Adding bi-fold doors into a fit-out is a great way to create multi-purpose spaces, turning two meeting rooms into a large communal space or two classrooms into a large learning space. There are lots of configuration options when adding this form of an operable wall, and there are a few things to consider.

Access: Bi-fold doors have flush bolts, which can only be accessed from one side of the doors. If you need to unlock the doors from both sides, in most cases you will need an odd amount of doors with an entrance handle on one of the doors.

Size: The hole width will often dictate how many door leaves you need. For standard ceiling heights (2.7m), it is preferable that the door leaves are no more than 860mm wide, however, the doors can be as wide as 1200mm, as long as the height is upwards of 3m

Floor track: In most cases (and preferably) your floor track would be recessed into the floor, but often existing floors can be out of level. You can avoid a floor track if you can meet the following criteria:

• The system is in a low use area
• There are an even number of doors on the top track
• There are no more than four doors in one direction.

Lets take an example:

A client has two small meeting rooms that they want to access from both sides and be able to open up to create one large meeting space when necessary. The opening is 4.3m wide x 2.7m high. The building has polished concrete floors and the floor is not level.

Solution:

• Five doors x 860mm wide
• Four doors sliding in one direction and 1 hinged from the wall on the other side
• No floor track
• Mortice lock on single door with striker plate on the forth bi-folding door