Perhaps you want a set of doors leading to your patio, but you aren’t sure of your options. Aluminium Bifold patio doors are an excellent option for utilising natural light and bringing the outside in and provide the best views when they are fully open. However, how do you know whether bifolding doors are right for your home?
Here, we explain why you might consider choosing bifold doors over other types of patio doors, and what to consider when buying a new bifold door.
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Find out more about the benefits of bifold doors, and how they compare to other popular options.
Find out how much you can expect to pay for a bifold door.
- Consider when buying bi-fold patio doors?
- Choosing your material
- Choosing your configuration
- Choosing your glazing
- Choosing your threshold
Read our guidance on measuring and installing a bifold door.
How do bifold doors compare to sliding doors and French doors?
The main selling points of patio doors are that they:
- provide easy access to your patio and garden
- offer great views of the outdoors from inside
- let in lots of sunlight
- keep heat in and cold air out
- help make your home secure.
When deciding what kind of aluminium patio doors to buy, you generally have three options:
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Have several leaves which fold back to fully open up the living space | Typically made up of two or three framed panes of glass, which can slide either left or right | A pair of hinged doors that open independently, typically outwards |
Although these external doors do largely the same job by inviting light and space into your home, they do have their own benefits and drawbacks, so you need some way to choose between them.
To help you decide, we’ve compared bifold doors, sliding doors and French doors by their most important features:
- View
- Thermal efficiency
- Security and safety
- Configuration
- Maintenance
- Type of property
- Threshold.
Below, we’ve provided a brief summary of what we found. Read our full comparison of bifold doors vs sliding doors here.
View
Bi-fold doors offer the fullest view when open, thanks to their slimline frames and the fact that they open all the way, leaving the aperture completely open and creating a greater link between the indoors and outdoors.
On the other hand, sliding aluminium doors provide the best view when closed as there’s more glass and less profile obstructing the view. However, when open, sliding doors cannot be opened fully so the view can be obstructed more than bi-fold doors. Because maximum sizes tend to be bigger on sliders, there’s usually less doors to open, so these tend to be most popular on larger apertures.
French doors provide a more obstructed view due to their smaller size and the wider frames of the doors.
Compare types of patio doors by view.
Are you looking for a modern, sleek aluminium sliding door?
Delivering first-in-class design, our sliding door range provides the most spectacular finish for any building project. Available in four different sightlines across two different sliding door systems – the Origin Artisan Slider and the Origin Patio Slider – we have some of the slimmest sliding doors on the market.
Shop our aluminium sliding doors here.
Thermal efficiency
There isn’t too much difference here. All Origin patio doors are comparable with each other in terms of thermal efficiency so, whichever style of door you choose, you can be assured that the thermal efficiency of your home will be maintained or improved.
Read more about bifold doors thermal efficiency.
Security and safety
All three types of door can offer large maximum panel sizes, but can also be specified to be strengthened further with toughened glass. Your local installer would talk you through these options.
Some cheaper sliding doors are vulnerable to certain housebreaking techniques. Origin Sliding Doors are designed with multi-point locking systems and feature a minimum of six points of locking. On the OS-20, there’s also no lock on the outside that can be picked, so it offers a high-quality and secure option for your home. Our Bi-fold Doors are Secured By Design too, so you can be assured that they’re a secure and safe option for your home.
Origin Aluminium Bifold Doors are specifically designed with your family’s safety in mind. Our doors have finger safe gaskets to prevent children’s fingers from getting trapped when the doors close and magnetic catches to keep the doors in place while being operated.
Find out more about bifold door safety and security here.
Configuration
Door configuration means the number of individual door panels needed, and which way they open/fold back.
Bi fold doors are the far more flexible option with a range of panel and opening options to suit your home and your space.
Sliding doors can be configured with a up to 6 door sets, but the beauty with the door type is that you control where you want the opening.
Compare bifold doors and sliding doors by configuration.
Maintenance
While all three types of door are fairly low-maintenance, the ones with moving parts—folding and sliding doors—will need some care to protect their smooth operation over time. Doors made of solid timber need the most maintenance with periodic painting. Aluminium and uPVC require very little upkeep.
Read our guide to cleaning and maintaining bifold doors.
Type of property
Bi-fold door and sliding door systems work well in modern homes, while French doors are sometimes better suited to traditional or period properties. Bi-folds can also be incorporated into some period properties if given a more traditional-looking finish, such as with Georgian bars.
This isn’t always the case, however, and often the contrast of traditional and contemporary can be very stylish.
Threshold
French doors and bifold doors can come with weathered or non-weathered thresholds, to offer a seamless transition between the inside and out. The track on our sliding doors can also be recessed into the floor – though allowances will need to be made for drainages. Speak to your installer for more information.
Compare bifold door and sliding door threshold options here.
How much do bifold doors cost?
Though you might have an idea what type of door you prefer, how much you can afford to pay will likely play a big part in your decision. Factors such as sizes, configuration options and materials chosen can influence how much a bifold door will cost. For example, aluminium bifold doors are often more expensive than uPVC bifold doors, due their increased quality and durability.
