All types of Bifold doors repaired

In the past few years Bi-fold doors have gained increasing popularity due to the fact that they can bring in an incredible amount of light into any living area and totally transforming the room with an opening solution that is efficient and space saving. Owners of a bi-folding door will already have experienced the joy and benefits of having the full outdoors and their living spaces combined. For these reasons bi-folding doors are a favourite choice of many British households

With all these advantages there are however downsides. For these types of doors to work the way they do, they are fitted with complex carefully balanced mechanisms that are designed to work precisely within the installed frame openings. Also the multi layered panels are manufactured with precise measurements and angles for the doors to operate effectively.

Over a period of time (years or sometime even months) and under certain conditions such as harsh weather elements or even miniscule movements within the building can create problems with the smooth running of the bi-fold door. The doors can start to drag along the bottom tracks destroying the lower rubber seals, damaging the Track, not locking properly at the end opening door or not bolting at the mid points. As time goes on then having to use increasing pressure to close the bifold doors will further damage them including possibly breaking the handles or even damaging the internal gearing connected to the handles.

Why Are My Bi-fold Doors Not Working Properly. Identifying The Problem.

When your bi-fold doors start playing up or even stop working the first thing do is to try and identify the problem. This should be done earlier rather than later on. Fixing a problem with a bi-fold door at the earlier stages before it starts straining the rest of the doors and creating further damage can potentially end up saving you a lot of money. Many times we are told by customers that the problem with the doors had been getting worse for a long time and now they are too difficult to use. Here we have comprised a list that may be helpful in early detection or identifying some of the issues you may be having with the door.

As a guide we have listed a set of potential causes to help you identify the problem

• Installation problems.
• Are the glass panels sitting in the correct position?
• Is there a problem with the Hinges?
• Are the runners damaged or compromised
• Track maintenance and problems
• Seals and gaskets
• Damaged side panels on wooden bi-fold doors
• Movement in surrounding structure
• Jammed or damaged locks on the main door
• Jamming Intermediate bolts on the slave doors
• Caring for and maintaining your bi-fold door

Installation problems

We should make clear from the start that we do not manufacture, sell or install new Bi-fold doors. We specialise in repairing bi-fold doors only. That being said with a good deal of the doors that we are called out to repair we find that there are problems with the way they have been installed. For this reason we recommend that when having new bi-folding doors installed you should always have them installed by the company from which they were purchased or by installers that are recommended by that company. Most reputable retailers or manufacturers of these types of doors will offer a warranty period for their products (usually somewhere in the region of between five to ten years). However in most cases the warranty becomes void if the doors are fitted by an unrecommended third party installer. Even when the installation is done by a recommended fitter you should always check that they are covered under the terms of seller’s warranty. Too many times we find that the Bi-folding doors have been installed by builders who had little experience with these types of doors and so have not fitted them adequately. And many times more we have been called to a repair where even a fault has occurred not due to the installation but due to other factors. But still there has been a dispute between the customer and door provider because of the stipulated terms of the warranty allowing the seller to be not liable for the repair of the fault.

Are the glass panels sitting in the correct position?

One of the reasons for the bi-fold doors to become unaligned can be the glass within the panels. Bi-fold doors are extremely heavy mainly due to the weight of the glass. When the glass is installed within the outer panels it is fitted through a technique known as Toe and Heel. This is a process of balancing the glass so that it is packed precisely and sits perfectly within the panels at all the sides and angles of the door using glass packers. It is very important that the glass panels are installed perfectly at the start when first installed. The weight of the unsupported glass on the lock side will cause that side of the door to lower while on the hinge side will stay in position thus causing the inbalance. The sides, top and bottom of the glass should be sitting totally parallel in line with the sides, top and bottom of the inner of the surrounding frame panels. Also the diagonal measurement of the top right corner to the bottom left corner should be matching that of the opposite diagonal corner measurements. If the doors have not been Toe and Heeled correctly then at some point In the future they will start dragging along the bottom tracks or will become unaligned with the locking keeps along the outer frame making it difficult to lock or even not lock at all.

Is there a problem with the Hinges?

Check all the hinges on all the door panels. One of the first things that needs to be established is if the problem is fixable without needing to replace any of the hinges. Are any of the hinges broken or cracked. If they are then its time to call in the experts. If however that is not the case and if you have a modicum of DIY ability, then you may be able to fix the problem yourself. The first thing to do is get a full overview of the door panel alignment. With all the doors fully shut (or however much you can get them shut) standing outside far back enough, take a look at all the panels together and try to determine how straight they are along the top and bottom against the line of the outer frame. Do all the panels line up? If not then that could be an indication of a problem (which may not be just hinge related). Now open all the door panels enough to be able to see all the hinges. Do any of the hinges look out of place? Are there any loose screws or bolts, or even are any of the screws missing. If so then tighten or replace the missing screws. The gaps between the panels can also be increased or decreased horizontally by adjusting the hinges using an Allen Key, at the same time checking that the width along the gap between the panels from top to bottom is the same.

Are the runners damaged or compromised?

Check all the bottom runners that sit along track and support the main weight of the doors. With the majority of external Bi-folding doors the main support runners will be at the bottom. Most top hung Bi-fold doors (doors with runners that support the weight of the door from the top down) are internal usually between two rooms in within a home. Although it is not uncommon to find external Bi-fold doors that are also top hung. When checking the bottom runners, see how they are sitting. Are any of them broken or cracked? If so they will need to be replaced.

Do they appear to sit straight or are they leaning in? Are they scraping along the track? The runners can then be adjusted using an Allen key to be lifted or lowered to bring to bring the door panel to a suitable height. Also check that as the bottom runner is raised the top corresponding guide runner is adjusted so as not to push against the top track. With most Bi-folding doors the top runner should be more or less identical to the bottom corresponding runner so it will be adjusted in the same way.