Cutting bifold door


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Old 10-19-05, 06:11 AM
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Cutting bifold door

I bought 2 24" bifolds to fit into a 48" opening- Replacing the old closet doors... I removed the old wood closet sliding doors. The wife wanted wood bifolds. The opening is not square so I will need to cut one door to fit- What is the best way to cut these doors?
 
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Old 10-19-05, 10:30 AM
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I had a simular problem. My closet had a 47-1/8 inch wide opening and when I purchased the bi-folding doors, it appeared that they would fit. But that was without the hardware thats mounted on the upper and lower track. So after mounting the hardware and installing the doors, I could not close them completly. The cheapest and fastest solution was to trim off some wood off of both ends and if needed, trim some wood off of the center where the doors meet. Here is one way to determine how much to cut:
Install the hardware and the end part of each bi-fold. Close both ends. Now measure the opening and compare that to the width of the center doors as they lay on the floor close together. You must also allow for the thickness of the hinges on the center doors, so your actual width measurement will be slightly less then the opening measurement.
Now you decide to how much to trim the door ends and/or the center door ends.
If you don't own a good table saw and the means to support the bifolds, then try to get a lumber yard to do the trimming. Make sure the lumber yard person can give you a true straight cut.
There's one other thing to look at when you first mount the end pieces and that is to notice you will need some clearance between the end doors and the wall. You will see this right away as you open and close the end doors.
As you mentioned your opening is not square, then any excessive gaps at the wall side can be hidden with moulding.
 
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Old 10-20-05, 02:58 PM
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If its a trimed opening I would see if the problem could be corrected there. If its drywalled, you could trim the door, but in my experience if trim too much the doors have a tendency to fall apart(if they are louvered). If they are hollow core doors you have to remember that the frame the veneer is attached to isn't very wide as well.

So basically, if you can correct the opening do that, otherwise it will probably look like it was butchered in place by a beaver.
 
 

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