Bi-fold door question - is this possible

[DaveApp]

Hi.

We’re looking to install bi-fold doors at the back of our house and have a what I think is a reasonable requirement, but been told by a supplier that it would not be possible.

As much as we’d like the doors to go across the whole of the back wall, size constraints mean that our kitchen will have to get in the way. So what I've come up with is a 3 panel door opening to the left (A, B, C) and a 2 panel bi-fold window sliding to the right (D, E). ‘F’ represents the wall where the kitchen will be.

So the supplier that I spoke to said that the only way of doing this would be to have a frame to hold both units individually. The thick red line on the diagram shows where the frame of the two units would be. My problem with this is that when both are open, I’d rather not have my view obstructed by the joining door frames.

Effectively, if we were to have a full 5 unit door spanning the wall (with three doors one way and two the other), there wouldn't be a problem. So my question is why would this be such a problem if the wall (F) was to contain half of the door frame and the closed window (D) formed the rest?

Was the supplier correct in saying it isn't possible, should I try my luck elsewhere or is it just a bad idea?

Thanks for reading this.
Dave.

 

[Gazman16]

It probably is physically possible to make but good luck finding any factory that would do it.
I would say you have about a 1% chance of finding someone that would and they would charge a silly amount to try it.

 

[God]

How would you lock and seal the bottom of door c

 

[DaveApp]

I was thinking that if the door handle was set reasonably high up at the point where C and F meet, then you'd have a solid point for locking. Also, at the point where C and D meet you could use any further locking devices that you'd find if it were a full height 3/2 panel system.

The complicated bit that I see is the junction between C, D and F with regards to creating a continuous join that's draught proof and secure.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

I can forsee major difficulties in installing this and getting it to work even assuming that you are able to find a supplier. In particular ther may well be issues in service with the joint at D/F requiring absolute perfect alignment of the right hand end of unit E to stand any hope of working. In a real world building this may be too much to achieve, especially given the need to cope with expansion/contraction of both folding door sets from their respective ends. Any single frame made in that format will necessarilly be weaker than a rectangular frome giving rise to further problems in both transport and installation. I once installed a timber frame unit similar to this, many years ago. Let's just say never again.....