Wooden internal bifold doors: benefits, designs and specifications

Author: John Collins - Managing Director

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Wooden internal bifold doors (also known as concertina doors or internal folding doors) are a popular way of increasing the amount of light and space in various rooms around the home. They come in a range of different styles and sizes to suit any taste or home design requirement. In this guide, we’ll outline some key considerations to help you find the best wooden internal bifold door system for you.

1. STYLISH —Wooden bifold doors utilise modern technological advancements for a contemporary stylish look and feel. They are considered one of the better-looking materials compared to synthetics such as uPVC.
2. DURABLE, LONG-LASTING AND HIGH-QUALITY -Vufold creates high-quality wooden internal bifolds that are designed to last. We offer a 15-year guarantee on all our bifold doors.
3. GOOD FOR THE ENVIRONMENT —Because wood is a natural material, it requires less manufacturing compared to synthetic materials like uPVC. Less manufacturing means less carbon dioxide, which lowers your carbon footprint. Wooden doors are biodegradable and can be responsibly sourced. All of Vufold’s timber doors are FSC®-certified meaning we only use responsibly sourced materials. Vufold is fully CE marked meaning we are compliant with environmental, health and safety protection requirements.
4. INCREASED NATURAL LIGHT —Classic bifold doors are fitted with glass. When used as a room divider, you are giving sunlight a wider entryway into both of the rooms separated by the door system.
5. SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED FOR INTERNAL USE —Often, internal aluminium and uPVC bifold doors are repurposed external doors fitted inside. This means they are often over-specified, oversized and overpriced. Vufold’s timber internal bifolds are specifically designed to be fitted inside your home.
6. INCREASED SPACE —You can turn two rooms into one with a sliding bifold door partition. For example, you could transform your kitchen and dining room into one large area for parties or social events.
7. OPEN PLAN OR CLOSED PLAN —Large open plan spaces can be great for parties but difficult to live with for day-to-day activities. Using internal bifolds as a room divider means that you can have the best of both and choose between open plan or closed plan. There are several benefits of using internal bifolds to give yourself open and closed plan options—find out more by visiting our case studies.
8. SOUND ABSORPTION —Wood absorbs sound, which can help significantly reduce noise levels for additional comfort. This can be particularly beneficial to homeowners who live in noisy areas such as cities or on busy main roads.
9. CAN BE INSTALLED WITHOUT A THRESHOLD —Vufold’s internal timber bifold doors are either side or top hung and feature low thresholds that can be easily made to the same level as your flooring. Alternatively, some sizes can even be fitted with no threshold at all giving you seamless flooring throughout.

Interior folding doors can vary in size and design, so it’s worth taking the time to consider what type of door system you require for your home.

Inspire

Fold flat is a brand-new concept in internal bifold doors. Its unique design allows the doors to fold 180 degrees against the wall, maximising the size of the opening itself as the doors aren’t stacked within it. This avoids obstructions as the doors don’t stick out into the room.

A single door can be opened for easy access, or the simple-to-operate to slide bolts can be unlocked to allow all of the doors to be opened and folded out of the way.

Inspire comes in two styles:

• Unfinished oak
• White

Find out more about finishes below.

Quick info:

• Frame depth: 91mm
• Door thickness: 40mm
• Guarantee: 15-year product guarantee (full guarantee details)

Finesse

Finesse is a stunning range of bifolds that give your living space an elegance that never goes out of style. These large single-pane glass doors can brighten up even the darkest of rooms. They use a top-hung roller system which makes opening and closing the doors completely effortless.

Upon installation, you can choose whether the doors open to the left or right, depending on the layout of your room. There is also a daily access door (see image) that allows easy access between rooms, without having to open the whole set.

Finesse comes in three styles:

• Unfinished oak with clear glass
• Unfinished oak with frosted glass
• White with clear glass

Find out more about finishes below.

Quick info:

• Frame depth: 110mm
• Door thickness: 40mm
• Guarantee: 15-year product guarantee (full guarantee details)

Edge

The Edge internal room divider bifold doors range offers a beautiful contemporary look. Use them to divide one large room or combine two rooms into one. The glass panels are made from 4mm-thick clear toughened glass for added safety.

