All About Bi-fold Doors

There are many types and styles of doors available for home use including by-fold doors. Builders use by-fold doors because they are inexpensive and easy to install. Most often they are used in speck construction for bedroom and hallway closets. After everything is said and done bi-fold doors are a safety hazard for children and adults. It is easy to pinch an arm or hand in the folds between the doors causing severe injury or at least a nasty bruise. In addition to being a safety hazard, they seem to always need adjusting or they fall off their tracks or pivot pins. They never seem to operate smoothly, choosing the worst of time to be a problem, such as when you are in a hurry. If you are contemplating remodeling I strongly suggest that you remove every bi-fold door in your home and dispose of them. Replace your bi-fold doors with regular hinged pre-hung closet doors that are not a safety hazard.

Unfortunately bi-fold door rough openings are frequently odd sized that don’t match or accommodate the recommended rough opening for a standard pre-hung door. If that is the case, during your remodeling project you will have to order special sized doors from your supplier or adjust the rough opening to accommodate the door you want to install. Special size doors are expensive. It is a lot less expensive to adjust the rough opening.

 Door sizes are expressed by feet and inches, for example a 2-6 by door is 2 feet and six inches wide, or 30 inches. Some door manufacturers have changed their door sizes to standard inches. Usually interior door openings are made two inches larger than the door size to accommodate adjustment during door during installation. A 30 inch door would have a rough opening of 32 inches. If you need to decrease the rough opening size of the old bi-fold door rough opening just add material to each side or all of it to one side of the rough opening. The molding for a standard pre-hung door is 2-1/2 inches wide. If you add up to 1 ½ inches to each side of the rough opening the door trim will cover up the added material. If you need to add more than 1 ½ inches to decrease the rough opening size then sheetrock will have to added to cover the added material for the door to fit properly. Another alternative rather than adding sheetrock would be to use a wider molding around the door.

Pre-hung doors come in many different types of material and styles. The light weight composite panel door is the most popular door for interior use today because they are inexpensive, approximately $120 each depending on where you buy them and the manufacturer. They take paint easily and are very attractive. Solid wood doors such as pine or hemlock are very good doors but they tend to expand and contract during weather changes making them a little unsightly around the panels as the weather changes. Solid hard wood doors are usually used when the doors are stained rather than painted. A hardwood door is just too beautiful to ever be painted any color. They can be stained to match or accent floors and walls and are extremely durable.