How do you choose between French Doors, Bifolding Doors or Sliding Doors. Each door type offers benefits in the home, but also comes with its Pros and Cons.
Which is best: French Doors, Bifolding Doors or Sliding Doors ?
We have put together this quick guide, explaining the features of each door type but also, what you should consider as well.
French Doors. Pros and Cons.
For smaller properties or where door openings are reduced, French doors are perfect. Cottages, flats and apartments, as well as most houses, suit a French door either at the back or side of the house. You can even use a French door on a new front porch – great for getting bulky items in and out of the home with both doors open.
The good thing about French doors is their flexibility, with options of midrails, glazing bars, Georgian bars and panels. French doors are also the cheapest compared to bifolding or sliding doors.
Advantages of French Doors
- Doors are affordable compared to sliding or bifolding versions.
- Can open past 90 degrees giving a bigger opening than a patio door.
- French Doors in aluminium come in bigger widths and heights than PVCu.
Disadvantages of French Doors
- The central mullion where the doors is thicker than patio doors.
- One door tends to remain closed most of the time.
- Each door can be quite small in a narrow opening.
Bifolding doors
A bifolding door is very popular in all types of properties, whether to replace old doors or as part of a new extension. A bifold will open up the opening creating a barrier-free route out to your garden. For entertaining and their wow factor, bifolding doors are hard to beat.
It is worth considering how much you will use your bifolding doors. The reality of the British weather is that they may remain closed most of the time. Consider a ‘traffic door’ if you intend to use the bifold frequently to take out rubbish or hang out the washing. Traffic doors make your doors more convenient all year round.
The more door panels you have, the more aluminium you will get as bifolds will contain more aluminium profiles than a sliding door.
Advantage of Bifolding Doors
- Highly desirable.
- Open up your home and come into their own in the summer months.
- Can add value to a property.
- Door panels of 1200mm x 3000mm are available with some brands.
Disadvantages of Bifolding Doors
- More expensive than other doors.
- Better for heights over 2 metres
- Can involve building work to bring the threshold level down when replacing an old patio or French Door.
Sliding doors. Pros and cons.
Sliding doors are enjoying a new-found interest amongst homeowners, thanks to their reincarnation as sleek, stylish, slim and very advanced in design.
A modern aluminium sliding door is so well engineered that even the biggest doors at nine square metres are effortless to open. Best of all, sliding doors have slimmed down to create virtual frameless glass walls with their central mullions now thinner than an inch in width with many systems.
Unless you design a sliding door with your new extension to completely slide into a wall pocket, you will not get a full opening like a bifold. You will usually lose a part of your structural opening to where the sliding panel needs to slide, but given the bigger glass panels of a sliding door, this is rarely an issue.
However, a sliding door will not give you the full open aspect of a bifold. The other consideration with the sliding door is handling, access and transport by your installer. Choose one of the bigger sliding doors with expanses of glass and specialist handling may be required.
Finally, have to be pushed or pulled for daytime use as you cannot get the convenience of a hinged door.
Advantages of Sliding Doors
- Sliding doors give you the best views.
- Sliding doors accept the biggest glass panels.
- Sliding doors can be the slimmest of any door.
Disadvantages of Sliding Doors
- The large glass and doors may require specialist installation and handling.
- Won’t open up an entire wall like a bifold.
- You can sink the threshold, but you cannot have a completely flat threshold.
How much space do you need for a new aluminium door?
The sliding action of a patio door means it is the one door that takes up no space on the inside or outside of your home. If you have limited outside space, a sliding door will probably maximise it.
French doors and bifolding doors are designed to hinge open, either inside or outside your home, so the loss of some space when the doors are open is inevitable. If you are trying to choose between French Doors, Bifolding Doors or Sliding Doors and space is a consideration, think about how you use both your inside and outside
Contact Newlite – your local aluminium door experts.
At Newlite we offer a full aluminium door range for your home to meet most budgets and projects. Contact us today for further information and a free quotation. Whether you are looking for French Doors, Bifolding Doors or Sliding Doors, or even if you still not sure, we can help you.
