Has anyone installed a long set of folding/sliding doors in their house

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For our extension we are planning to have the whole wall that leads to the garden (approx 6 m) kitted out with folding doors.

Our architect has recommended Solarlux doors, which do seem to be good but also seem to be the most expensive.

Has anyone had any experience with these, or with any other makes?

We've had a quote from Sunflex, and another make we are looking at is Express Bi-folding doors, which are quite a bit cheaper. However I don't want to skimp on this purchase if we are going to face significant quality issues by buying cheaper.

Another question I have is what have you done for screening the doors? Express offer integrated blinds, which seems a better option that having trailing vertical blinds on the inside.

Thanks for any advice you can give.

We used a uk company for our doors and they are brilliant, they came on time, we had no hastle, and a 20 year guarantee. they dont do internal blinds but we bought their electric blinds which really set the doors off.

Sorry the company was Origin, we went with them because they have the best locking/security system- cant be to careful

Doors for 4700mm opening in new extension. I have spent an age looking for affordable, quality bifolds from a trustworthy company, including visits to Grand designs and Ideal home show (Ideal home is hopeless).
We liked the design of the Reynaers system which is manufactured by a number of UK companies and got a good quote from UKBifolds.
However after visiting the UKBifolds showroom in Reading we have opted for a triple glazed 3 door sliding system. It looks very sleek and will give a greater glass area and more flexibility than the 5 door bifold we were considering. The customer service has been really good so far. In ~8 weeks I will update with the verdict.

we are looking at a glass extention 5mx 4 m
we got a quote from a slarlux installer. The structure alone was 65k. Has anyone used an installer or builder that uses solarlux for sliding glass and bi fold doors

We had Solarlux folding sliding doors (5 panels ) in our kitchen and a massive picture window by them made to measure in the living space, installed by them 4 years ago.

Expensive but worth every single penny. We are very exposed and they are more or less totally watertight, flush, and the mechanism is as smooth now (think weakling opening with one hand) as when they were first installed.

We have used Solarlux and IDSystems in the past. They seem very similar German products. Both were of high quality and I would recommend either of them. Just make sure you order them early enough as the lead times are long.

jon12905, berno, anyone else - I am about to choose a Schuco system as well, from a local manufacturer called LiteHaus UK, based in Coventry. I'm pretty adamant about using a German engineered product, as they are simply better engineers - and was going to use ID Systems. But they're based out in Norwich, light years away from civilisation, and Coventry is less than an hour from me.

I'm looking for any feedback from buyers of a Schuco bi-fold door system, and how they have lasted over the years.

Well after reading this thread and then going to the Grand Designs show (amazing, overwhelming, could easily spend a week sourcing everything for our big refurbishment!) we have booked a survey with SKG for 3 panel sliding doors. Wanted to thank everyone for all the feedback and information, it has been invaluable! Highly recommend going to the show or all the showrooms (more time consuming) as we were unsure about bi-folding doors or sliding doors and seeing all the options we definitely decided that sliding was the best option for us for a few reasons. They cost a lots of money but then again the doors are for a length of 490cm so just under 5 metres.
Am looking forward to having them go into our new family room/kitchen in about 9 weeks time! Will update once we have them in : )

We have just had our folding doors fitted by IDSystems at our home in London. We are very happy with the result and overall service. We went for the SF55 system and it is looking really sleek and modern and moves effortlessly. Hope this weather holds out and we get to use them a few more times this year.

www.doubleglazingontheweb.co.uk - you can get an instant price for your bi-fold doors (you just enter your measurements) you can use this online quote to compare!

These people can also put you in touch with local companies near you - I think the idea is that the companies compete against each other, giving you their best quotes.

Sorry this has probably came a bit too late!

Who did you go with in the end?!

The doors are in and the unfinished extension can be viewed here -
www.extendingmyhome.co.uk/1930-siderear-extension/4584058398

They are 3 panel (2 sliding) triple glazed Raynaers CP130. It was around 7 weeks from deposit to fitting (primarily due to materials needing to arrive from Germany)... Otherwise the service from UKbifolds has been very good. IMO a better looking and more flexible option than the bifolds that I had initially planned (14.8.13 post).

They look great Munger I too prefer them to sliding, folding doors. Can you tell me how deep the stepover bit is? Would you mind telling me how much they cost as I might go and look at their showroom (you can pm me if you like) Thank you very much.

FumiYamamoto. The bottom track (3.5cm depth) is recessed into the floor to give a flush threshold. With the 3 panel door the track width is 21cm, a 2 panel track would be ~14cm. These particular doors cost ~£4165 which appears reasonable given they are triple glazed and 2.5m tall.

Munger, thank you very much - very useful.

I'm joining this thread late I realise but thought it best to warn people against using Aluminium Trade Frames in Oldham. They are a terrible company and made me quite poorly with stress. They took full payment for our bi-folding doors and delivered nothing for months. I was sick with worry. They had awful customer service too and we were treated dreadfully. Pay a bit more for a quality product and piece of mind. Express bifolding are good.

Coming to this very late but as we had SUNFOLD SYSTEMS doors (and a roof) installed 7 years ago and have had constant leaks, I cannot recommend them. We're out of warrantee now too and nothing they've done has been able to resolve the leaks. Their customer service and work ethic is unbelievably bad. I blogged about it until last year, and will rescurrect the blog soon with updates as it's ongoing: kaybar007.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=sunfold

Came across this after responding to another post so thought I'd add my 2 cents : )
Hi, if you are still looking feel free to message me and I can give you my number if you want to talk through all the options as we have just gone through the same process.
I started off thinking I wanted bifold as I like the idea of opening the whole wall up. Decided for sliding doors after going to Grand Designs show and looking at all the options.
First of all everyone's advise was do not go for a local joiner. After looking at some good local joiner's work and seeing some of the German doors I agree. The German doors cost more but the difference is obvious. Frankly I couldn't tell much difference from the mid-top range of companies. We looked at Sunflex, Express bi-folding, Solarlux, Fineline, Kloeber, etc. We went with SKG who do Sunflex doors.
Our doors are 5m wide and we went with 3 doors so 2/3 can be opened up and when closed the center (where most people tend to look out) is a wide expanse of glass rather than a post.
Our terrace is not huge and bi-folds requite a meter of space left clear all the time so the doors can be opened out.
Bi-folds also have a lot more frame then sliding doors, less if you go for very expensive doors but still more. Sliding doors are more glass to frame so you see the garden more than the doors. Seeing that there are more days of the year when the doors are closed I thought it was important to have more glass.
Sliding doors let you open the door as little or as much as you want.
We had sliding doors that were put in by previous owner but they were cheap ones and were 2 wide panels with a very wide post in the middle so when you walked into the room you just saw the wide post and not the view out into the garden.
I have learned far too much about door, and tiles, and extractor fans then I ever thought I would but I wanted to make sure we made the best decision after knowing all the options. Happy to answer any more questions if you haven't fallen asleep yet!

Hi,

Sorry if I am a bit late. We are doing a kitchen conservatory and am looking for advice on bi-folding doors, what to use for the kitchen and the conservatory floors. Many thanks

Hi,

We used IDSystems who are a National Company and have been very happy with the doors we received and the service.

Many thanks for the information

Hi MMMM Maria,

Can I please have some advice on the bi-folding doors? Can I have your number to call you? Not sure how to send this message to you directly. Many thanks and kind regards,

Kim

Hi just wanted to add that our sliding doors went in and look great . the company we used were a better price then other companies providing the same and similar doors. SKG (www.sliding-folding-doors.com/) were very helpful and friendly, highly recommend them!