How To Install Bifold Doors In Rough Opening

It seems every house built since the 1950s has closets with sliding doors. Space-saving, sure, but not the best-looking—and certainly not very revealing when you're trying to run across (or achieve) the goods in the heart of the closet where the doors overlap each other.

Heavy bifold doors with a sturdy track, on the other paw, move effortlessly away from the center of the closet to give you a full picture of the contents inside. And because bifolds come in a wide array of profiles, they bring character to a plain opening. Replacing those hollow-core builder'south specials with a pair of weighty solid folders isn't a huge bargain; the whole associates and installation will accept yous a mere Sat afternoon. Follow our step-past-footstep guide to DIY bifold doors and y'all'll exist rewarded with a broad-angle view when it'south time to pick out the day's duds.

Step 1

Bifold Doors Overview

Bifold doors are much like whatsoever doors, only connected into pairs with hinges and hung on a runway. What makes them look good and piece of work well are a solid, heavy construction and sturdy and carefully adjusted hardware.

The heft of the doors is what keeps them from shuddering when you open them. So information technology'southward all-time to look for solid–core or solid–forest doors, which will experience more substantial than hollow–core doors. (Solid doors are also easier to trim if any part of your door opening is out of square.) And so, in gild to handle the weight of these heavier doors, y'all'll demand a track that includes a wheeled mechanism, which allows the doors to glide smoothly rather than shimmy along the track.

The most difficult—and sometimes nearly frustrating—role of the installation is attaching and adjusting all the hardware. The track, the pivots, the hinges all have to exist assembled merely so, and it'southward worth taking the fourth dimension to double–check every measurement and position to be sure each piece is in the right place and facing the correct way.

Step 2

Mount the hinges

Finish or pigment the doors before starting. Label the doors to evidence the order they'll be installed and which sides confront out.

Have a jamb side door and marking its inner edge 11 inches from the bottom, 7 inches from the top, and centered betwixt the two. Place the door on edge with the marks facing upward.

Take the lower half of a hinge and align its bottom with the bottom mark, its knuckles facing back and flush to the edge. Utilise a self?centering bit to drill pilot holes through the hinge holes. Spiral on the hinge plate. Attach the top and heart hinges, on their marks.

Place the leading (inner) door on edge, facing back-to-back with the first door. Marshal the doors evenly against a square, then put the hinges together. Spiral the hinge plates to the leading door. Repeat on the second pair of doors.

Footstep iii

Attach the track hardware

Fasten the pin plates (the pins that fit into the rail and the floor bracket), and the locking arms (the hooks that slide forth the track) to the summit and bottom of each set of doors. The pivot plates continue the tops and bottoms of the jamb–side doors, and the locking arm on the tops of the leading doors.

Each kit requires its hardware to be uniquely positioned, and so check the diagrams that come with yours for exact measurements and placements. These volition tell you, for example, not only how far a pivot plate should be from the door edges around information technology but also where its pin should be in relation to the door's edges. Adhering to all the given dimensions ensures that no piece goes on backward.

Footstep 4

Install the track

Employ a hacksaw to cut the track to length to fit the cupboard opening. Slide the hanging hardware into the rail—the small stops in the center, and so around them the track hangers with wheels, and finally the pivot socket on the outside.

Attach the track to the door header with the screws provided. Position the rail 1 inch in from the front end border of the header. This will give you lot enough room to hide the track with trim without limiting the door activeness.

Tip:Don't tighten the hardware onto the track. Information technology volition be easier to hang the doors later if the pieces are loose.

Footstep 5

Position the floor bracket

Use the measurements supplied by the manufacturer to position the floor bracket side by side to the door jamb.

Hang a plumb bob from the eye of the track above the floor bracket to marshal the pivot pigsty in the bracket forepart to back. This will ensure that the doors are plumb when installed. Outline the bracket in pencil to mark its exact location.

Screw the bracket in place, and so remove the screws and set the bracket and screws aside.

Footstep 6

Hang the doors

Bring the doors to the rail and lift the jamb side to claw the pin of the elevation pin plate into the pin socket. Brand certain the pin is all the manner in, then push button the lever on the side of the socket to lock it in identify.

Slot the pin from the rail hanger into the locking arm on the leading door. Twist the arm to lock it into place. With the doors airtight, swing them forward enough to catch the floor bracket in the lesser pin pin.

Step 7

Attach the flooring bracket

Swing the doors back into place and align the floor subclass with the pencil marks. Employ a flexible bit extender to screw downwardly the subclass.

Hang the other set up of doors. Close both sets and adjust them forth the track to even up the reveal around them. Then, using the wrench provided with the hardware, tighten the pivot sockets on the ends of the rail and the small stops in the center.

Tip: Ask a helper to give you a hand in lifting and property the doors, which can be unwieldy.

Step 8

Adhere the door aligner

From inside the closet and with the doors closed, mount the door aligners between the 2 leading doors, six inches up from the flooring. The aligners grab when the doors are closed, keeping the door faces flush with each other.

From outside the cupboard, check the alignment. Accommodate the runway hardware every bit necessary to go on the reveal effectually the doors even.

Footstep 9

Install the door pulls

For flat doors, measure out 36 inches from the floor on each leading door. Then marker the eye, side-to-side, at that superlative. For paneled doors, find the centre of the middle rails instead. Hold a straightedge diagonally from corner to corner on the rail, draw a line in the centre, then switch to the other diagonal and cross the line. The X marks the track'south heart.

Drill 3/16?inch holes at each mark and screw on door pulls.

Cut a piece of 1x2 stock the width of the closet opening to conceal the track. Prime the trim and let it dry. Use a one/16?inch bit to drill pilot holes through the underside of the trim into the header. Screw the trim to the header with 2½?inch trim screws. Fill up the screw holes, then paint the trim to lucifer the casing.

Source: https://www.thisoldhouse.com/doors/21016678/how-to-install-bifold-doors

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