Similar to the Finesse slim internal bifold doors range, Edge uses a top-hung roller system for smooth opening and closing. Some sizes also come with a bottom track offering a natural break between different floorings.

Edge comes in one style:

• Unfinished oak

Find out more about finishes below.

Quick info:

• Frame depth: 110mm
• Door thickness: 40mm
• Guarantee: 15-year product guarantee (full guarantee details)

Check out all the different types of wooden internal bifold designs.

WOODEN INTERNAL BIFOLD DOOR SIZES AND SPECIFICATIONS

There are several styles of wooden bifolds, so it comes down to a balance between your personal taste and some practical decisions. Your taste may influence the finish and colour of your door set while the interior space you have available will decide its width and number of panels.

Width

The width of your bifolds is determined by the wall size and the space available. Vufold makes bifolds with widths ranging from 1.2m (double door) to 3.6m (five-door).

How to measure for bifold doors

You can measure your aperture for bifolds in three easy steps:

1. Measure the width at three separate levels (bottom, middle and top)
2. Measure the height from top to bottom at three separate places (left, centre and right)
3. Subtract 10mm from the smallest measurements to ensure there’s enough space to fit the doors and the frame

To check whether the aperture is a perfect square, measure the diagonals from corner to corner.

Number of doors

The number of door panels your bifolds require depends on the width of the door opening. The wider the space, the more doors you need. Standard wooden internal bifolds have two to five doors, but more than six doors are available for bespoke purchases.

Glass

All of Vufold’s wooden internal bifolds use single glazed 4mm toughened safety glass. Every pane of glass is compliant with European Standards BSEN12150 and BSEN12600.

Made to measure

Vufold sells made-to-measure internal and external bifold doors. If you’re looking for something outside of the standard range, you can fill in our custom form and we’ll get right back to you. You can also talk to us via the live website chat (bottom right of this page). All you need to do is answer some simple questions and we can give you a quote for a bespoke door in a matter of minutes.

Finishes

Vufold’s wooden internal bifold doors come in two finishes:

• White -A high-standard, fully factory-finished neutral colour that will suit almost any room
• Unfinished oak —This allows you to finish the doors however you like. You can stain, varnish or paint them to match your furniture, carpets or walls.

WOODEN INTERNAL BIFOLD DOOR WIDTHS AND PRICES

WOODEN INTERNAL BIFOLD DOOR HARDWARE

Vufold only uses the very best hardware manufactured in architectural grade stainless steel. All bearings are custom machined and the wheels are individually precision ground to ensure silky smooth operation. Our hardware has been cycle-tested to the equivalent of 40 years of opening and closing. When you purchase from Vufold, all fixings are included.

• Top and bottom pivots —These are attached between the pivot door and frames to allow the doors to rotate and pivot outwards as they fold up. They are fully adjustable for fine-tuning after installation to keep your doors operating perfectly over their life cycle.
• Half offset hinges —These are used between the pivot and middle door of a bifold. Offset hinges allow the doors to fold together easily.
• Intermediate carrier —This is the roller assembly that glides smoothly along the top track allowing the doors to slide and fold together.
• Straight hinge —This attaches the access door to the middle door.
• Slide bolts —These are specially-made and easy to operate, used to fasten the doors in the closed position.
• Tubular mortice latch and keep —This is a simple closing device commonly used on internal doors where no lock is needed. The mortice latch is located in the door and the keep is in the frame.
• Installation bags —These contain all the fixings and drill bits that are needed to install Vufold internal bifold doors into your pre-prepared opening.

Seals

Vufold is unique in using seals/gaskets on all our internal bifold doors. We use a combination of rubber O gaskets between the doors and Q-lon or brush seals around the frames. They help reduce noise transfer between rooms and also prevent annoying light gaps between the doors.

MATERIALS COMPARISON: ALUMINIUM VS TIMBER VS uPVC

Most internal (and often external) bifold doors are made from three materials: aluminium, timber or uPVC. Each of these has its own pros and cons.