What kind of doors for our extension?

[HBGKC]

Hi all, I've trawled through the site but most discussion is at least 5 years old...

We're fortunate enough to be planning a wraparound rear extension on our terraced house. The width straight across the back is 4.8m, and the door space will be about 4m.

My husband wants bifolds, because he thinks they're 'what people expect' (this is an almost forever home). Problems with keeping the track clear/kids' fingers getting trapped is worrying me a bit, plus I would definitely want an access door that didn't need sliding. (Actually what I'd really love is Crittal-style doors, but they are probably beyond our budget - which is as low as is possible without using uPVC!)

We're in London; can anyone share recommendations of what they used in similar circumstances pls, and/or good suppliers/fitters? Any advice/tips/what to avoid/look out for would be great. Photos also welcome

Wooden French doors with the Crittall style three section panes are a lot more practical and will date slower than bifold doors...

You can get bifolds where one panel acts as a normal door and the rest of the panels slide so you don't have to open the whole thing to pop in and out and it's easier for kids.

Yes, I've read about that option for bifolds, sounds good, thanks.

They look lovely, leafeater; I wonder if you could have fixed glazed panels on either side too? As well need to get as much light in that end as possible.

I'm sure you could, but you would need to hook the doors back to something so maybe just the two top panels either side, with a brick base?

Maybe like this

Hi, OP - we're just getting bifolds installed, and it sounds like we have been through similar mental journeys here, so happy to share my experience. You may well find a different solution works best for you, but this was our research and thinking.

We chose bifolds in the end, because DH worked it all through in his head and realised he really, really wanted full, open access to the garden. Our garden is only small, so having the doors open across the (almost) full width of the back joins the space and will make it feel like one bigger space. However, we will have a traffic door for ease of access, plus the hinges are finger-safe, which is great for peace of mind.

We also considered french doors, with fixed side panels. This would have been a much lower cost solution, and you definitely can have the side panels being full height - the doors can have 'lock open' mechanisms built into the hinges, so they don't blow about or need to be otherwise fixed.

We also looked at sliding doors. I liked the idea of this, as no door-depth taking up space in the small garden, and bigger panes of glass - but that actually made them a more expensive choice. DH was never keen though - we had large sliding doors before, and they were quite heavy to operate. I suspect this is because they were rubbish quality, but DH didn't fancy the risk. I also did agree that sliders aren't as easy as doors for quick access if you just need to pop outside.

We have a similar dilemma but we're probably going for sliders, with the central doors sliding over fixed panels either side (unless our budget can stretch to triple track). Our garden isn't very big, and we'd lose too much space allowing for the leaves of bifolds when the bifolds were being opened. We also want sliders as we need lots of light, and bifolds would have more frame in the way because we would need 5 leaves, 4 folding and an access door.
You need to do your research with bifolds, cheaper ones can be heavy and eventually get stuck as they can drop on the hinges, especially if you have a wide span. Also, I've read on here that bifolds aren't the fashionable option anymore, so your DH may not be right when he says that bifolds are what everyone expects.

We currently have bifolds, they're great and I am pleased. We did have an incident where the single door was open and came away from the magnet and slammed shut.
We're moving and I adore those crittal doors further up the thread. It's going to be between those or sliders.

Thank you all.

Quantum yes, our situations sound similar! Have you settled on a supplier yet? How many panels do you think you'll have? Vague idea of cost? So many questions...

I've actually realised we may have a problem, in that our back opening isn't level all the way across: there's a diagonal section coming down across the last quarter on one side not sure how we can bi-fold our way around that!

Are you on Instagram? There's A fab company called 1st folding sliding doors. They have tons of photos of customers projects to lust look at. I know Cristal are on trend at the moment

Also if you email them rough measurements they'll give you an online quote.

Love those 😍😍😍 we'll need white though or off white internally maybe

Ooh, will check them out!

I think bi folds will age as badly as grey windows but if you plan on staying there then I would go with your gut. We've always had French doors that I've designed

Happy with our aluminium bifolds that I think are 4m plus. 5 panels. Last one is a normal door. No issues with kids getting trapped. Lovely smooth action for us to operate but the kids couldn’t do it and have never tried

We have aluminium sliders and bifolds in our new extension. They were about the same price.

I actually prefer the sliders. They are so thin and slide so smoothly. The track is nice and low and you can fully slide them all so can have a nice wide opening.

In contrast the bifold frames are chunky and harder to open although you can operate one section as a door.

Modern sliding doors are nothing like the ones I remember growing up in the 90s.

We've had bi-folds for about 4 years now and wouldn't change them. We have 4m, 4 panels and have them open most days. I really think it depends how you use the space - we seem to have the same idea as your H, we open them fully so that it appears as one massive space (and it really does feel like that). There isn't much difference in the frame size of sliders and bi-folds, but the ability to open fully was more important hence going for bi-folds. I think with a 4m opening sliders would mean a compromised opening.

I gave a lot of thought to this for my 5m opening. I listened to people saying bifolds would date so initially I was set on sliding doors.
In the end I decided to go with bifolds with integrated blinds and could not be more pleased.

Having the entire back of the house opening onto the garden is so lovely and not something I could have achieved with the sliding doors. Having frames round each pane is really not an issue for me, there is still so much light coming in when the doors are closed.
I do also have sliding doors in a different area of my home and although I am happy with them, the inside/outside feeling isn't quite the same.

This is England, so realistically we'll only be opening the bifold doors fully for 2-3 months a year. There definitely needs to be a traffic door that works well, as this is what will get the most use for the other 9 months.

I agree that the space isn't wide enough for sliders.

This house is for us rather than for re-selling, so we can do it to please ourselves rather than future buyers. DH deffo wants bifolds, I prefer the more classic look of wood-framed French doors/side panes - but they these wouldn't be so thermally efficient?

Also - integrates blinds: how do these work? Do they not look very officey?