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Interior Doors
How To Install a Bifold Door
Installing bifold doors is fairly easy, as long as the opening is the right size for them. When you are taking out an old set of bifolds it is not too much of a problem. Replacing bifolds in an opening that had another style of door may be an issue. See the article 'Bifold Door Sizes' for more information.
Homes built in the last three or four decades are likely to have bifold doors installed in them. Bifold doors are inexpensive and easy to install making them popular with builders. You may have several bifold doors in your home. With repeated use the doors can get out of alignment and hardware can wear out.
Assuming that you have openings that are the right size, you can install an new bifold door in an afternoon. Check out the rest of the information in this series to see if this is something you want to tackle.
Installing Bifold Doors - Information
What Can You Save?
New doors range in price from about $50 to $150. Hiring someone to install if for you could run $75 to $175, or more. Since we are talking about replacing the bifold door, the savings is in the installation and the mark up on the material.
How Hard Could It Be?
Installing a bifold door is not that hard. With a little patience you can deal with most or all of the possible issues.
Check the Simple Things!
Are you sure you need to replace the door? Adjusting and lubricating may get the door working properly again. See the article 'Repairing Bifold Doors' for more information.
What Can Go Wrong?
The biggest potential problem is the door not fitting in the opening. Both height and width will be a considerations. See the article 'Bifold Door Sizes' to see if you are a candidate for a new bifold. You will want to get most of the items out of the closet before you begin. Setting the doors involves tipping the panels.
Purchasing a Bifold Door
Before purchasing a bifold door, you want to do is verify the size you need. Both width and height matter when it comes to a bifold door. You won't get very far with your installing bifold doors project if the door won't fit.
Take a look at the article 'Bifold Door Sizes', for information on correctly sizing your door. Does it look like a bifold door will fit? Good, you can move forward to actually purchasing the bifold door.
There are a lot of options when it comes to purchasing a bifold door. Flush doors, embossed doors, louvered doors, unfinished and pre-finished are just a few of the things you want to consider. Likely, you will want to match the doors you already have in your home. Matching pre-finished doors may be a little challenging.
You may not be able to find every size, style and finish in stock. Depending on your needs, you may need to order your door. Doors that are unfinished or primed should be finished before you install them. It is a lot easier to paint or stain a door on a bench.
Installing Bifold Door Hardware
You start installing bifold door track by laying it out in the opening. The track and the bottom bracket determine the levelness of the door in the opening.
Take a look at the instructions and verify the alignment of the tracks and the bottom brackets. If you took a bifold door out of the opening, the alignment should be the same. Begin installing bifold door track at the top using screws that are long enough to go through the drywall and into the wood framing. Install the brackets at the base in a similar way.
For a door that only has two door panels, you will have a choice on which way you want the door to open. The two door leaves can fold open on either the right or left side. It is up to you, it makes no difference to the doors. The bottom bracket needs to be installed on the side the you want the doors to open to.
Make sure the bottom bracket is the same distance in from the face of the door opening as the top track. Each pair of bifold doors has three points of contact. Two at the top track and one at the bottom bracket. Proper alignment of these elements is important.
In this step you can begin installing the bifold door hardware. There is usually a bag full of parts that comes with the door. It can be a little intimidating. Take a breath and open the bag to start identifying the parts.
Before you begin installing bifold door hardware, you want to check the pieces that came with the door you purchased. You should have a top pivot pin, bottom pivot pin and top guide roller for each pair of doors. The top and bottom pivot pins should go at the top and bottom of the same door slab. The top guide roller should go at the top of the other leaf.
The doors should already have the hinges installed. Each pair of door slabs should be held together by two or three hinges. Before you install the hardware get the door opened up and laid, facing up, across two saw horses. Make sure you understand which end is the top.
The pins and rollers should friction fit into the pre-drilled holes. Gently tap the pins into place with a hammer. Drive them in until they are snug. Unscrew the bottom pivot pin until there is about a quarter of an inch of threads showing. You may need to adjust this pin later, but this will be a good place to start.
