My son has a regular door in his room. But he also has a doorway into the laundry room that is 28" wide. We are wanting to put in a bi fold door there but only find 24" or 30" width doors. I had seen on a DIT-er show that you can cut it down but then filled in the gap....does anyone know how to make a 30" wide bifold door into a 28" door?

We could do a regular door but then he would lose some space in his room and we need to keep all the space that we can.

tia

 

Welcome to the forums. Of course the best way is to remove all the hardware (hinges, etc.) and run the edges through a table saw, removing 1/2" from each edge of each door panel. This would reduce the 30" door to a 28" door. But you would need to sand or round over the new edges to remove the sharpness created by the cut and to make it look better. Replace the hardware and hang it up. You can do it by hand, but if you could stop by a jobsite somewhere and find a friendly tradesman who has a saw set up, he would probably do it for you.

 

ya but, wouldn't the door be hollow?? how do i fill in the open end? i think what i saw them do, was cut off the unneeded amount and pop part of the ending off the cut off part and place it in the opening.....

 

Home depot has 28 inch bifold doors -

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/...cStoreNum=8125

Maybe you have to order them if they aren't in stock ?

 

you should definitly special order them. If they are not in stock somewhere, it would only take a week or 2 to get in. The problem with cutting them as much as you need to is, the wood on the sides is only about 3/4" thick, so if you cut 1/2", you'll still have 1/4" in the door, a pain to get it out, and not thick enuf to hold the hinges and hardware.

Order them

 

In my mind I was thinking of the solid pine louvered ones, but y'all are right on the hollow core ones. And thought the 28's would be harder to find. Good call tribe fan.

 

Yeah, but you notice..those doors are online only. The stores carry 24, 30, 32, and 36. Don't ask me why, I had the same issue with that the 5 yrs i worked there. 28's are very common for closets and bathrooms...and I guess bedrooms in some areas.

And the 30" pine louver doors, are only about 1 1/4" wide on the sides...so cutting them doesn't work real well.

Be better off ordering...either online or in the store, depending on the style.

 

I tried searching Home Depot's Web site and could not find the 28 inch doors. If they had them before, they no longer do.

 

It appears the 28" bi-folds are no longer an option at Home Depot.

My situation is a laundry closet off the kitchen, with an irregular opening of 29 inches. The washer/dryer unit is 27 1/8 wide, so I can't reduce the width too much or the unit wont fit in/out.

I'm thinking of trimming down a 30" bi-fold as one option.

Does anyone know of a solid bi-fold door?

Or, a sturdy, quality bi-fold door that is only a top track/mounitng hardware? I have a new ceramic floor that I'm hesitant about dirlling holes into.

One possibility I've though of is trimming the bi-fold doors and then mounting hinges to the door frame which is very solid. The result would be like full height cafe doors.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Rich

 

Have you actually visited a store? Or just looked at the website? You should check and see if they can actually special order them from the store, to the size you need. It might cost $30-50 more..but you will have a full subframe and a warranty.

Things may have changed, but 2 yrs ago I could order almost any width between 18" and 36" opening.

You shouldn't have to drill into the tile for the bottom bracket, most times mounting it to the side of the frame is adequate.

 

Thanks Gunguy.

I did visit the store -- and there are no 28" inch doors in stock. I'm going to go back and see if I can order the proper width tonight. Jeld-Wen was the manufacturer, so I'll see what my options are. I also contacted the manufactuer and they provided me with a couple other sources -- they do make a 28" width door.

Could you elaborate on the "mounting it to the side of the frame is adequate" statement? I thought the bottom bracket was a pivot hole the door rested in.

As I mentioned, if I can pull it off, I'm going to try using 2 panels and hinging them to the frame. If I can mount the bi-fold to the side frame, then I achieve the same goal.

Thanks in advance,

Rich

 

The bottom bracket on most doors is an "L" shape. It has mounting holes on the bottom and side legs. Normally just mounting through the 2 holes in the side leg is plenty. No reason to drill the tile.

As to hinging them to the frame....

I think that will actually be more work and not as effective. You'd need to mortise in for the hinges (lot of very careful work) or use surface mount non-mortise..(kinda unattractive). If you hinge them, it will place all the weight on the screws in the door and frame. Using the track and bottom bracket puts the weight on the bottom bracket, and very little stress on the top pivot. Also easier to adjust and remove if required.

Most makers will need the actual finished opening size. If they want exact specs on the size you want the door, just use the opening and actual sizes on the in-stock doors as examples for your calculations. (ie 2 panels of 29 1/2" total actual size fit a 30" opening) Remember you need a small gap at each side for the door to pivot. Also, when in the open position, you will lose about 3" of opening depending on the door panel thickness, so check your clearances for the washer and dryer doors.

 

Have you considered an accordian door? For a vinyl accordian that fits that door size you'll spend around 40 bucks. They carry them at Home Depot and they should be perfect for your situation.

 

If you want 28" bi-fold doors, get out of HD and Lowe's. Go to a lumberyard or a door shop. I needed a couple sets of them about a year ago and my favorite lumberyard had them for me in 3 or 4 days. Cost was about the same as what HD wanted for a set of 30".