French door conversion to bifold door

[BonesD]

Anyone ever change their french door to a bifold?
My main access doors to the pilot house are split in the middle. One is anchored above and below with pins and must be removed to open. The other works like a normal door but is only 12 inches wide. I can pass through sideways easily enough but I had a couple larger folks on board the other day that could not. Maybe just a long piano hinge down the outside middle? My biggest concern would be the extra weight on the remaking hinges causing sag or failure. More hinges I guess
Any ideas?

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
Mr. BD. First off, I really dislike bifold doors. My first thought would be to "fuse" both doors into one so you have a 24" opening door instead of 2x12" doors. IF necessary, either increase the number of hinges OR put in one large piano hinge.

 

[Comodave]

I also hate bi-fold doors, and our current house has a bunch of them... That said if you have room for making one door out of the two doors and it would swing ok, then that is what I would do. Then put a piano hinge on the one door and it will carry the weight ok. Of course you would have to do something with the door latches and door knobs.

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
Mr. BD. Mr. C's post gave me an idea about the necessity of doing "something" with the doorknob.
IF you removed both doors and "fused" them, hinge side to hinge side (the right door would now be on the left and the left door on the right), you could leave the doorknob in place and simply mount the stiker plate on the leftmost side of the door frame.
That stop strip of wood currently on the inside of the left door (middle of 3rd picture) could be moved to the inside on the left door frame. Piano hinge on the right side of the "new" door and...

As Mr. C notes, all depends if you've got room to swing 24'' of door.

 

[Comodave]

Greetings,
Mr. BD. Mr. C's post gave me an idea about the necessity of doing "something" with the doorknob.
IF you removed both doors and "fused" them, hinge side to hinge side (the right door would now be on the left and the left door on the right), you could leave the doorknob in place and simply mount the stiker plate on the leftmost side of the door frame.
That stop strip of wood currently on the inside of the left door (middle of 3rd picture) could be moved to the inside on the left door frame. Piano hinge on the right side of the "new" door and...

As Mr. C notes, all depends if you've got room to swing 24'' of door.

Good idea.

 

[BonesD]

All great ideas. I’ve never met a bifold door that didn’t do its best to defeat me. The solid door sounds better.
Thank you all.

 

[FF]

Perhaps a dutch door made after the 2 halves are fused would function better.


The PBS home show did this , so finding it online should be easy.

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
Mr. FF. It's not the height that's the problem, it's the width. An obese child may benefit but...

 

[BonesD]

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[bayview]

I also hate bifold.
I had the same arrangement. My solution was to mount a spring actuated door plunger at the door top with a wire handle hanging down near the middle of the inside of the door and leave the lower pin undone. Worked great from inside and out.

 

[BonesD]

That’s a good solution. The problem with going to a solid 1 piece is the aft deck is short and it would be difficult to get around the open door in a hurry. Thanks

 

[BonesD]

Here you go.

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