Setting the Bifold Panels
Setting the bifold door panels is similar to removing the old ones. It is a littly bit of work and you might want to get a little help. Likely they will only weigh thirty or forty pounds per pair. If you tipped the old ones out, you are already a veteran.
When you have all the hardware installed you are ready to begin setting the bifold door panels. Fold the door leaves together and pick them up from the side. You tip the door into place in a similar way to removing it. Use caution when you tip the door in, the bottom pivot pin can damage the floor if it scrapes across it.
It will be helpful to have a helper to guide the pins into place. The top guide pin has to hit a small hole in a bracket that is at the end of the top track. The roller just has to be inside the track.
When the pivot pin and roller are in the top track, you can lift the door and set the bottom pivot pin into the bracket.
Summary
Has your installing bifold doors project turned out to be a success? Hopefully it has. Part of the appeal of bifold doors is the fact that they are so easy to install. With practice, installing bifold doors can take less than an hour.
Adjusting them, well that's another matter. They seem to move in so many directions. After you get used to them, adjusting is not hard either. A few well placed tweaks and the doors will work great. You may not be ready to start installing bifold doors for a living, but you may be willing to tackle another installation should the need arise.
Troubleshooting Closet Doors
Troubleshooting closet doors and fixing the associated problems is common. You probalbly have many closet doors in your home. They may vary in style and size, but they all have one thing in common. Closets are meant for storing things and the doors hide the stored items from view. Closet doors do need attention and quit working correctly periodically. When that happens you need to do some repair work.
Frank Lloyd Wright refused to include closets in the homes he designed. He said that they promoted clutter. Clutter or not, we all have things that we want to store. Thus, closets are very popular. In fact 'lots of closet space' is a selling feature for a home.
Closets and closet doors are a standard feature in homes. The doors differ in size and type. Since they do not get the use that regular door get they tend to be a little less sturdy and can get knocked out of adjustment. Adjusting the doors on closets is often the repair that is needed. Fortunately, it is not that hard to do.
There are three popular styles of closet doors. Each style can have different types of doors, such as mirrors or louvers. A few decades ago most closet doors had sliding doors. Then an innovation came along and the bifold door is the undisputed king of closet doors. Regular swing doors are also used for closets.
Troubleshooting Closet Doors – Finding Help
Below you will find some common problems. There is a brief description and a link that will lead you to additional information. Our evaluation sections of the pages will help you to decide if you want to make the repair. The "What Can You Save?" and "How Hard Could It Be?" sections give you a quick overview of the repair. This will help you decide if it is using good judgment to make the repair yourself.
The "Check the Simple Things First" section will clue you in to easy fixes to check for. Many times something easy will eliminate a problem without the aggravation of an involved repair. In an effort to warn you about what you are in for, there is the "What Can Go Wrong" section. Forewarned is forearmed as they say. Knowing what to watch out for is always helpful.
Repairing Bifold Closet Doors
Bifold doors have become very popular in residential construction. These doors are inexpensive and easy to install, making them a first choice with builders. Adjustment are the main problem. Four panel bifold doors can be a little challenging to adjust. The door has to align in several directions.
Installing Bifold Doors
You may decide that a new bifold door is what you want. Perhaps the old door is tired looking. In addition, you found out that a new one is not that expensive. Can you install the door yourself? Is it hard? Find out what you are up against by following the link above. This is something you can do yourself and save the price of a carpenter.
Mirrored Bifold Closet Doors
Similar to normal bifold doors, these doors have mirror units on the door panels. They serve as a full length mirror in addition to hiding the contents of the closet. They are a little heavier than a normal bifold. The have the same problems as regular bifolds, adjusting being the biggest one.
Troubleshooting Closet Doors - Summary
Troubleshooting and repairing issues with closet doors is a simple task most of the time. It is often just a matter of adjusting the door or replacing some inexpensive parts. A few minutes work and your door will be quiet and smooth.
Now that you have reviewed the information on troubleshooting closet doors, you are ready to research other home repairs. Do you have a list? Or is it a job jar? Whatever your tracking method, you can go to the next item. Unless you have earned a break.
