cost effective solution. If you have any questions do not hesitate to ask and good luck with your project!...See MoreKitchen bi-fold dilemma
Comments (10)I'd find out what thickness of beam would you fit, and what sized doors you'd be able to install based on that, it could be that you could brick up 20cm each end, eg then have 380cm sliding door width. We have a 2 pane 350cm wide slider, ceiling height same as yours. Go for slider if you want better view, bifold only if you'll ever get chance to open them most of the year....See MorePutting internal bi-folds to separate open plan kitchen/diner/lounge ?
Comments (6)sometimes its good to take a breath and really think about how you live - rather than all focus being on the plans, which can seem immovable. For example, I have a largely open plan ground floor but on the advice of my sister whose kids were older at the time, I kept a small snug living room that is separate and as my kids have grown up through teenage years that has been a saving grace - we can all go to separate places,! I dont have to listen to video games whilst cooking etc :) Does one person often watch tv and the other like to read? Where do hobbies take place? Would it be a simple solution to just turn that dining table round to make more space for those doors? If you like to entertain would you like to hide the mess inthe kitchen to be cleared up later? I for example insisted that I could close my kitchen off from the front room and hall (and stairwell) because one of my pet hates is cooking smells lingering everywhere! Also consider if the doors could be retro fitted - and l ive in the space for 9 months first to see if you really need/want them?...See MoreEllie
3 years agorinked
3 years agoWhat was the initial reason to remove the study-lounge wall and not the kitchen-lounge one?
Here some quick examples:
Kat739 thanked rinkedrinked
3 years agoLet's say the sky is the limit ;)
Kitchen island with shallow cabinets, no stools. Tall units with appliances flush with wall (as aisles would have been too tight when elongating the hallway wall..). Lower units on the opposite wall for storage. Sliders or french doors outside. Comfy seating area and a low bookcase behind the sectional with a reading chair.
Bits of wall in the center would of course be a nice column, right now they are remnants for reference.
Kat739
3 years agorinked
3 years agoKat739
3 years agoKat739
3 years agorinked
3 years agoI've used a very old Chief Architect version (not free), but there are many online planners. Other users here may recommend some, I hardly ever use them. For kitchens I like ikea's, though they have sofa's and such as well (though not all kitchen cabinet sizes).
Here's a floorplan in scale, you could print it out, cut out the furniture and play with it. Or use photoshop/gimp if you know a bit of how that works. Each square is one meter. Keep in mind traffic lines require at least one meter, preferably 1,2m. (Or message me, as I am aiming for a new career anyways.)
Kat739
3 years ago
Kate Burt
3 years agoClare
3 years agolast modified: 3 years ago
Robert Woods
3 years ago
PROLees Munday Architects
3 years agoThe multiple verticals of bifold‘s prevent a true feeling of living in the garden and are always a disappointment, that’s why you never see them closed in advertisements. My recommendation is to always use the widest slider that you can afford where ever possible. So personally I would just open the whole wall up and put sliders in and use the widest panels possible. With minimal frames. But if you cannot afford minimal here’s an example in our portfolio done in timber windows from Lithuania which are extremely economical for such large areas of glass. The company is Langvalda. If structure gets in the way you can create a flashing around the window so that they can mount on the outside of the wall and slide right across any steel support you may put in. The system should ideally be able to slide right across the full width of the total opening.
- PRO
Lees Munday Architects
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoAn example of minimal windows, by iQ Glass
Jon R
3 years agox1lol
3 years agonatashahall1
3 years ago
sharon daly
3 years agoKat739
3 years agoJon R
3 years agoThey sure look nice but know nothing about them! The one thing to bear in mind is that the companies working with these kinds of small/minimalist frames and huge areas of glazing will have quite specific structural requirements for installation and they'll almost certainly use their own team. So there is an additional piece of coordination work there: in our experience, they sent us a set of diagrams indicating what kind of base, edge, and lintel was required for them to install, our builders formed that, then they came to take measurements before going away to make the sliding doors and door. So it took a bit longer because they couldn't start making the frames until they had exact measurements. I feel like the wait was well worth it. Photos attached (apologies for the garden which is a total disaster and our next project thanks to the builders, not that they could have done their work out front as we live in London). There's the sliding doors and on the left is a glass door with a fixed adjacent panel since otherwise the door would have been 1500mm wide! This was not Maxlight's smallest frame but we were ok with that as the glazing is expensive enough already.
x1lol
3 years agox1lol
3 years ago
PROKatie Older Lighting Design
3 years ago
Sonia