Bi-fold doors are excellent options for opening up a home without having to break down walls. They can be used as ordinary doors to lead to your garden, but can also be utilised to open up a large wall section to let light and air into your home. If you're thinking of installing bi-fold doors in your home, you probably want them to look, work and be as secure as possible. In order to ensure this, there are a few things you should think about when you're planning getting bi-fold doors.

Levelled ground

The first thing you need to consider is the ground where you plan on putting your bi-fold doors. The ground outside the house on your chosen spot should be on the same level as the floor inside the house. This gives you the best effect visually as it will look like you've literally opened up one of your walls. It's also preferable as you won't have to have any additional work done to install steps down or up to your garden. You might have to get some minor landscaping work in order to level the ground outside your house, but it makes the natural flow between inside and outside better.

Permissions

Before getting bi-fold doors you also need to check if you need some type of permission from higher instances. Usually, this is not the case, but you should still check with your local council if the house you live in has any certain requirements you need to think about. If you're renting your house, you need to get the installation approved by your landlord, and if you live in a listed home, you might need permission from your council as well as other instances responsible for protection of listed homes.

Security

You also need to think about the security features you want your bi-fold doors to have. Bi-fold doors aren't less safe than other types of doors, but you should still make sure you get a lock that's sturdy enough to withstand attempted break in. Deadbolt locks are popular choices to ease this particular concern. You also need to make sure you use hinges that can't be compromised with a crow bar or other tools burglars might use to pry the doors open. A good option for this are hinges that cover the entire gap between doors instead of individual hinges spread out over the gap. These types of hinges makes it very difficult to get a tool underneath the hinge to pry it off, and it also offers stability to itself, meaning that even if an intruder would get a tool in to pry a bit of the hinge off, the entire structure won't come off immediately. 

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