Hi
I would like to remove a regular door (about 78" x 28"), and replace it with mirrored bi-fold doors.
Can you do that? Or, do you have to rip out the existing conventional door frame and re-frame it?
Does it required a track on the bottom? This door is to the laundry room, so I don't want anyone tripping over a track on the floor. HELP!
Clue-less in Philly,
-Mike
Hi, How about mounting a mirror panel on the existing door? Tony
Yes you can do that without reframing...but based on the questions you've asked, you'd better pay someone to do it for you.
Yes you can and it is not difficult. Each bifold has two piviots at the edge of the frame, one at the top in a track and one at the bottom. A bifold won't be as tight as a regular door and most are shorter than a standard door. You will probably need make the height slightly less by adding wood to mount the track at the top. Then you will need to add some trim at the top and some on the side for looks and a tighter fit.
Standard bifold doors don't have a track at the bottom.
28 inches wide is not a lot to begin with. Your going to loose another 4-8 inches for the bi-fold doors when they are collapsed. (WAG)
Bi folds typically have tracks top and bottom.
There are plastic folding doors that only have a track at the top.
On 1/3/2005 12:00 PM US(ET), SQLit took fingers to keys, and typed the following:
None of the bi-folds I have, including 3 luan, 2 wood louvered, and 1 mirrored metal, have tracks on the bottom. They range from 3 to 20 years old.
1) A 28 inch door to a laundry room is far too narrow. If you cannot walk through the door with a laundry basket without scraping your knuckles, the door is too narrow.
A bifold door would take your 28 inch opening down to an effective 21 or 22 inches at best.
2) 28 inches is not a standard size for bifolds. You could cut down a pair of 15 inch standard bifold doors to fit, but mirrored doors are another thing again. Custom mirrored bifolds are expensive. 3) In your place, I would re frame and go with at least a 30 inch opening. 4) If, as your questions and signature suggest, you are fairly new to this sort of thing, you may be best to find a friend or a pro. Go to the local door stores ... many have racks for local carpenters' business cards.Ken
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Not to mention removing and replacing a washer or dryer.
Your second statement isn't true where I live. None of the bifold closet doors in my house have a track for the bottom and the bifolds sold at HD here don't have bottom tracks either.
The loss of space is true so he doesn't want bifold "doors" he want one bifold "door" and that will still lose about 4" of width.
I would like to thank everyone for the information, and don't worry, I won't be doing this project myself :-)
Based on the good points made here, I won't be doing this on the door to the laundry room because of the reduced clearance issue.
I decided, however, to do it on the closet door (93h X 45w). These are currently quad-fold. The floor & ceiling is concrete.
Home Depot says if I want mirror these doors, it must have a track on the bottom to support the weight. I spoke to my upstairs neighbor (same layout), and she had her existing doors mirrored and she does not have a bottom track (just the two pivot points on each side). Again, Thanks to all, Clue-less in Philly
I would think that if the hinges are large enough and properly fastened they should certainly be able to support the weight of a single thickness mirror, particualrly on pairs of doors that are going to be less than two feet wide.
I see plenty of full sized doors with pretty large mirrors mounted onto them.
HTH,
Jeff
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