How to put folding doors (accordion, book)

Sometimes ordinary swing doors cannot be installed: there is very little space or they are banging against walls or furniture. In this case, folding doors can help. They are also called folding or folding. The essence of this does not change: they are assembled from one or both sides of the doorway, taking up a small space.

Folding door types

Folding doors of any type are simple. They consist of separate strips, movably connected to each other. One of the stripes - the extreme right or left - is fixed motionless. All the rest at the top (sometimes at the bottom too) have small rollers that are inserted into the guide. When force is applied, the rollers slide along the guide, causing the segments to fold. Depending on how and where the rollers are fixed, folding doors are of two types: "accordion" and "book".

If the rollers are fixed in the middle of each door lamella, the result is an accordion door. In this case, each fragment rotates around the axis on which the roller is fixed. The folds are small - about the width of the wall (a little more or less - depending on the model and parameters of the wall). The width of the lamella of this type of folding door is 8-20 cm. The most common ones are 12-15 cm wide, the rest are less common. The standard height for the door is about 220-230 mm, the minimum width is 50 cm, and the maximum is 600 cm. There are higher models for folding partitions.

Harmonic

The length of the blade can be easily adjusted by increasing or decreasing the number of segments, up to the creation of folding partitions. Just one point: in long doors / partitions, two guides are needed - above and below. Otherwise, the mechanism often jams during operation.

Plus a folding accordion door is a low price. There are many offers for a standard doorway with a price of about 2-3 thousand rubles. There are, of course, more expensive ones. Service life is about 5 years. The most common breakdown is roller failure. In the cheapest models, they are made of soft plastic. As a result, doors are noisy and wear out quickly. As usual, there is a choice: more expensive and possibly better quality, or cheaper.

Book

Folding doors are distinguished by larger fragments. No more than two parts go to a standard doorway. In this case, the rollers are attached through one joint, moreover, at the joint. In this case, it turns out that the door leaf folds, resembling the pages of a book. The part that does not have rollers slides into the room.

Folded doors take up more space than accordion doors, but this type of device has its advantages. Fragments of an accordion door cannot be made of very thick material: the structure itself will not allow it. Therefore, they are most often made of plastic, MDF. For self-production, plywood and other similar materials can be used. Hence the scope - most often used as a door to utility rooms - such as storage rooms, can be installed as doors in a homemade shower cabin... In this case, plastic is one of the best materials: it provides tightness, is not afraid of high humidity, it is well washed, possibly with the use of detergents.Such doors are installed as interior doors or partitions when they only delimit the space: there are practically no sound insulation characteristics.

Folding doors can even be made of solid wood. Firstly, the rollers are used more solid, and secondly - the design does not impose restrictions on the thickness. Therefore, the doors-book can be made of wood, glass, metal-plastic. Moreover, when using special fittings, metal-plastic folding doors can be used as entrance doors: as they provide a sufficient degree of security. They are often placed in the house as an exit to a terrace or courtyard. The disadvantage of such systems: a solid price. A set of fittings for one door-book made of metal-plastic costs about $ 550-600. The usual ones are slightly more expensive than the standard canvas. There are options for 3-4 thousand rubles. They can be used as interior doors, placed in cabinets.

Technical Parameters for Folding Folding Doors:

• Length - up to 7 m when using wooden systems (with or without glass) and up to 6 m in metal-plastic systems.
• Wooden height - from 800 mm to 3000 mm; mealloplastic - from 640 mm to 2400 mm.
• The width of one sash in timber is from 440 mm to 1200 mm; in metal-plastic - from 490 mm to 940 mm.
• The number of leaves is from 2 to 7.

There is another type of space-saving door - sliding. You can read about what they are and how to install them here.

Installation of folding doors

Since the systems are slightly different, there are some differences in the installation process, but there are a lot of common points:

• Doors are placed in an already finished doorway.
• Strict requirements are imposed on the geometry of the door opening: strictly vertically and strictly horizontally, without deviations.
• During installation, it is necessary to strictly control the verticality of the installation. The slightest deviations lead to jamming of the system, as well as to faster erasure of the rollers.

Next, we will describe the process of mounting each type of door-door in photo and video format.

Installing the accordion door: do it yourself

Folding accordion doors have as standard:

• two long side guides;
• one short - top (maybe bottom);
• the required number of lamellas (depends on the parameters of your doorway);
• fasteners (screws, clips, etc.);
• stops;
• videos;

After examining all the content, we begin editing. First, we carefully measure the doorway. Cut off the side guides in height. To cut smoothly, it is better to use a miter box, and a saw with a fine tooth - a blade for metal, for example.

Door assembly

The upper guide should be slightly shorter than the width of the opening: the side ones will also be there. Therefore, the doubled width of the side guides is subtracted from the width of the doorway. They have different cross-sections from different manufacturers, but on average you need to subtract 3-4 cm. Everything is accurately measured and cut off.

The door leaf plates are often longer than required. They can be cut, usually cut at the bottom. The height of the lamella is calculated as follows: 0.7-1 cm of the gap at the bottom is subtracted from the height of the doorway (so that the slats do not cling to the threshold), and the height of the roller mechanism and the guide is also taken away. It is different in each case, usually indicated in the installation instructions that must be attached to the door. If it is not there, you can fix the upper guide, roll the rollers into it, and so measure the required height. Marking it on the lamellas, the unnecessary part is sawn off. You can use an ordinary hand saw, grinder or trimmer. Who has what in stock.

