Mad for not considering bifolds in new extension?

[Miskate]

We're having a double storey extension adjacent to our 3 bed detached. The ground floor extension will be a very large living room and downstairs loo. Initially we were considering bifolds from the living room to the garden, but now the foundation has been poured and we have to finally make up our minds, we're not sure!

We already have French doors into the garden on the other side of our house in our current living room, which is by the kitchen and will be used as a dining room once extension finished.

Now we're thinking about getting very large, picture windows instead of the bifolds in the new bit, because

1. We already have access to the garden through the French doors on the other side of the house.

1. The new living room will have one wall less to put furniture against if there are bifolds.

1. Don't think we'll use bifolds much as we live in Wales (!)

Are we mental? Has anyone done this in the last ten years?

I think you reasoning not to put them in is sound. Much as they can be lovely they will make your room colder and presumably you're also planning to carpet the living room so you could potentially walk in mucky footprints too.

Unless you get the really, really expensive ones our builder said to avoid.

We are going for two huge sliding doors instead.

We're not putting bifolds in our planned extension.
There are already French windows in the room we are extending and there are matching French windows in another room that also faces the garden.
Also we only ever open them if we are in the room. Leaving them open unattended just encourages local cats to wander in!

Also noticing it's the living room, I also agree you won't use them and may miss the extra wall space.

I would not use bifolds even though I love the look.

I think that the price and trade off is not worth it for the short periods of sun that some parts of the UK get. Also I don't like the idea of having them open so wide and prefer picture windows and French doors or picture windows and sliding doors.

Sliding doors can be adjusted more in some ways and the glass still gives that open feel.

Some people have said that even on high quality bifolds, the slide and track will fail eventually, so does this mean that you need to shell out for them every 10 or 15 years?

There some articles online, I think I read it in house building and renovating magazine and real homes website has lots of good info.

We built a big kitchen extension and we were also put off bi folds by our architect. He said they can be draughty and the opening mechanism is a bit fiddly and we would need to move furniture when opening which would put us off opening them regularly. We instead went for the biggest glass sliding doors we could with the same size windows at each side. So effectively a huge wall of glass. I love it and have to say he was right. It's so easy to throw them open when it's warm. We live in Scotland and have then open lots.

We had to decide between bifolds and French doors. We chose the doors as they were cheaper, looked more in keeping with the house, had better reviews from others, our builder recommended them. I know 3 friends who have had no end of trouble with them! One friend can't even use them anymore as they won't open, she has no other way into her garden unless she goes out of her front door and round the side, the firm who installed them has gone out of business and the warranty isn't out of time.

I'd definitely have some opening doors ie French doors with big windows if you don't have bifolds. We actually changed a window into French doors into our garden and love them.

Thanks for all your helpful suggestions!
The reason I'm not keen on French doors is because I'm not convinced we'll use them that much, and the ones in the original house make more sense as you'd go through the kitchen and dining room into the garden more than going horizontally through the living room surely? We are going to karndean/whatever decent vinyl flooring the whole downstairs, so footprints not an issue.

It's useful to hear all the views about bifolds not being that great. Everyone I know keeps going on about how wonderful they are, but I just see a big wall of sticky toddler handprints I'll be cleaning for eternity.

We have put in a 5m wide opening. Originally we were going to have bifold doors but realised that we would probably only open them a few times each year.

The bifold doors would have 4 bars / mullions / lines down the windows as you have 5 panes of glass. We went for 2 large sliding doors because we only have one central line so less visual obstructions.

We got ones that open either side ie. you can open to the left and to the right. No fixed panes.

I hope that you have a lovely extension when all the work is done.

It completely depends what is in keeping with the house. If s picture window would not match any other window, I would not have one. I think matching the French doors would give continuity. Bifolds - maybe not in a lounge. I think bringing the garden in by having French doors is a good compromise.

They look nice on the telly but I wouldn't have them IRL. I would only want doors to the garden off the kitchen- people coming in and out of the garden on to living room carpets is impractical.
I don't like too much glass anyway- particularly if you are overlooked by neighbours. It's like living in a fishbowl. I would have to have massive curtains to pull over the entire structure as I don't like the idea of being watched when it's dark outside and you've got all your inside lights on- from 4:30 in winter.... And it can be too hot and too bright like a greenhouse in high summer.

