Will replacing back door with bifolds loose much heat

longwalks1

We're currently planning to refurbish the kitchen and want to remove the back door and window and replace the opening (total width 2.8m) with either bifold doors or sliding door. Will be aluminium framed.  

Will we notice much heat loss by fitting a majority glass rear to the kitchen, it is south facing.  And can you get triple glazed sliding or bifold doors?  Just planning things at present

EssexExile

You can definitely get triple glazed bi-folds, we have them in our dining room.

Bendy_House

Hi longwalks.

I doubt you'd notice any loss. And there's every chance the new doors will be an improvement.

We had doors, windows and skywhatsits fitted by them: https://www.gfdhomes.co.uk/

The 3.6m bifolds were Real Smart Visofold Bi Fold, and we went 'triple' as it was less than £200 extra.

No issues at all with lack of insulation, and I'd certainly recommend the company with no hesitation - I'd suggest adding them to your quoting selection.

Their chosen installers, tho' - Martindales - left a bit to be desired, but all is ultimately good.

longwalks1

Thank you for your replies.  Think we will try to go for triple glazed.  Cant decide on bifolds or sliding doors.  opening is only 2.8m, so with bifolds there will be 2 x thicker sightlines, where as with sliding doors we could get a tiny 20mm or 40mm single sightline.  but then sliding doors dont offer full opening to the garden in the summer.  But bifolds would need to open out onto out patio, so when open they'd be a bit of an obstacle to navigate .

Any preferences or pros/cons you can think of?

greenface2

go for aluminium rather than upvc . Lesson learned about future issues due to previous problems . sliders are more expensive and slightly better u values ( normally ) Fitted right with a decent system with a thermal break and triple glazing you wouldn't look back  

ashe

longwalks1 said:

Thank you for your replies.  Think we will try to go for triple glazed.  Cant decide on bifolds or sliding doors.  opening is only 2.8m, so with bifolds there will be 2 x thicker sightlines, where as with sliding doors we could get a tiny 20mm or 40mm single sightline.  but then sliding doors dont offer full opening to the garden in the summer.  But bifolds would need to open out onto out patio, so when open they'd be a bit of an obstacle to navigate .

Any preferences or pros/cons you can think of?

Everyone I know with bifolds never opens them because you get a house full of flies. Suppose it depends where you live!

FreeBear

If your existing opening is currently fully glazed, replacing with a new bifold or sliding door will reduce your heat loss fractionally. Current u-value is 1.6W/m²K for replacement doors/windows. From June, this will drop to 1.4W/m²K. Unlikely you will notice the difference.

While you are refurbishing the space, consider upgrading the insulation on the external walls & floor. With heating costs going through the roof at the moment, the pay back time is coming down.

Bendy_House

It has to be your choice, depending on your circumstances.

Bifolds - full width opening, but has to stack sticking out either inwards or out.

Sliding - easy to control amount of opening, and no wind problems. But only one half opens.

French - both doors need to swing outwards or inwards, so space required.
(Outwards opening obvs best as better seal)
I wouldn't worry about frame thickness/sightlines so much, as - in my experience at least - you barely notice. This (pleasantly) surprised me.

BUFF

FreeBear said:

While you are refurbishing the space, consider upgrading the insulation on the external walls & floor. 

if that 2.8m wide x ~ presumably something like 2.1m high is 25% or more of the external wall area won't they be required to bring the wall up to current building standards (if practicable) anyway?

DRP

My preference would be sliding doors: larger panes, less frame usually, don't protrude when open. A 1.4m opening for the door will feel very large.

FreeBear

BUFF said:

FreeBear said:

While you are refurbishing the space, consider upgrading the insulation on the external walls & floor. 

if that 2.8m wide x ~ presumably something like 2.1m high is 25% or more of the external wall area won't they be required to bring the wall up to current building standards (if practicable) anyway?

If it is an existing opening, then I don't think so. But even so, I'd still be looking at doing other thermal upgrades where possible.