Bi-fold door sizes: Options and considerations

When helping your customers to choose bi-fold doors for their home, it’s important to understand the average sizes and minimum and maximum sizes for bi-fold doors within a home. Homeowners are now choosing bi-fold doors due to the large expanse of glass they provide and the natural light and space this helps to create, so getting the right size is key.

Being able to advise your customers on bi-fold door sizes at the start of the project and what they can expect will help you to keep customers happy and make sure the doors are the right fit both for the property and the homeowner’s needs.

Click the links below to jump to the relevant section

• How are bi-fold doors sized?

Learn more about how bi-fold doors are sized and how they fit into an available opening.

• How do you know what size bi-fold door is needed for a project?

Find out more about how to choose the correct size of bi-fold door for the projects you work on.

• Factors to consider when sizing up a bi-fold door

Read more about the key factors you should consider when choosing the correct size for a bi-fold door.

• Minimum and maximum width and height for bi-fold doors

Find out about the minimum and maximum width and height available when specifying bi-fold doors.

• Bi-fold Door sizes from Origin

Learn more about the Bi-fold Door sizes available from Origin

• Do you need to take individual panel sizes into account?

Find out whether the panel sizes of bi-fold doors should be considered in the size of a bi-fold door.

How are bi-fold doors sized?

External bi-fold doors can be made to fit brickwork openings that are 1.4m in size or bigger. They come in a range of sizes and configurations, starting with two doors and ranging up to ten doors and beyond for the wider openings.

In addition to the size of the overall span of doors and the opening size, the size of the panels themselves can be specified and will dictate the number of panels required for a space. For example, a customer may want to have a traffic door which requires a certain number of doors so, when configuring this, it’s important to know how wide the panels are so that you can advise on the door configuration accordingly.

Different manufacturers have their own varying sizes but recommended sizes are usually followed so you can expect to find something similar, no matter which supplier you choose to work with.

How do you know what size bi-fold door is needed for a project?

To understand the size of the doors required, you should measure the opening (or aperture) of the doors before you go any further with a quote for your customers.

You will also need to incorporate a fitting tolerance into your measurements. Once you have measured the door opening, the actual size of the door you fit will be the size of the opening minus the tolerance on both height and width. From there, you are able to choose how many doors will be in the configuration, this will then dictate the size of the individual doors.

Factors to consider when sizing up a bi-fold door

When you’re sizing up a project for a bi-fold door, there are a number of factors to consider which can affect the number of panels, overall size and the bi-fold door configuration you specify:

• Size of the opening available
• Whether a traffic or lead door is required
• Number of panels wanted by the customer
• Size of the panels
• Material
• Whether a traffic door is required

Minimum and maximum width and height for bi-fold doors

As we have already mentioned, bi-fold door minimum sizes will depend on the brand of bi-fold doors you’re supplying, so make sure you know the products you supply well. At Origin, our minimum and maximum sizes are as below:

The material of the bi-fold doors you specify for a project can have an impact on the minimum and maximum sizes of the doors. For example, aluminium offers an extremely strong and durable frame so can take more weight than other materials such as wood or uPVC. Aluminium has the ability to support large spans of glass bi-fold doors without compromising on strength or the functioning of the doors.

Bi-fold door sizes from Origin

All Origin Bi-Fold Doors are completely bespoke so you can configure and size them to meet your customer’s exact needs and sizes. Our Bi-fold Doors can accommodate all types of spaces. The below table shows an overview of the common sizes requested by our customers, but this is not an exhaustive list:

When specifying Origin Bi-fold Doors for a project, you can speak to our dedicated Customer Service team who can help you to make sure that the size of bi-fold door you specify is correct for the opening and they can also help you to configure and size more complicated projects too.

Read our guide to find out more about the support available when you become an Origin Trade Partner.

Custom bi-fold door sizes

Our bi-fold doors are available in bespoke sizes and configurations, allowing you to meet the needs of every project and customer.

We work within minimum and maximum size ranges, but if you have more specific needs that these sizes cannot meet, we can work with you to create oversized doors for your project depending on the height to width ratio. Our Customer Service Team is always on hand to help advise you when providing a quote for your customers.

If you find that bi-fold doors are not suitable for your customer’s project or needs, you can suggest French Doors or Sliding Doors as an alternative to make sure the doors function properly and meet the needs of the homeowner and their space.

Corner Doors

For a more unusual space or larger spans of bi-fold doors, corner bi-fold doors may be a good option for your customers. These doors provide exactly the same strength and security as our bi-fold doors but can open up a space even further.

They can be configured with between two and ten door sets and beyond, so there is a configuration to meet every project.

Do you need to take individual panel sizes into account?

The panels for bi-fold doors are specified by you at the start of the project and this will depend on the configuration required for the project, so customers can choose to have fewer wider doors, or more individual narrow doors. Each panel and bi-fold door will have a minimum and maximum size and these often vary depending on the manufacturer you choose.

Many homeowners prefer to install the widest panel size they can to reduce the amount of frame which can interrupt the view to outside when the doors are closed. However, the slim sightlines offered by Origin Bi-fold Doors reduces the amount of frame that can be seen when the doors are closed.

Why supply Origin Bi-fold Doors?

When you become an Origin Trade Partner, you receive access to the highest quality Aluminium Bi-fold Doors, as well as our full training and support.

We will support you in getting to know our products, through to specifying them and installing them to make sure your customers are happy and to help you ensure that projects are scheduled and completed on time.

To find out more about becoming an Origin Trade Partner or for more advice on bi-fold door sizes, please contact us today.