convert door to bifold door?

[damson]

Hi all

I'd like to convert our existing kitchen (room) door into a bifold door by cutting it down the middle and fitting hinges so that it can fold back. I've made bifold shutters from scratch before but haven't attempted to convert anything before and just wanted to make sure I'm not missing anything obvious.

The existing door is a Victorian panel door and I was planning on using normal hinges. I hadn't anticipated adding a track for the door to run on - does that matter?

thanks for any advice or thoughts

Tamsen

 

[big-all]

ok points to note


you will be cutting the door throught the weakest part

you will be exposing mortice and tennons so wont look neat and tidy
your mortice and tennons will be greatly weakend as they will not only be cut in half they will be open sided so a 60% loss of strength per half

the styles wont be continuos so further loss in strength

you will have to alter the lock as pushing the door centre may open the door the door may also rattle

the handles on the door may protrude by 8" as the handles will sit on the folded half

having said all that if its not required for security or as a fire door and your not to botherd about looking imballanced with the use of 40mm dowels through the tennons should give you a strong enough door especialy if its been dipped and all the tennons have loosened

 

[damson]

Thanks big-all they are all really helpful points and I will consider them carefully before making the final decision ...

I think I'll get a cheap old door that's been bashed about a bit and try the technique on that one first to get it right/see if it looks right.

(yes the door was dipped and has since been painted - so I reckon the dowels might do the trick - thanks for that suggestion)

quick question - what are styles?

thanks again

 

[big-all]

stiles are the vertical components rails are the horizontal components

get an old door the correct hight and thickness but 3 inches narrower

cut down the middle off the door if your lucky at this stage it will fall to bits
if not you now have an additional 37mm each side to fit a proper sized stile
remove back to the the panels
make 2 new stiles cut new tenons on the rails mortice the stiles
mould the stiles to match the door glue and re-wedge or dowel all joints from face to face[

 

[damson]

Thanks big-all - I will give that a go. Thanks again.

 

[Symptoms]

Tamsen - big-all's warnings about exposing the structural components of the door are correct but there is a 'work-around'. Assumes the door will be painted - cut the door as planned, secure (glue/wedge/dowel/etc) any exposed innards, then lip the cut edges; this lipping can be as wide as you like so can be used to 'even-up' the stiles, and cover the redundant lock cut-out. Rub-down, prime, undercoat, etc. etc.

Unless you want the door to swing around like a broken arm then install a bi-fold track; this will control the leading edge.

Handles are always an issue with bi-folds, one solution is handle on one side ('outside') and a finger-plate on the centre inside face (no grubby dabs on the paintwork). Normal locks (rims/mortice) aren't effective so you'll have to source a 'catch'.

You can get all the hardware from:

www.IronmongeryDirect.com
or
www.woodfit.com

 

[damson]

Symptoms - thanks a million - that's great.

I think I will install a bi-fold track. the other option I had is to make the doors into double doors - with the trimming solution you suggest I can play around with what looks best once I've cut, dowelled, trimmed and painted them.

I guess double doors don't require a central post to close into, do they? - they can close onto themselves as it were, correct? The kitchen door is fairly wide (being old and victorian) but not that wide.

thanks again to both of you!

 

[damson]

Just wanted to say thank you again for all your help. Door has now been cut in half, new pieces added and it looks like it was made that way originally! Very pleased with the results so thank you again.

 

[big-all]

thank you very much for letting us know how you got on

glad your pleased which ever way you done it the good thing is you had a choice