Some while back, browsing at the library, I saw an ad in Fine Woodworking for bi-fold door hardware that allows the door to swing OUT of the opening when in the open position. In other words, the door folds back against one of the adjacent walls instead of hogging room within the opening.
Can't find the article, don't know which issue. Tried Google. Does anybody have a lead on this item?
Thanks,
Ivan Vegvary
Uhhh...every bifold door I have ever seen folds out. Has to if the panel hinges - not the pivot hinges - are on the inside of the doors where they belong.
the sections. Then when opened half the door goes out, half goes in. The "half goes in" is what I would guess limits adoption. Often bi- folds are on closets and this would typically require a deeper closet. No free lunch; the space not hogged out of the room by opening the doors is hogged out of the room permanently. For the center pivot, the hinges could still be on the inside faces of the doors.
hex
-30-
Okay, I guess I'm not describing this well enough. The typical bi-folds that I have seen (closets mainly) are on a track and stack up against one side of the opening thereby reducing the entry space.
The ad I saw in the magazine looked like the bi-folds would collapse (fold) in half, as expected, and then swing out of the opening and onto the adjacent wall of the main room.
In my case I have a small office with a 26 inch door. I have removed the ordinary door years ago due to lack of swing space. However, I would like to have privacy while, for example, my wife has company and I would like to work on the computer. The solution I am trying to describe above would allow me (when open) to fold the entire assembly flat against the living room wall instead of it folded within the 26 inch entry space.
This is advertised as a newly developed item. If I remember correctly, the assembly was a hinge thingy with a swing arm that allowed the unit to be swung into the adjacent room and sit flat (but folded) against the wall.
Thanks,
Ivan Vegvary
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I don't recall seeing such an ad but it sounds more like something that would have been in Fine Homebuilding rather than FWW (I take both and don't recall it there, either; just seems like more appropriate venue).
If you have no clue about general time frame of the issue and you're convinced it's actually in one, best I could do would be to use the search engine for articles on closet storage and similar; it seems to me they tend to have such specialized ads in conjunction w/ articles on related or similar topics. Does the online index include the "new products" reviews sections if it was in there by any chance?
Woodworkers Hardware might be a place to start for the search itself...
No other good ideas/leads, sorry...
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Check this website about halfway down.
YES, that is the one. "Johnson 1601 Hardware System"
Ivan Vegvary
So you want the doors to fold against a wall in the same plane as the opening, right? To do that, you have to move the door *out* of the opening so that it can swing 180 degrees.
You'd have to build sort of a casing around the opening and mount the doors to it. You could use either the track and pivot hinges or just butt hinges.
I didn't see a question from you, snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com, but I'm guessing you also want to have bifold doors fold into the room rather than the closet just like Ivan did almost 7 years ago, right? If do, that is the normal way, no special hardware needed.
Now answer a question for me: how could anyone screw up a bifold door installation so they swing into the closer?
I think he is talking about a door that will open farther than normal to take up less room in the opening, not make more room in the closet/opposite side of the opening.
I think the solution would be to have bi fold doors that are wider than the opening and fit on the outside of the opening. Unlock the inner panels from the top and bottom tracks and you can swing both sides 180 degrees against the parallel walls that they are mounted to.
My dad just didn't put the track on. Was clumsy but worked.
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