Folding sliding Doors Recommendations

Hi,

Can anyone who has had these types of doors installed recommend any particular suppliers. I've checked out Sunflex, Solarlux, Smart system Visofold, and foldingslidingdoor company. The problem is I haven't actually seen any of the doors in action because the showrooms are a few hundred miles from where I live.

Sunflex seem to be the most expensive but are apparently the best and the Smart system the most economical. I contacted one supplier for a smart system quote and he told me they no longer supplied those doors because of the way they worked and they had a lot of call backs, they now only sell Sunflex.

The cost is going to be at least £6000 for a 5.5m opening so its a lot of money to spend if i get it wrong.

Hi, we have just had four Solarlux bifold doors fitted to a 3450mm opening. With building work, cockups and then some sun control blinds it has cost just over £10,000. No doubt we could have done it cheaper but the doors face west and get wind from the Irish sea, driving rain and then hot sunshine in summer so we wanted a quality system. Due to our own inexperience in this kind of job we had a couple of issues with the builder and with Sunplan, who are agents for Solarlux but everything has eventually been rectified or turned out okay. We are generally pleased with the doors but next time we won't use Sunplan, we will buy directly from the Solarlux factory in West Yorkshire. If you'd like to have a chat about the system and find out where we went wrong, I'd be happy to tell you all about it. If you are near Blackburn you'd be welcome to come and see the setup. Here's a pic:

Thanks for the reply RigidRaider, unfortunatley I live in Kent so quite a long way from you. I've just received a quote today from Solarlux and they were the most expensive of all the quotes I have received at over £10k for a 5577mm opening for just the doors including fitting.

I'm torn really between the cheaper Smart System Visofold and the Sunflex system. I've still got a few months before my extension build is started so hopefully i'll get chance to visit a couple of showrooms or build shows to see the doors for myself.

Do you have any advice on things to look out for. i.e should I go for a flush track or fully weathered.

By fully weathered I assume you mean with an upstand? This is better if your doors will get a lot of weather. In a sheltered location like semi-outdoors a flush track would look much better but the floor needs to be suitable, which includes adequate support for the very heavy weight of the doors. You definitely don't want there to be any movement in the bottom rail. Alternatively get top-hung but this has its own load-bearing requirements as well, considerable when your opening will be so wide.

Where we went wrong was in measuring to the existing lintel height rather than to a course of brickwork. The builder didn't want to install the catnic beam on a half course; he just sat it on top of the next course up, which meant we had an extra 60mm of height to fill above the frame. Luckily this turned out quite fortuitous as it gave us space in the indoors reveal for rollers for sun control blinds. If you study the top of the frame and the courses in my pic you'll see what I mean.

We also misinterpreted the window company's drawing, which showed the details of the frame and doors but not the opening. The frame was made for an opening 3450mm wide so the builder made the opening to this size, meaning that the frame could effectively have fallen out as there was no rebate. He should have made the inner opening to 3450mm then left the outer wall about 10mm narrower each side to create a rebate, against which the frame could be fitted. We'll know better next time.

Call TPD in Brum on 0121 311 2666, something of that size will cost you around 2k supplied and they have a fitting service. Ask for matt