One important point: in some cases - with a lower guide - fasteners can be installed in the lower part of the lamellas. Before you start sawing, you need to dismantle them all. They are usually just taken out. You just need to make an effort.

Cut off all flexible connectors of the same length. If the accordion doors are plastic, the parts are usually connected using flexible connectors, into which the panels are simply inserted. Sometimes manufacturers make additional decorative overlays that are glued to the bottom of the lamellas on double-sided tape (also included).

Next, we proceed with the installation. Take the lock bar first. This is the extreme bar that does not fold in the accordion door. An end guide is installed in it.

We install swivel rollers on each of the slats. They can be of different shapes. This model contains small elements. They are inserted into the specified location and secured with one or two screws.

The door leaf can now be assembled. In this model, the lamellas are connected using flexible inserts. Plates are inserted into the grooves of the inserts at the edges.

Having folded all the required parts, we fix the flexible inserts. They are attached at the top and bottom with screws (included). It is more convenient to first tighten all the screws by hand, and then tighten them with a screwdriver.

Having folded the door leaf, measure its folded width. This is necessary to install the stop.

We transfer this dimension to the upper guide bar. In this place, in the middle, drill a hole for installing the stopper. It is put in place, secured with a screw.

The assembly of the accordion door is complete. Installation begins in the doorway.

Installation in a doorway

First, mark the location of the upper rail. They are usually in the middle of the opening, but there may be exceptions. When marking the installation lines, make sure they are straight.

In this model, the guides are mounted on clips: small plastic clips. This system is easy to install. First, the clips are installed, then the guides are clamped into them.

Since the main load in such a system falls on the upper part, clips are often installed here. The extreme ones are at a distance of 1 cm, 5 cm away from them - one more, and the rest with a step of 16-20 cm. On the side stops, the distance between the clips is 40 cm. Please note that the clips for installation from the side of the lock are smaller, and also painted white. They are placed at a distance of 40 and 70 cm.

During installation, precision is maintained down to the millimeter. Even a slight deviation will lead to the fact that the guide "will not sit". Therefore, it makes sense to mark not only the middle line, the clips are attached, but those along which the edges are aligned.

If necessary, dowels are placed under each clip. If a wooden block is laid in the doorway, you can fix them on self-tapping screws for wood with a length of at least 80 mm.

Before installation, the sliders (rollers) are lubricated with the supplied grease.

They run into the top guide. It is more convenient to do this in the assembled state. The lamellas are squeezed, the rollers are inserted into the groove in the guide.

The doors hung on the rail are raised into the opening. The guide is installed on the clips, simply by tapping it with the palm of your hand in those places where the clips are mounted.

The side guides are set in the same way: they are brought to the clips and, with a light blow of the palm, "sit" in place. Despite the ease of installation, they hold up very well. For the sake of experiment, you can twitch: to pull it out of the mount, you will have to lean with your whole body.

The handle is installed last. It is also better to lubricate it before installation. The handle consists of two parts: front and back. They are connected with screws.That's all for sure: folding accordion doors are installed by hand.

Not all folding doors are clip-on. Most of them, by the way, have ordinary fasteners for dowel-nails. In this case, there are installation features. They are described in video format.

We put folding doors-book

Even if you bought a ready-made kit, you can't do without some work. The first step is to assemble the door frame. It usually comes with a door. Differs in the presence of a U-shaped groove in which the slider is installed. Therefore, the old box, even if it is in good condition, cannot be used. Unless, you can mount a profile of a suitable section into it.

A box is assembled from this profile. The whole process is detailed here. You will also need to install hinges. They are placed on the part that will open. The good news is that in the ready-made kit, the recesses for them are already ready. It remains only to mark, drill holes and tighten the screws.

Two canvases are connected to each other by hidden loops or butterfly loops.

If you choose from two types of loops, then it is better to put hidden ones. When open, they leave almost no gap between the canvases. In addition, they are more powerful, they can withstand solid loads. Their disadvantages: more complicated installation and high cost. But if the doors are made of MDF or solid wood, then they need to be installed. "Butterflies" will suit a light door leaf or where it is impossible to make significant recesses for the body of a hidden hinge.

After inserting the loops (better hidden, they hold more securely, and look better), you need to install the slider. It is placed at the upper end of the canvas, which will fold.

Then it remains to hang the first half on the installed box. Attach the second to it, installing the second parts of the hidden hinges. Only at first the second half is wound up with a leash in the groove and only then it joins with the half already hung. After that, all that remains is to install the handles and finish the doorway with platbands.

See the video for the step-by-step process of installing a book-door.

If such work is not difficult for you, you can assemble the door-book yourself. There are hinges, runners, rollers, sliders and guides in hardware stores. Putting it all together, you have what you are looking for: folding doors in the form of a book. An approximate set of accessories is in the video below.

But even having such a kit, you need to know how to assemble it. This build process is in the next video. Look, maybe we can repeat it. It worked out well.

Another option for the door-book mechanism is in the next video. In it, two canvases are connected by a movably articulated plate, which is installed at the upper and lower ends. The mechanism is supplemented by rollers that move along a guide fixed in the upper part of the box. How to assemble and install folding doors with such a mechanism is in the next video.

Photos of folding doors in the interior