Common Bifold Door Sizes
Your interest in 'Bifold Door Sizes' is likely related to a repair or replacement project on a closet door.
For information on repairing bifold doors, see the article 'Troubleshooting Bifold Doors'. If you are considering a replacement project, see the article, 'Installing Bifold Doors'.
Table of Bifold Door Sizes
Bifold door sizes do have limitations. Some sizes can be special ordered if you have time to wait. This is a list of common bifold door sizes that are fairly standard and readily available.
- 2' 0" x 6' 8" Bifold - Two 12" Panels
- 2' 6" x 6' 8" Bifold - Two 15" Panels
- 2' 8" x 6' 8" Bifold - Two 16" Panels
- 3' 0" x 6' 8" Bifold - Two 18" Panels
- 4' 0" x 6' 8" Bifold - Four 12" Panels
- 5' 0" x 6' 8" Bifold - Four 15" Panels
- 6' 0" x 6' 8" Bifold - Four 18" Panels
Some manufacturers may offer a few additional sizes in addition to the ones listed above. Likely these will need to be ordered. Remember, even with additional availability, there are limitations to the sizes. Check with your door supplier before you assume that something is available.
The above sizes should also be available in a shorter version. Again, check on availability before you commit to a size.
Measuring a Bifold Door Opening
The opening size for a bifold door is measured from the finish face of the opening, not the trim. A casing type molding is often used around a bifold door. The trim hangs over the edge of the opening to cover the gap around the edge of the door.
Most bifold door openings are finished with drwyall. So the width of the opening is measured from the face of drywall on one side to the face of the drywall on the other side.
The height is measured from the finished floor to the finished face of the drywall on the head.
The width and the height will determine what size bifold can be used. This is sometime called the 'rough opening' or 'R.O.', although for a bifold the measurments are taken from the finished opening.
It should be obvious from the foregoing the retrofitting a bifold into another style door opening may be a problem. Even in new construction, rough openings for common bifold doors are set during the framing stage. The rough openings differ in from standard doors that have jambs.
Allowing for Bifold Door Hardware
A critical issue for bifold door is the hardware at the top and bottom of the door. Bifold door slabs need to be shorter and/or the openings need to be taller to allow for the hardware.
As a rule the height of the door opening needs to be 1 1/2" to 2" higher than the height of the door. When you are buying a new bifold door, there should be an opening size listed. This will need to match the opening measurements that you took.
If you are using an existing bifold door in a different opening, you will have to guage the amount to allow for hardware. It will usually be around 1 3/4".
Related Bifold Door Articles
- To install a new bifold door, see the article 'Installing Bifold Doors'.
- Many problems associated with bifold doors can be fix by adjusting them. See the article 'Adjusting Bifold Doors'.
- For a discussion on general bifold door repair, see 'Repairing Bifold Doors'.
Summary
As you can see from the foregoing, there are several bifold door sizes available. However, the margins and rough in sizes for bifold doors is different from regular doors.
How Bifold Doors are Sized
Before purchasing a bifold door, it is important to know how bifold doors are sized. Stated bifold door sizes are in nominal increments. Similar to regular doors, the sizes are expressed in the finished opening size. For instance, a 3' 0" bifold door fits inside of a 36" wide finished opening. The leaves of the bifold are appropriately undersized to allow for clearance around the door.
The same is true of the height of the door. Bifold door sizes are based on having a track at the top and a pivot bracket at the base. Generally, you need an extra 1 3/4" of height beyond the height of the door panel. The bifold doors are undercut 1" standard. For a nominal 6' 8" opening, you need a finished height of 6' 8 3/4" (80 3/4").
Translated that means a 79" door plus 1 3/4" for the track and brackets. Since this height is sometimes a problem, you can get bifold doors that are 2" shorter. The doors are 77" plus 1 3/4" equals 78 3/4". This will work for openings that are 80" finish or slightly less.
