Bifolding doors provide many benefits for residential properties. Designed to create a light-filled room and provide far better views out into the outside space than French Doors or windows, the popularity of bifolding doors cannot be disputed.
Bifolding doors are highly desirable, but large glass panes can also bring other issues for homeowners
Regardless of the number of bifolding door leaves you may be considering the large panes, slim sight lines of aluminium and how great looking bifolding doors can be all adds to their appeal.
Whilst bifolding doors provide many benefits, they can also raise some issues that some homeowners will consider at the purchasing stage but more often than not it is after the installation of the doors that these become apparent.
A byproduct of the current trend for contemporary design, open plan living, the large glass panes and large glazed doors that are so popular is providing privacy and comfort when needed.
What should you consider with large glazed doors?
Privacy. During the winter months when the nights draw in and generally during the night time hours you may wish for privacy. This is particularly the case if your doors are fitted to a property with an overlooked garden or city centre home.
Control of noise. The trend today is very much towards hard flooring such as tiled, laminate or solid wood. This coupled with the glass panes in your bifolding doors can increase noise. Some double glazing salespeople will tell you that your new windows and doors will “eliminate noise” or provide acoustic benefits or sound proofing. This is not true.
Whilst it is obvious that two panes of glass will obscure more sound than a single pane generally acoustic glass is not the same as the glass found in windows and doors. It is two panes of glass of different thicknesses that help acoustics as well as other factors, not just double glazing.
Internal Comfort. With large glass panes comes the risk of rooms being too hot just like a typical conservatory. Again it is important to remember that whilst modern double glazed units have low emissivity coatings and do an excellent job in keeping heat in they are not solar control units. This is a completely different product.
Therefore large panes of glass can add to the heat in a room or provide inconsistent temperatures such as the sun coming in and out of the clouds.
Glare may also be an issue if your bifolding doors are in your lounge or study. You may find it difficult to comfortably see the television screen as one example.
Protection of furnishings and fittings. Again depending on the glass fitted in your home, the sun can cause fading of fabrics and carpets as well as curtains.
But consider why you are wanting bifolding doors in the first place.
Bifolding doors are popular not just for opening up inside and outside spaces, but also because they simply look great!
One other feature of bifolding doors is that they are attractive doors. Choose your door and it’s hardware wisely, choose a great powder coated finish to them and the result is a very attractive door indeed. In aluminium you have a choice of flatline profiles to give a contemporary finish or rounded profiles if required.
Therefore with the contemporary theme that is a bifolding door, often fabrics and external blinds might not suit for this reason.
Consider also that the bifolding door will run wall to wall with minimal sight lines on the outer frame. This can also make traditional window coverings unsuitable in some cases.
How integral glass blinds can help.
The first advantage of integral glass blinds (or integrated blinds) is that they are situated within the double glazed unit. This means they are not exposed to dust, the slats cannot be damaged by pets or children and they are far less intrusive than traditional coverings.
Bifolding doors can be enhanced with integral blinds sealed in the unit.
Choose the right integrated glass product and you can benefit from increased acoustic performance as well as options for self-cleaning glass and other solutions.
Integral blind systems therefore enable you to solve the possible issues brought about by the current trend for large doors and big panes of glass. If you are presently in the market for bifolding doors they are well worth considering if you are also thinking about fabric, roller or venetian blinds.
Importantly and even when you desire privacy and comfort, integral blinds not only provide solutions but enable you to enjoy looking at and appreciating the great design and aesthetics of bifolding doors at all times.
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