Choosing Folding Sliding Doors / Bi Fold Doors – A Giude For What To Look For And A Review Of 30 Companies.(Timber Only)

With so many folding sliding door companies out there it can be daunting deciding who to place your hard earned cash with. We will place companies 1st 2nd out of 30 companies that we looked at.

This article will simply try and show you what to look for and who is the company that is getting it all right. This is a guide for timber doors so if you definitely want aluminium then this may not be for you. However with timber very much in fashion and much more tactile, energy efficient and made from renewable sources then maybe you want to think again.

Folding sliding doors, or bi fold doors have become the must have item in homes today. They allow the owner to open up a large part of a wall where once may have only had a 2m French door. Now 4m 5m or 6m is not uncommon. Lets look at the bad bits that many manufacturers do:

The technique consists of cutting the members to size and then drilling a series of holes in the joint surface of each member. Holes are often drilled with the assistance of a dowelling jig which aids in accurate hole placement – accuracy is paramount in this technique to ensure members line up perfectly in the completed joint. The holes are drilled such that there are corresponding holes in each member into which short dowels are inserted with some glue. The joint is brought together and clamped until the glue has dried.

This produces a joint which is much stronger than a butt joint without reinforcement. The dowels offer some holding strength even after the glue has deteriorated. Over time, dowels may shrink and become loose. They take on an oval shape in section owing to the different rate at which wood moves with different orientations of the grain. Loose dowels allow the joint to flex, although it may not fall apart. This phenomenon is evident in creaking chairs and wobbling book cases. For this reason, dowel joints are not preferred for high-quality furniture

For that reason we would strongly advise that you use companies that use traditional joinery methods such as mortise and tenon joints or comb joints incorporated in the doors that Valdi and Fairoak use. Our pick would be 1st Valdi – www.valdi.com and 2nd Fairoak “ www.fairoak.co.uk

You will probably have many other questions but we hope that this gives you the main points to look for. Our top picks as you can see are 1st Valdi 2nd Fairoak and 3rd Dendura

Our reasons for choosing Valdi Beautifully Bespoke Folding Sliding Doors “ are as follows.

1) Great products built using traditional mortise and tenon and comb joints so you know that your doors will look just as good in years to come.

2) They produce in the UK and for us that is great. Being able to go and look at the doors in production (not that you probably will) is a reassuring prospect. It also is a thumbs up for commitment to manufacture in the UK when much is going aboard to be made cheaply¦ sorry China!

3) Choice of 6 sill types only 1 of which adds any real cost (the flush patio sill). Apparently this is due to it being custom made using stainless steel and they say can be made to varied specification.

4)   They don’t rip you off. We asked them about the cost of taller doors and while others charge per mm higher you go, Valdi simply add in the cost of the timber and glass, stating that it cost them the same to make a small door as it does to make a bigger one! Makes sense to me.

5)   As their name suggests they are bespoke and as such say that they will try at all times to accommodate peoples wishes such as blinds in the glass, half glazed doors, and dual colour so you can match old UPVC doors or patio doors while still keeping the oak on the inside. When your spending the money why shouldn’t you have the choice!

6) They don’t mass produce so your doors get the care they deserve.

7) Price was good¦ in fact we found that they were very good. Although not the cheapest, in our book this is a plus as most of the cheap ones we found faults galore! Having said all that they are by no means the most expensive and when considering everything they are great value for a truly crafted product.

They can deliver and fit if needed, however we think that this is where most buyers can save. Get a good joiner to fit them and you shouldn’t go wrong. If your concerned about warranties then leave it to the company you buy from.

9) They said that they are a bespoke joinery so they can produce windows, single doors, French doors, big glazed panels and so on.

10) Ultimately we felt that Valdi give a great choice at good value. If you can’t stretch the budget to Oak then try the Idigbo that looks like oak and is a cheaper hardwood. Otherwise softwood it is, but this we would suggest is much better painted than stained.

Remember that this is a key feature to you home and one that will definitely add value. I know its easy to say if I’m not spending the money but please make sure you follow our advice, we have seen laminated sill sections that have cracked and delaminated, doors that have opened up due to poor construction and water and heat causing them to separate, glass that is of poor quality and even people who 1 or 2 years after they have put in cheap door are now spending even more to have them removed and better ones put in. Don’t get caught out¦. Good luck and enjoy the weather with your new doors.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to this survey and the time taken to quiz all the 30 companies.

Since this was first written we have heard that Cerey Fox and Valdi have both decided to have some products made in Europe. Valdi stated that “Not all of our products are made in Europe it is really only our Professional Range that is aimed purely at the trade customers where cost is much more of an issue. We have not allowed our quality to be compromised and the fact that we have a UK workshop means that we can rectify any problems quickly if the ever occur. We also have found that European winters can be much colder than the UK and as such this is why we have used their expertise to create our 3G range of triple glazed windows with U values of aprox 0.7″ Cerey Fox offer some products from Italy.

We still prefer to support UK products but also understand that companies have to offer the public what they want and in tough times it obviously shows that we are all a little price sensitive. If any other companies have had recent changes or updates do let us know.