That's what I'm wrestling with really.

It will look visually better to match the existing doors, but practically speaking it will be annoying and reduce our layout options.

Our extension on the whole is going to look a bit visually weird as the original house has very strange bricks that no builder can match (they have vertical lines going down the face, red) so will render the extension to avoid this problem.

I definitely wouldn't have them. It's one thing seeing them on television property programmes, it's another living with them. We're in England, for goodness sake, how many days will you have them fully open and what about the flies, etc.? Definitely agree with you, french doors all the way, so much more classy, and will give you more space to place your furniture.

We've stayed in a couple of holiday rentals with them. Both were awful and we've vowed never to have them ourselves and to try to avoid holiday rentals with them in future.

Both were really hard to open/close and needed a fair bit of brute force (both were relatively new/modern installations so neither were old and rusty etc). In one, they were the only way into the garden to put out rubbish etc and were a real pain. In the other, we opened them fully for a couple of hours one evening and didn't notice the flies coming in - we spent the next couple of hours swatting them from all over the house - there were dozens of the damn things everywhere.

I'd far rather have sliding doors if we were wanting a good view, or simple French/patio doors otherwise (which we have at home).

These bifolds are a good idea in theory and look good on the TV programs but pretty poor from a practical point of view.

I hadn’t realised this was so much of a fashion until two shops opened locally selling them - expensive retail space, so I assumed it must be worth it as a venture.

Most of the houses around here have had extensions of one kind or another ( side return plus) but until now not bifold. One completed last year, over the back and about three down and we have noticed that it seems to act as a sound box - you can hear everything that is being said in the room, louder than if they were in the garden, when they are open.

They are Victorian terraces, backing onto a blocked off access path - people are pretty considerate but also no one expects quiet in the gardens in the summer, especially with children - but all the neighbours are noticing this amplified noise from the bifold house.

I don't really think bifold even look nice but I guess it depends on whether it fits with the style of the house. However I do love French doors. We have them on the back of our lounge and I'm surprised how often we open them. It's really nice to sit in the lounge with the doors open.

We have 5 French doors and didn’t consider bifolds. Furniture isn’t an issue for us but they are visually in keeping with each other and the style of the house. I think picture windows scream 70s. They don’t provide good ventilation or much of a focal point. The other option might be a bay window with French doors in it?

The bifold doors would have 4 bars / mullions / lines down the windows as you have 5 panes of glass. We went for 2 large sliding doors because we only have one central line so less visual obstructions.

That's exactly what we thought too. We can access the garden from 3 different rooms and there's lots of glazing so the interior is very light and we get lovely views over greenery. Having said that, it's very important to consider how you're going to use the doors and where your furniture is going to go to make sure it makes sense.

We've just bifold fitted on our new extension at 3.4m wife and we're really pleased with them. They just add something extra and will really open up the space and interlink the garden. We plan to get a composite decking terrace outside. We live in SE though with a south facing garden so ours will be open a lot!

We have french doors in our living room and in our kitchen, at the moment I have one door of each open and have a lovely light breeze through the house. Absolutely love them in both rooms and use them loads.

Another vote for sliding doors. For the reasons given above.

We are also not having bifolds in our extension for similar reasons. I wish we had the weather but north facing and no way would we have had them open much. Even today when Bubblysqueak says they had french doors open, our current french doors are firmly shut due to the rain and wind. We just don't like in the fortunate parts of the country that get enough good weather.

Also, money.

Also, finger and nose prints.

Love my bifold, but on kitchen, with just 3 parts. It does bring inside in, but we have a wooden floor so muddy shoes not so much on an issue. It’s in a sunny spot, so also have an awning over the bifold opening.

Just to counter most of the posts here... We had them fitted 9 years ago and LOVE them. No problems with them at all, and the difference they make to the house when they're open is amazing. Of course you can't open them every day, but last summer we had them open every day from May to August! It's just so lovely to open the house right up to the garden. They are on the north facing side of the house, so we don't get direct sun in through them, but we still want to open the house up.
Ours are aluminium, 3 panes, c3.5m (I think). I'd put them in again without hesitation.