Installation costs
The cost of installing bi-fold patio doors varies between installers and across different parts of the country. If the installation is particularly challenging, you can expect this to increase the price you’re quoted.
It can cost anywhere between £300 and £1,000 for survey and installation. The lower the quality of the doors, the less you’re likely to pay. Premium-quality aluminium doors fitted by fully trained installers generally ask a higher price.
The size and weight of the doors can affect the price. Some larger sets of doors are very heavy, meaning the installer has to hire lifting equipment to be able to fit them.
Read our bifold door installation guide here.
Are you looking for a durable aluminium bifold door? Explore our aluminium bifold door range!
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Created bespoke to ensure you can make the most of your space, Origin bifold doors range from one to eight door sets and individual doors can be manufactured as narrow as 400mm, as wide as 1200mm and as tall as 3000mm. You can choose how they open and close – whether they fold in or out, and how they slide – to meet your exact needs.
Shop our aluminium bifold doors today.
What do I need to decide when buying Aluminium bifold patio doors?
Choosing your bifold door material
Most Aluminium bifold patio doors are made of aluminium, uPVC or timber. Each material has its pros and cons.
Aluminium bifold doors are known for being extremely strong and energy efficient. Their slimline frames provide the most expansive views and come in a wide range of colours and finishes. They do, however, cost more than uPVC doors.
uPVC is the cheapest material for Aluminium bifold patio doors, so beats the other materials on cost. However, it can’t really compete with aluminium or timber when it comes to durability and maximum panel sizes. Also, doors in uPVC are more susceptible to weather damage.
Shop our aluminium bifold door range here.
Timber bi-fold patio doors are strong and provide good insulation. However, they do need a lot of maintenance and, in terms of price, are often the most expensive of the three materials.
Read our comparison of popular bifold door materials here.
Choosing your configuration
Bi-fold patio doors come in a wide range of configurations, so you have plenty of choice when customising your new doors to your taste.
Say you choose a 6-door set. You could have:
- three doors folding in each direction
- all six doors folding in one direction
- one door in one direction and the other five doors folding in the other direction.
You can also decide whether the doors:
- fold to the left or right
- open inward or outward.
Choosing your threshold
With bi-fold doors, you typically have a choice of two thresholds:
- Non-weathered threshold—when the track is almost completely flush to the floor
- Weathered threshold—has a small lip on one edge of the track, and the seal on the bottom of the door pushes against the lip to make the doors weathertight.
Read more about bi-fold door thresholds and drainage.
Watch this video about how to achieve a flush threshold.
Choosing colours and finishes
Aluminium bifold doors come in a multitude of colours, with black, dark grey and white being particularly popular. Black is a classic, stylish colour that works alongside a wide range of colour schemes, while the neutral white provides lightness and calm where darker colours are unable.
Many door manufacturers—Origin included—use the industry-standard RAL colour chart, which is made up of over 150 different shades and tones.
See the RAL range—including wood-grain shades—in our bi-fold doors colour guide.
Read our guide to popular aluminium bifold colours here.
How are bi-fold patio doors measured and fitted?
Many Aluminium bifold patio doors are made to measure, meaning someone from the installation company will come out to your home and take down the exact dimensions of the aperture into which the doors will be installed. They will then use those measurements to speak to the manufacturer and will be able to give you a quotation.
It’s highly recommended that you have bi-fold patio doors fitted by a professional installer, to make sure everything is put in place correctly and avoid issues arising later.
For more information on how Aluminium bifold patio doors are measured and installed, read our practical guide to buying and installing bi-fold doors.
If you’d like to find out more about buying Origin bi-fold doors, please contact your local installer.
Frequently asked questions
Are bi-fold patio doors easy to break in to?
All high-quality bifold doors are designed and made to be as secure as possible. The best doors are equipped with certain features that make them safe to operate and invulnerable to break-ins.
Read more about what features make bi-fold patio doors secure.
Are bi-fold patio doors warm?
High-quality bi-fold doors have a thermal break; a component that enables them to keep heat in and cold air out.
The door industry measures this "thermal efficiency" using something called a U-Value, which is the amount of heat lost per square metre of material. The lower the U-Value the better.
Read more about thermal efficiency and U-Values.
Can you get blinds for bi-fold patio doors?
Yes. Most Aluminium bifold patio doors can be fitted with the same kinds of blinds you would install in windows, including Roman blinds, Venetian blinds or roller blinds. It’s also possible to have integral blinds fitted—these go between the two panes of glass in double-glazed doors and are operated either manually or electronically.
Is it easy to replace existing patio doors with bi-fold patio doors?
If you’re replacing sliding patio doors with Aluminium bifold patio doors, you’ll be using the aperture (door opening) you already have, rather than creating a new one to match the new doors’ dimensions exactly.
Installing a bi-fold door will allow you to fill the existing aperture with doors that will fold and slide out of the way to give you that beautiful, wide view of your outdoor space.
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