I plan to make bifold panel closet doors for 3 openings/entrances. If one opening is 5 feet wide, I know I don't want the doors to be an exact
30" for each side (or do I?) due to obvious reasons. How much clearance should I provide? Is there a general guide/rule for door size with specific opening size?Thanks
Assuming the opening really is 60", and square, I'd make them 30" and then plane them to size before hanging.
You need the radius of the door swing (hing end) minimum clearance at the pivot end. If the panel is 2 inches thick, and the pivot pin is 1 inch from the end of the door panel, you need the distance from the center of the pin to the corner of the door panel That is about 1.4 inches, plus a little clearance - so say 1.5. That means .5 inch clearance at the "hinge" end. You need about half that at the closing end to allow the corner of the door to get around at the end..I like to keep the gap on both ends the same, myself.
Now, GENERALLY the panels are less than 2 inches thick, so you don't need quite the half inch IF the pivot is mounted an inch or less from the edge. I believe standard stock bifolds are sized 1 inch smaller than the finished opening size..
Double bifolds for a 60 inch opening would need to be a MAXIMUM of
29.5 inches per side, or about 14.75inches per panel if your fold hinges are properly set in.
Absolutely correct! You need a plan and you need to know a little geometry. If you have the plan and the knowledge you will know exactly what the perfect width for the panels will be. That assumes a perfect opening which it probably wont be.
Once you got the width calculated all you need to do is take a wild ass guess on how much they will grow in humid weather! Subtract the value of your wild ass guess from your calculated value and you'll be close.
Oh, wait! What about the hinges? Are they mortised or not? Are the going to be attached to the adjacent sides of the doors or to the inside surface of the doors? That decision will also affect the width of the panels. Aren't you glad you asked?
My advice is worth exactly what you paid for it.
As snipped-for-privacy@snyder.on.ca said plus another reason for being a bit narrower than the opening is to allow the doors to be hung plumb in an opening that is very likely to be less than square.
I generally hide the gap between door edge and wall with a molding.
For 1 1/4 doors, and using off the shelf hardware:
Rough Opening less 1/2"
A smart man will buy his hardware _first_, then build the doors to the opening and hardware requirements.
"Mike Marlow" wrote in news:l43hhv$v45$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:
Fortunately, most of us are smart... but how did we get so many people named "alec"?
Puckdropper
Mine too. Money back guarantee on all information provided on use-net.
Having used my own tried and true method of screwing up first before gettin g on with things, I can vouch for that advice.
I have installed light weight doors that have several small hinges on them and have NO foot bolt arrangement. I have installed doors that require you drill the footer into concrete to secure them. I have installed small set s that only attach with a continuous rail on the top of the jamb, and have an "L" bracket at the bottom that is a pivot point for the door hardware. When I put them in a closet opening a couple of years ago I put a threshold on top of the carpet in the room to hold the hardware because the client d idn't want to have his carpet cut. In each case, the hardware is different on all applications.
Of course, none of that means much if the opeings in question aren't pretty square. There isn't THAT much adjustment to the hardware no matter the ma ker.
Robert
Is there a general guide/rule for door size with
FYI, having added\replaced closet doors in several homes and rental propert ies, I have found bi-fold doors are VERY unforgiving of out-of-square situa tions. In other words, bi-folds are almost always a problem and trust me it , ain't easy to make them fit right in most instances. I threw out the last pair after hacking on them for quite some time trying to get them to have a decent fit in a bad hole. The sliding mirror doors took 10 minutes and lo ok fine. I would say build-too-fit is pretty much what is called for with b i-fold. I have abandoned even trying to use them in any of my rentals even though they really offer the best access. Of course I buy off the shelf uni ts and they typically don't have much material or built in capacity to be s quared up, unlike sliders.
I thought about replacement bifold doors when I was updating three closets, but elected to go with solid panel doors from HD. Happy with the results, except June thru September when my perfectly sized doors swell with the pr ide of my craftsmanship. Spent a lot of time on mortising the hinges, but should have figured out something for the annual humidity. Very nice fit i n all but summer where I have to close both simultaneously.
Larry
Kinda like a REAL man asking for directions, ain't it?
I don't like to ask for directions because I've learned that they usually don't even know which way is up, much less where I want to go. Even a cop. People will tell me something, even if they haven't a clue. Not helpful.
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