I know a few people on here have bifolds, so I’d like a bit of opinion / advice if possible. I have a standard 1.75m wide sliding patio door that needs replacing and I’m tempted by a 3 pane bifold. The sliding one is a bit pointless as you can only open it halfway, being able to open all the way has its appeal. So my questions are:

– Has anyone got a 3 pane for an opening as small as 1.75m?
– I’ve seen an option to have a traffic door that is no part of the main door, which kind of makes it like French doors on a small door, is it required?
– As an alternative to a traffic door can you fold a pane back securely and use it as a normal door?
– Are they durable?
– Are there any specific manufacturers to look for?

Thanks all!

I’d be thinking about two normally opening doors at that width. There will be a lot of frame and not a lot of glass with 3 bifolds.
Maybe find out out the frame width and do a
Scale drawing on graph paper, see how it looks.
I really like those metal frame black crittal windows.
https://www.kjaservices.co.uk/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIobrdnaLB8QIVHOrtCh1tagChEAAYASAAEgJe6PD_BwE

We had a 3 door bifold over 1.8m. As above a lot of frame but it was good when opened up. However, I would probably go with large French doors if I did it again.

We have French doors in a similar sized opening. One door acts as a good sized normal door 95% of the time, on nice days both doors can open. Much cheaper and less faffy than bi-fold

The trouble with bifolds is the space they take up when folded

Such a small opening seems pointless for bifold.

I was under the impression they where used where the glass panel was to heavy for a conventional hinge arrangement.

Just go French and save some cash.

LIke others have said, we have a 2m opening with two normal glass french doors. Usually only ever open one, but have the option to open both. No bar in the centre, so get pretty much the full opening.

We have 2 panel bi-folds over 1.6m opening. Our situation is slightly different though a we have 2 sets next to search other separated by a 30cm pier – one set opens left and the other opens right so we end up with a large opening.
We like the arrangement as 2 sets of french doors wouldn’t have worked.
2 panel might not give you an “opening” door though.
3 panel would look odd. If it’s a standalone door I’d probably be looking at french windows.

{Alternatively do it properly and enlarge the opening to get the best effect 😉}

I thought the ‘standard size’ is slightly larger than 1750mm – these guys do standard sizes and it’s 1790mm. We have two sets and they have been very good – we regularly have just the one door open as a ‘traffic door’ when walking in and out of the garden during cooler months and it’s absolutely fine (it certainly doesn’t feel too narrow). They also supply door catch kits so the single door can be help open.

I have been really happy with ours – and I thought they were very good value for money (and very well made).

You could also look at Origin if you wanted aluminium (which I would highly recommend)

Thanks all for the replies. I hadn’t really thought about the reduction in glass, more the practicalities of having the traffic door and being able to fold it away neatly. I’ve added a pic for context, I’m in a similar position to sharkbait as I intend to add another room to the behind the garage and have the same doors there (one day). As such the bifolds opening out and meeting in the middle would be the tidiest solution.

You need a bigger hole.

I’m moving to a house with 2x sets of bifold doors in a few weeks, anything to be aware of? It’s a rented house, not buying.

You need a bigger hole.

I totally disagree – that size aperture is perfectly normal and very usable.

At that size I’d go for French doors, onnce you’ve added a traffic door to your bi-folds then its basically the same, you also end up with extra downward panels breaking up your view.

FWIW we have a 4 panel b-fold, each one one metre wide. They open externally which with our layout is fine, you just have to watch out for furniture on the patio. We have a traffic door on the LHS that opens independently, the other 3 panels open to the right. You can also open the first door of the RHS and with a catch you’ve effectivley opened up half of the space on the LHS. You will want a catch for any opening doors whether you go French or Bi, otherwise they’ll blow shut in the wind, or bang against the wall.

I think ours are Smart systems Aluminium doors and they’re fine, a friend has Schuco which would have been an extra £1k and they’re allegedly better engineered, but when you get up close and personal I think the running gear is probbly all the same.

Can you see the extension being done in the short term or does “(one day)” mean a long long way off? If the extension wasn’t too far away then I would be inclined to get that done and then handle the door situation then so you can make sure finishes/fixings match as well as determine the definite thing you want.

Thanks for all all of the replies, plenty of food for thought. I like the practicality of the 3 pane but a 2 pane may be more suitable, I think I need to go and try some out. I’ve had French doors before and I’m not really a fan.

Good point wooksterbo, I would hope in the next 2 years so maybe better to wait but the existing glass is blown and cloudy.

Totally co-incidentally I just happened across these guys – they look like really good units

https://newwavedoors.co.uk/

@johndoh now that is interesting, I’ll take a look. Thanks!

Think for the smaller aperture either stick with sliding patio doors or French doors. On our extension we had larger apertures put in and two sets of BiFold doors similar configuration to ta11Pau1 photo and it works great with Bi-folds and just wouldn’t have worked with patio doors or French windows…though the idea of fully opening up the bifolds on a sunny day is romantic, the reality is we have only ever done it a few times. On a hot day you really want the inside of the house to be as cool as possible so opening up the aperture and letting in all the hot air from outside is not what you want. Also if you do that then you spend the next week trying to deal with all the flies and insects that come into the house. So we only ever find we use one side and the other side hardly gets used. But certainly good for letting in light.

For a standard sized aperture I’d probably just stick with conventional patio doors or French windows.

Waste of time with a width of 1750mm yo7d get 3 doors at around 500mm wide if glass when you take Into account all the frame work needed