In our new(ish) house we have a wide doorway from the living area through to the conservatory, garage access door, and room above the garage.
When we first moved in it was February and cold so the heating was on, but we noticed the room never got properly warm. Obviously the garage built on the side doesn't help as it's just a big, empty fridge with a steel roller door.
One day, once builders and materials become more available, we'll convert it to a proper living space with insulated walls, floor, proper front, etc. Until then, we need to fill the doorway to seal off that side of the house.
Here's the doorway from living area to conservatory:
And from the other direction, with the door to the garage on the right:
We visited a local showroom and looked at aluminium bi-folds on Thursday, and while they'll do the job - we can leave them open in summer and I can easily get in and out to the office above the garage - we're wondering if there are any other options we might be missing? The bi-folds look more external door than internal, a bit chunky despite being the slimmest frame.
I've searched the internet high and low and can't really see an alternative, but then I don't know what I'm looking for.
Has anyone had a similar problem and how did you solve it? TIA
My brothers house has full width frosted glass aluminium frame sliding doors to separate the lounge and dining room and has been looking at options. Currently he's thinking glazed double doors rather than bifold, with blockwork on each side to reduce the span. You could do similar with thermally insulated internal doors if there's a heat sink.
In my last house I had exactly the same scenario…. I fitted some bifolds and it worked fine…. I used an aircon unit and when we wanted use of that space in the winter we put it on heat mode, otherwise we closed it off…
If I was going to stay there, I would have properly insulated the conservatory and it turned it on a more usable room
Thanks for the replies.
Down the line we have plans for the whole house to bring it up to a more respectable heat standard, but the doors will help this winter.
We can't really do double doors as there is a door, bookcase, desk, etc, on every side so we always need access and hence couldn't leave the doors open in summer.
When open, the bi-fold would sit next to the bookcase and only cover a small section.
I investigated sliding door(s) but don't think there's enough room on the conservatory side to accommodate it?
We were hoping for a Crittal door but they don't do bi-fold, and all the crittal-style are the same aluminium frames we've looked at so are still quite chunky.
I'm sure we'd get used to it but we're obviously worried about spending the money, having them fitted, then hating them
Have you considered the commercial interiors industry?
They might have an option or two. The latest style is slimline ( circa 30 mm) framework with 40 mm doorframes.
As you’ve pointed out , I don’t think your opening would be big enough to suit a sliding door . Have you considered a hospital door set or even a small glass nib which will bring the door off the opening and will then open parallel to the bookcase ?
A lot of the systems we fit achieve decent acoustic and thermal levels and I’m sure you’d find more choice.
Try Komfort , SAS interiors , Fusion Partitions, Nevill Long, SIG etc .
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I hadn't thought of commercial suppliers. I'll take a look at those names. Cheers.Originally Posted by thegoat
If it's temporary, what about a pair of heavy curtains? Not the best insulators and of course they would affect the light, but as a stop gap, they would safe some heat.
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What I was thinking, maybe with a pair of cheap doors (and removing these in Summer).
We fit Smarts Heritage system, exactly the same size & diameters of Crittal but in lightweight aluminium.
Coloured coordinations from the full spectrum of RAL paint finishes.
I’ll some pictures up later of a set we installed this last week between a kitchen and dining room.
Vufold was the firm we bought from a few years back after a rear extension was added onto our old bungalow.
Perfectly happy with them whilst we were there.
I have a similar situation with a large opening. It used to be the entryway to an old conservatory, but we pulled that down and built an extension. For me I want it to occasionally block out noise and light. I'll probably make some type of custom barn door as I have a clear wall on one side and it would make a nice feature.
It doesn't look like that would be an option for you. You could try searching for internal concertina door. There's some around and some not too expensive. Here's an example
https://www.marleyfoldingdoors.co.uk/
Smarts Heritage systems, anthracite grey
Isn't that just a double door that OP has no space for?
Smarts Heritage systems, anthracite grey
The pictures are to show how small the Heritage profile actually is, exactly like a Crittal window/ door system would look like. I do believe the OP was asking about Crittal style doors and saying they were too bulky. I was trying to show how slimline the aluminium profile is with this particular system.
If you go for sliding doors you will only ever have 50% of the opening anyway, so why not go for a single door with one or two sidelights.
Again if you go for sliding doors they need to run on a track so an obstruction on the floor. Whereas with a door they are hinged so no need for unsightly thresholds.
That's a good point, why has to be a double door?
BTW, we used to have a sliding door that ran on (only) an upper hanger. Something of the 70's and probably nothing like that available now.
https://www.archiproducts.com/en/pro...5-black_313193
Did a bit of digging with inspiration from an older project I did in a house in Ormskirk and I’m struggling to see a downside to something like this .
Thanks for the pics and links folks.
We're wondering now if double doors might actually work? They would protrude about 50cm from the edge of doorway when fully open (the doorway is 150cm wide, so each door about 75cm wide), which isn't ideal but isn't terrible either.
We would have to turn the computer desk, opposite the bookcase, to face the wall, but that's how we had it in the old house.
The pros are no threshold, easier to find aesthetically pleasing doors, easier to fit, cheaper so easier to take the hit if it doesn't work. Those Smarts doors are what I had in mind but we thought we could only do bi-fold to minimise protrusion into the living area.
We just need to make sure they would be properly insulating, which is the whole reason for doing this.
Back to the internet search for custom made double doors.
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