Buying bifold doors - what should i look for

longwalks1

We are due to open up the back wall of the house, remove the back door and kitchen window and want to fit bifold doors, with one that opens as a normal traffic door to use every day.  We'd like aluminium doors, in white, with as small a sightline as possible.
Any recommendations please?  Also, what should we look for in regards to glass thickness, energy rating, double/triple glazing etc
Its south facing, if that makes a difference

Doozergirl

If you want small sight lines, you should be considering sliding doors.

Great quality doors.  We have the Glide R
https://www.expressbifolds.co.uk/

longwalks1

Thanks doozergirl - We did consider sliding doors, as the tiny/zero sightline would be what we see 11 months of the year.  But it would be our only means of getting into the rear garden, and with a dog we open/close the back door several times a day, wasnt sure if sliding doors would be up to that over time

Doozergirl

britishboy said:

Thanks doozergirl - We did consider sliding doors, as the tiny/zero sightline would be what we see 11 months of the year.  But it would be our only means of getting into the rear garden, and with a dog we open/close the back door several times a day, wasnt sure if sliding doors would be up to that over time

We let our dog out of ours.  Why would a door not be up to being a door?    Sliding doors are more reliable than bi-folds. 

EssexExile

I'm with the op, I'd much rather have a hinged door than a sliding door for general use.

As for the specifics, we just went with a local company who did what we wanted, no idea what the energy rating is!

Doozergirl

EssexExile said:

I'm with the op, I'd much rather have a hinged door than a sliding door for general use.

As for the specifics, we just went with a local company who did what we wanted, no idea what the energy rating is!

Each to their own.  

I enjoy looking out of 5 linear metres of picture glass each day with only one interruption line.   We also shopped around for quality and considered the longevity of both types of window.  I've had the benefit of buying many for clients but we've had 4 sets of friends now have to replace bifolds after 10 years.  The moving parts, the uneven weight distribution, the thermal breaks that develop isn't something that I want to invest £1,000 a linear metre in.  

With a modest opening of up to 3 metres, bifolds have their place because opening all of it has value on a nice summer's day.  But 3 metres with broken sight lines is still a consideration.   There's a point to me at which the balance swings heavily towards sliding doors.  

EssexExile

If it's a big opening perhaps a single glass door for regular access and sliding doors for the nice summer days?

davilown

Don’t - sliding doors all the way. Much better views, much more light let in. Plus the issues with bifolds are well documented 

HampshireH

We opened our lounge up by removing a window and wall beneath and putting in bifolds white aluminium. Only two lanes no door accessible from the outside.

Not sure how true this is, But we were told triple glazing would be too heavy so the company we used didn't recommend it. Not sure if they  would have done it anyway. We had all our other windows triple glazed (massive improvement in sound reduction for us )

EssexExile

HampshireH said:

We opened our lounge up by removing a window and wall beneath and putting in bifolds white aluminium. Only two lanes no door accessible from the outside.

Not sure how true this is, But we were told triple glazing would be too heavy so the company we used didn't recommend it. Not sure if they  would have done it anyway. We had all our other windows triple glazed (massive improvement in sound reduction for us )

Our bifolds are triple glazed, no problem moving them even for an old pensioner like me.

HampshireH

EssexExile said:

HampshireH said:

We opened our lounge up by removing a window and wall beneath and putting in bifolds white aluminium. Only two lanes no door accessible from the outside.

Not sure how true this is, But we were told triple glazing would be too heavy so the company we used didn't recommend it. Not sure if they  would have done it anyway. We had all our other windows triple glazed (massive improvement in sound reduction for us )

Our bifolds are triple glazed, no problem moving them even for an old pensioner like me.

Sorry I mean too heavy in the frame, not to move. No idea why they didn't recommend it then as it would have cost us more