Folding door hardware

The kitchen is next on the tidy up the house a bit list (ripping it all out and putting a decent one in will have to wait until my numbers come up on the lotto!)

It has a folding door that I quite like, but has just been attached to the door frame and doesn't fit it at all.

1) The door is slightly (2cm) too short. Is there a way of making it taller (e.g. gluing a strip of wood to the bottom). Or would making the door fram e slightly shorter by attaching some wood to the header work better?

2) What kind of door hardware do you fit to that kind of door? I definitely want it to still be able to lie flat against the wall. Recessed handles fo r the inside bit when folded closed? Knobs on the outside either side of th e fold? Roller catch to hold it shut?

The bit that sticks out used to contain a warm air heating unit for the hou se apparently. It's used as a place to store junk and the vac now. Next doo r ripped theirs out, which I might do - when the lotto numbers come up and a new kitchen is affordable!

Here is a pic:

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Philip

Reply to
philipuk
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" snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com" grunted in news: snipped-for-privacy@googlegroups.com:

I'd definitely glue a strip to the bottom of the door; it would be much less noticeable being at ground level (a previous owner did it it to our living room door and it really doesn't bother me (and I'm dead fussy, me).

I have a bathroom door like this in a property I rent out. When I bought the place, there was no form of handle/catch in place - I think the idea was you just had to sing very loudly while on the bog - but I wanted to put this right before letting the place, so had the same issue as you. I ended up putting a pull-knob on the outside, on the panel furthest away from the main hinge but positioned fairly near the overall centre of the door (the door folds *inwards* so the pull knob doesn't impinge).

On the inside of the door I fitted a flush-fitting ring pull like this:

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ring-pull-_1.jpg - again, on the outer panel close to the mid-line hinge (ISTR the two handles were almost back-to-back). My first attempt involved a non-recessed handle, which was rubbish, as it prevented the two door panels from folding properly. The slight 'gotcha' is the door is a hollow, thin-walled MDF construction, and there's bugger all to attach the recessed handle to (and it needs firmly anchoring to resist pulling forces). Think I solved that one with copious quantities of car body filler!

As for a catch, I just ended up using a brass hook-and-eye inside the bathroom (so the door can't actually be latched shut from the outside). That's probably inappropriate for a kitchen though.

HTH

Reply to
Lobster

" snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com" grunted in news: snipped-for-privacy@googlegroups.com:

I'd definitely glue a strip to the bottom of the door; it would be much less noticeable being at ground level (a previous owner did it it to our living room door and it really doesn't bother me (and I'm dead fussy, me).

I have a bathroom door like this in a property I rent out. When I bought the place, there was no form of handle/catch in place - I think the idea was you just had to sing very loudly while on the bog - but I wanted to put this right before letting the place, so had the same issue as you. I ended up putting a pull-knob on the outside, on the panel furthest away from the main hinge but positioned fairly near the overall centre of the door (the door folds *inwards* so the pull knob doesn't impinge).

On the inside of the door I fitted a flush-fitting ring pull like this:

formatting link
ring-pull-_1.jpg - again, on the outer panel close to the mid-line hinge (ISTR the two handles were almost back-to-back). My first attempt involved a non-recessed handle, which was rubbish, as it prevented the two door panels from folding properly. The slight 'gotcha' is the door is a hollow, thin-walled MDF construction, and there's bugger all to attach the recessed handle to (and it needs firmly anchoring to resist pulling forces). Think I solved that one with copious quantities of car body filler!

As for a catch, I just ended up using a brass hook-and-eye inside the bathroom (so the door can't actually be latched shut from the outside). That's probably inappropriate for a kitchen though.

HTH

Reply to
Lobster

Bit's on the bottoms of the doors won't be noticeable. Sticking bits to the frame at the top may well look odd as the thickness of sections of architrave varies around the door.

Bi-fold door set. Runner that fits to the top of the frame that takes a slied attached to the outside top of the door and two pivots for the top/bottom of the inside end of the door. A bi-fold set will only allow the door to go to 90 deg when open.

Yes but probably not both sides outside as the one against the wall will stop the door going right against the wall. See above though you may have a bit of clearance with only a 90 deg opening, skirting etc.

Won't need it with a bi-fold set the door can't swing like a conventional door, it folds and slides.

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

The kitchen is next on the tidy up the house a bit list (ripping it all out and putting a decent one in will have to wait until my numbers come up on the lotto!)

It has a folding door that I quite like, but has just been attached to the door frame and doesn't fit it at all.

1) The door is slightly (2cm) too short. Is there a way of making it taller (e.g. gluing a strip of wood to the bottom). Or would making the door frame slightly shorter by attaching some wood to the header work better?

2) What kind of door hardware do you fit to that kind of door? I definitely want it to still be able to lie flat against the wall. Recessed handles for the inside bit when folded closed? Knobs on the outside either side of the fold? Roller catch to hold it shut?

The bit that sticks out used to contain a warm air heating unit for the house apparently. It's used as a place to store junk and the vac now. Next door ripped theirs out, which I might do - when the lotto numbers come up and a new kitchen is affordable!

Here is a pic:

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Philip, your pic doesn't look at all like a folding door. It looks like a standard wooden door that's had some 4 or 5 inches sawn off the right-hand side. How exactly does it fold ?

Jim Hawkins

Reply to
Jim Hawkins

It's in its folded position in the picture (where it spends 99% of its time) so halves are in the picture, one at the front, one hidden behind it.

There is a hinge attaching the back half to the door frame and another hinge in the middle of the door attaching the two halves together.

It's definitely designed to be like that, as it's a hollow cardboard in the middle type door and has wood around all the edges.

Philip

Reply to
philipuk

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