Another thing to keep in mind, about how bifold doors are sized, is that bifold doors are sized in pairs. A 2' 0" bifold door will have (2) 12" leaves that are held together by hinges. Again the spacing of the panels is allowed for in the nominal size.
Bifold Door Sizes
Bifold door sizes are limited, therefore, you will need to verify if the size you need is available. Bifold doors come in fewer sizes than other types of doors. In addition, you generally need a finished opening for a bifold. So taking out a conventional door and replacing it with a bifold will not always work. This article discusses the cost, difficulty, and possible problems with replacing or installing a bifold door.
Not sure if you need a new bifold door? See the articles 'Repairing Bifold Doors' and 'Adjusting Bifold Door Hardware'. Many times a malfunctioning bifold door can be asjusted to solve closing problems. Also see, 'Troubleshooting Closet Doors' for more information.
As a rule you only use bifold doors on closets. There are a couple of reasons for this. First, bifold doors are not made for heavy use, so they work well on closets. Second, they are designed to open from one side only. Bifold doors do not require wood jambs like other doors. Often the openings are just covered with drywall.
Before you select a bifold door size, you want to see if you are up for this project. Check out the article 'Installing Bifold Doors' for information. Installing a bifold door is a project that only takes a couple of hours, provided you have an opening that will work with available bifold door sizes.
Selecting Bifold Door Sizes Using Common Sense
What Can You Save?
Replacing a bifold door yourself can save you some money. It will probably run between $100 and $150 to have someone install a door. Assuming you have the correct opening, it could only be an hour of work. Not bad.
How Hard Could It Be?
Determining your bifold door size is not hard at all, a tape measure and a few minutes is all it takes.
- Difficulty Level of: Easy
- Skill Level of: Total Novice
Check the Simple Things!
Checking out an opening for a bifold door is pretty easy. You may just need to repair it, instead of replacing it. See the article 'Repairing Interior Bifold Doors' for more information.
What Can Go Wrong?
Remember to hold the tape measure straight. Write the dimensions down, don't trust your memory. Height is important too, check it at the same time. The tolerance is around a quarter of an inch. Undersize is a problem, slightly oversize will be fine.
Bifold Door Options
Bifold door options include different styles and finishes. Some are pre-finished, others are pre-primed and ready for paint. You can also choose from flush or embossed patterns. Louvers are also an option with bifold doors. This may require a trip to the supply store to see what's available.
You are not locked into only considering bifold door options, just because it is a closet. Sliding doors are still available and may provide some relief on the opening size. Sliding doors do have the drawback of only allowing access to half the closet at a time.
The various bifold door options should be compared with your decor and available openings. See the article 'How Bifold Doors Are Sized' and 'Common Bifold Sizes' for information on the opening requirements. Pre-primed doors can be painted to match existing trim. However, matching existing stained or natural woodwork can be a problem. First you may have difficulty finding the same wood and then the staining and finishing may not match.
Swing door can also be used for closets. These do need a wood jamb to attach the hinges to. For smaller openings (less that 36"), you have more size choices with swinging doors. Swinging doors are available in two inch increments.
Replacing Bifold Doors
Replacing a bifold door is not a hard project, provided that the opening is close to what it needs to be for a standard bifold door size. Bifold doors are supported by a track on top and a pivot pin on the bottom. The sides and head do not need to have a wood jamb.
Many times you will find that closet openings are finished with drywall. Screws will need to be an appropriate length when going through drywall.
When replacing a bifold door, can the door panels be cut? The answer to that question is maybe. It depends on how much you need to cut it. Additionally, cutting doors requires some carpenter skills and the ability to work with power tools. Provided you have the skills and don't need to trim too much, it is possible. The finish on the door will also be a factor if you attempt to cut it.
For a discussion on replacing a bifold door you need to see the article 'Installing a Bifold Door'. This article has detailed information on how to install a bifold. In addition it will provide information on adjusting and trimming doors.
Summary
Where do you go from here? Now that you have your bifold door size issue behind you. Take a look at your list and see if anything sounds good. Check the main menu for other topics that you are in need of.