Exploring Closet Door Types

When Jack and Judy Thomas bought a house for their daughter, they couldn’t wait to get rid of the floor-to-ceiling, metal louvered bifold closet doors. “Is there anything you can do about these,” they asked. 

“Sure, we can take them out, frame in some headers and then you have several different options.” After some discussion, we ended up installing single swinging doors for the entry closet and the linen closet. 

Another linen closet got a pair of mirrored bifold doors and two of the bedrooms were equipped with mirrored bypass doors. The variety of doors on this project started me thinking about the various door options for closets. 

Years of working as a finish carpenter installing thousands of closet doors has definitely influenced my opinion about which doors I think are best. Whether building new or remodeling, the choices you make in closet door types can make a big difference in the looks, traffic flow, functionality and maintenance of your closets. 

You may think that the architect had a good reason for choosing the types of doors used for your home’s closets. That may be the case, but the chances are pretty good that the doors may have been chosen to cut costs. Bifold and bypass doors with minimum trim can save the builder $100 or more per closet compared to double doors, which may

not sound like much until you multiply the amount by the number of doors in the house, and again by the number of houses in the development. 

If your home’s original closet doors were chosen because of cost rather than for function or beauty, you may have better options. Don’t be afraid to consider a change when planning a closet-related home project.  

[Hall closet doors before] These metal, louvered closet doors were not the look the new owners had in mind for this hallway area.

Bifold Doors

Bifolds come in two-panel and four-panel configurations. Each panel is paired to another panel with a set of hinges. The most common bifold door sizes are 4, 5 and 6 feet—each with two pairs of panels. Also used often are half-sets of doors in 2-, 2-1/2- and 3-foot configurations.  

Advantages: Bifolds require less room than swinging doors in front of the closet because of how the doors fold as they are opened. The doors are light and tend to be inexpensive. You can also save costs on trim if you really want to cut corners and install the doors without a jamb and casing. 

Drawbacks: The folded doors cut back on the size of the useful opening when the doors are open. They tend to be a bit tempermental, so maintenance is an issue. The hardware is specialized and not very durable. Both the floor pivot and track pivot can be knocked out of position easily, which makes the doors out of adjustment. It takes some special techniques and framing to get them set up and working properly. 

Although used extensively in tract homes, bifolds can also be constructed of quality hardwoods and trimmed to match the swinging doors in the house. (Photo courtesy of Jeld-Wen)

Tips:

• Leave a little extra room when trimming the door opening for proper operation.

• Determine which trim method you will use. You can go with no jamb, half jamb, full jamb, full jamb with 1-by-1 inset, or full jamb with a half jamb overlapped in casing. The trim design will determine the rough framing opening.