If you have a large room in the home or office and want to have the facility to divide the room up into smaller areas, when not fully in use, then internal folding doors are the perfect choice. The most popular types are made from wood and aluminium. Many come with full height glazed panels which is a great way of transferring light from one room to another as well as providing privacy when closed. In additional almost 100% clear opening is achieved with these doors.
Wooden
The internal folding sliding doors can come in many opening configurations from 3 to 6 door panels. Opening configurations can be installed as follows:
|
No Of Doors |
Left Side Sliding/Opening |
Right Side Sliding/Opening |
|
3 |
Three doors to one side | |
|
4 |
Three doors to one side | One door on other side |
|
5 |
Five doors to one side | |
|
6 |
Three doors to one side | Three doors to other side |
|
6 |
Five doors to one side | One door to other side |
The above opening configurations can be reversed.
The leading door, sometimes called the slave door, can be used to walk through without having to open all the doors.
Each door panel is hinged to each other to form the overall door partition.
The internal wooden folding doors slide on an overhead track with stainless rollers. The track bears the weight of the door panels. A guide flush mounted track is located in the floor to guide the internal glazed folding doors while sliding.
The folding doors are usually available in 3, 4, 5 and 6 door configurations. Popular sizes for wooden type internal folding glass doors are as follows:
|
No Of Doors |
Width |
Height |
||
|
mm |
Inches / Feet |
mm |
Inches / Feet |
|
|
3 |
1830 |
72” (6’) |
1981 |
78 (6’6”) |
|
4 |
2440 |
96” (8’) |
1981 |
78 (6’6”) |
|
5 |
3050 |
120” (10” |
1981 |
78 (6’6”) |
|
6 |
3660 |
144 (12’) |
1981 |
78 (6’6”) |
The above dimensions are the combined door sizes. The structural opening for the group of doors needs to be slightly larger to accommodate the frame and sliding mechanisms. Add approximately 100mm (4”) to the overall width and 75 mm (3”) to the height to the dimensions in the above table.
Clasic example of folding doors internally
Aluminium
Sliding folding doors are also available in aluminium and sizes range from 2.1 M up to 9 M. Aluminium is lightweight and strong, offering slim profile framing, making the sliding motion smooth and effortlessly.
Standard width sizes include:
|
No Of Doors |
Standard Width (mm) |
Standard Width (Inches) |
Standard Width (Feet) |
|
3 |
2100 2400 2700 3000 |
82¾ 94½ 106¼ 118 |
6’ 10¾” 7’ 10½” 8’ 10¼” 9’ 10” |
|
4 |
2800 3200 3600 4000 |
110¼ 126 141¾ 157½ |
9’ 4¼” 12’ 6” 11’ 9¾” 13’ 1½” |
|
5 |
3500 4000 4500 5000 |
137¾ 157½ 177 196¾ |
11’ 5¾” 13’ 1½” 14’ 9” 16’ 4¾” |
|
6 |
4200 4800 5400 6000 |
165¼ 189 212½ 236¼ |
13’ 9¼” 15’ 9” 17’ 8½ 19’ 8¼” |
|
7 |
4900 5600 6300 7000 |
193 220½ 248 275½ |
16’ 1” 18’ 4½” 20’ 8” 22’ 11½ |
|
8 |
5600 6400 7200 8000 |
220½ 252” (21’) 283½ 315 |
18’ 4½” 21’ 23’ 7½” 26’ 3” |
|
9 |
9000 |
354½ |
29’ 6½” |
Opening configurations can be one or two to the one side and the remaining to the other side.
If the structural opening is smaller and space is limited for traditional type doors then interior doors folding to the side may be a better option. A good example of suitable doors in this instance is bi-folding doors.
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