Bifold doors and external handles?

TimmyO

My partner is having a a bifold door put on the back of her house (the wall got knocked out yesterday as part of some the work) 

The builder has said that the fixed single door part of it will have a handle on the inside but not on the outside - so if you go out through that (with the door not in bifold mode - just using the regular door part) and it closes behind you, you can't get back in from outside.

Given that the front door is one that locks when you shut it - that sounds like a recipe for getting locked out a lot. Or for having to prop the back door open permanently when you're in the garden making the whole house cold.

Is this a thing? 

Is it because the way a bifold folds there can't be a handle on the outside? 

stickyfiddle

My guess is it depends on the geometry of the door (how many panels and which way it folds) but that seems rather stupid and possible unnecessary. It'd certainly annoy me

My sister & her other half run a window business and have been in the trade for 20-odd years; I'm happy to ask if useful! I can see from their website that they've fitted some with external handles and some without, so it certainly can be done 

TimmyO

It's a 3 panel (think normal person terraced house not lifestyle magazine shoot :-) ) 

boogieman

We’ve had bifolds fitted at our last two houses and both have had external handles, so no, it’s not a usual thing as far as I’m aware. And like you say, it sounds a possible problem if there isn’t one and you need to get in from outside. There are usually plastic blocks fitted to the outside to stop the leaves of the doors (and the external handle) bashing together or knocking into the glass. On ours the blocks also have magnets imbedded to hold the opening leaf in the open position. 

ElectricXII

We've got a three part bifold door in our lounge. The single door only has a handle on the inside. When the single door is open (it opens to the outside), it rest against the frame of the middle door  and is held in place magnetically. An exterior handle would prevent this and stop the three sections from folding properly.

djspecialist

We're currently having a garden office built (*) and are planning to put in a 3-panel bifold. The "traffic door" (i.e. the panel at the end which can be opened on its own) has an external handle, with a lock, and an internal handle.  When the traffic door is fully open, it will be held against the adjacent panel by a magnet. The depth of the magnetic plate(s) is sufficient to avoid the external handle contacting the frame of the adjacent panel.

(*) Yes, it will also serve as a music room!

Sporky

We have a four-panel bifold, and the left most opens the other way and has both internal and external handles.

Not having an external handle sounds daft - what if you want to go into the garden but not have the door left open? 

TimmyO

Sporky said:

Not having an external handle sounds daft - what if you want to go into the garden but not have the door left open? 

Eggzakkerley. 

Apparently it's what they put on next door's extension. 

Thanks all for confirming I'm not going mad/asking for the impossible. 

She's spoken to him and apparently it will be sorted. We shall see. 

(The builder seems ace to be fair - he was reporting what his bloke he gets doors from said) 

Snags

Another data point to the "We have three-panel bi-folds and they have an external handle" camp.

TimmyO

Overheard that the door man has replied to the builders saying "it doesn't need one"

This info has not yet been shared. 

Tune in to the evening news for further updates... 

boogieman

I wonder if the window guy has forgotten to include it in the spec when he ordered it? IME bifolds are usually bought in rather than put together by the window companies. 

VimFuego

I've got a 3 fold bi-fold door on my garden room with a handle on the outside so yup, it is a thing.

ToneControl

does sound like a BS excuse after ordering incorrectly

Majorscale

Another 3 panel door with external handles here. Madness not to have one fitted…

strtdv

You can have external handles. There are magnetic bump stops fitted to the panels which keeps them fully opened and also stops the external handle hitting the frame of the adjacent panel when fully open.
There's a separate low profile handle on one of the panels which is only interior, but that's not the main handle to open the door

Rob1742

100% need a handle, and should have one. 

You wouldn’t choose to have it done if it didn’t have this option as it’s not fit for purpose. 

If they are of a decent size I’d always recommend aluminium, as the movement in plastic would cause problems during winter and summer temperature changes.

TimmyO

Apparently it's beennironesnoit between the builder and 'door man' - they may have been at cross purposes about the outside of the traffic door and the middle of the whole folding mechanism.

Yep they're going to be aluminium. 

Sporky

I don't know whether "beennironesnoit" is auto-correct going off piste, or a fabulous word I need to know more about.

WYNIR0

Sporky said:

I don't know whether "beennironesnoit" is auto-correct going off piste, or a fabulous word I need to know more about.

Same, Google was zero use. Spill Tim!

TimmyO

Blimey.

I pretty much only do forum on my phone and spend 80% of my time editing badly typed sentences. 

It should have read "been resolved"

My phone is weird - not only does it autocorrect away from correct spellings to non existent words it also deletes characters that were previously on screen. Or I'm senile and/or getting finger-Parkinsons.

Sporky

Mine does that too. I thought it might have been "been ironed out", but always worth checking.

I am now imagining that Benniro Esnoit was a 70s lounge singer.