Bi-Folds - From Start to Finish

LawAbiding

Hi,

I am trying to get ideas on costings for a Bi-Fold to be fitted from Start to Finish.

I am consdering a 4m wide opening and 2.2m high.

What sort of cost would/should it be to create the opening at the back of the house into Garden. Install a RSJ Beam, Install the bifolds, and any finishing touches.

Plastering, I will get family member to complete.

LawAbiding

Not as much as I thought!

ashe

LawAbiding wrote: »

Not as much as I thought!

We really wanted these I until we went round w friends house who had them. The amount of flies they let in the house is obscene. Completely put us off!

LawAbiding

Surely these things suppose to keep things out? Surely there was an issue?

EssexExile

ashe wrote: »

We really wanted these I until we went round w friends house who had them. The amount of flies they let in the house is obscene. Completely put us off!

They are doors, if you open them things can come in (and go out). I can't say I've noticed any increase in fly activity since having bifolds fitted.

MisterP123

ashe wrote: »

We really wanted these I until we went round w friends house who had them. The amount of flies they let in the house is obscene. Completely put us off!

What did you go for instead? A brick wall?

Doozergirl

I'd expect it to cost a bit more than that.

The doors themselves, building control, structural engineer, the knocking through and insertion of the steel, work to tooth in the brickwork outside, levelling off the floor, any electrical or plumbing work to move sockets/radiators, then plastering, woodwork, decorating and addressing the flooring which will be too short for the new opening.

ashe

LawAbiding wrote: »

Surely these things suppose to keep things out? Surely there was an issue?

When shut they keep things out like anything else, it's when they are open.

EssexExile wrote: »

They are doors, if you open them things can come in (and go out). I can't say I've noticed any increase in fly activity since having bifolds fitted.

Thanks for the basic physics lesson - surely the point of having bifold is to have them open otherwise you might as well have french doors fitted? Them being open allows flies in. Thats great that you live in an area seemingly without flies, or you just never open them, a quick search on any forum or just on google will show you are probably fairly unique in this situation, floods of people asking for solutions to having them open and stopping flies getting in to the point that there's even a cottage industry of fly screens being created specifically for them, sort of defeating the object of having open views and then putting a fly screen up.

MisterP123 wrote: »

What did you go for instead? A brick wall?

yes, because a brick wall would have been a totally logical alternative to a massive window/door combination! Well done.

No, we didn't opt for a brick wall. We already have modern french doors in the kitchen. For our living room we went with a full height window with a low bar and tilt & turn windows. It allows us good views of the garden (the reason we were originally looking at bifold in the first place) and didn't cost us £5-10k. It's also fitting with the style of the house and not something that's likely to be expensive to replace / maintain several years down the line.

The days we would have probably wanted to have bi-folds open this year we probably wouldn't have been able to anyway, due to numerous flies - last week being a big example where thrips/thunderbugs/harvestflies or whatever name you choose to give them were in abundance during the hottest day of the year. Friend that we mentioned had a few BBQs last year at the back of the garden and had their bi-folds open. Looked great, but house was full of various bugs in no time at all and they've recently had sliding screens fitted sports they can enjoy them open (while still having a barrier in place).

EssexExile

In all my 68 years Ashe I've never encountered a problem with flies in the house. Yes we get flies in the house but not enough to be a problem & with windows & doors open they can get out as easily as they get in.

ashe

EssexExile wrote: »

In all my 68 years Ashe I've never encountered a problem with flies in the house. Yes we get flies in the house but not enough to be a problem & with windows & doors open they can get out as easily as they get in.

Great for you I guess, but its a common problem with Bi Fold doors - google it and you will see countless posts on MSE, Mumsnet, Pistonheads, Overclockers, AV forums etc etc - basically any large community about it, likewise google bi fold doors fly screens and you will see many products that have come to market in an attempt to profit out of it. It may be you live somewhere very urban? We have countryside within 2 rows of houses of us and if we opened a bifold door while we had a BBQ or drinks in the garden, the house would be like the corridor from Indiana Jones & Temple of Doom.

As an example, on this very forum:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5655090/stopping-flies-coming-in-bifold-doors

Scooby.Doo wrote: »

Can't flies get through a French door?

Of course they can, just like they can a window. But the idea of a french door is you close it after you - you have the option to leave it open, but its not really meant to be open all the time by design. Bifold doors are sold with views of the doors fully open. Of all the Bifold doors I have seen fitted in our town, which is a lot of them, we never actually see them open especially on the hot days when you would think people would want them open. If I was OP I would look at sliding doors as less impact to the sight line, usually less parts to go wrong, don't have the concertina effect at the side of the wall and can still have them open , just not fully open which you will probably rarely do anyway in this country.