# Bi-Fold Door Conversion Project - Need help with hinge selection



## TheCaptain (Aug 3, 2010)

I need some advise on a set of door hinges that will either be entirely concealed or have the absolute minimal pin location possible. I cannot frame out the opening as you would with a standard door. Read on for more details if you think you have a good idea.

As the subject states I'm in the process of converting, re-purposing, etc a standard set of bi-fold doors in my home. My laundry room/closet worked well with these doors and a standard top load washer, however new front loaders are a bit larger in depth and required me to remove them or move them (which is what I'm trying to do). Unfortunately the standard bi-fold track install won't work as I need the doors to open fully with both interior panels. This is the only way to get clearance around the washer and dryer pedestal drawers. So take these doors, mount their normally pivoting points with a hinge of some type. The doors will still "fold" however they can also fully open flat out into the hallway.

The doors are your typical run of the mill hollow door, yet they do have a good amount of weight on them. I don't have pics at the moment but there are 4 panels @ about 79" in height, 1 3/8" thick, and about 14 5/8" wide. The total span they need to cover is 60", so as you can tell there is little room to mess around with.

I plan to frame the opening with a standard jamb, routing the door edge down to 1/2" in depth approximately 1 3/4" wide across the entire height of the jamb on both sides. This should provide enough clearance for the doors to be mounted with hinges. This is also where the issue starts. The opening is flush to a wall, i.e. the door jamb is the only portion visible beyond the door. This side isn't as big of a problem. On the other side the jamb will be flush with a wall which is a corner of the main hallway in my house. Any normal hinge would simply be a safety hazard with my kids. If you can imagine a door without molding and flush with the wall opening, the pin location of the hinge would protrude about 1/2" or more into the hallway.

I found some smaller 3" pin hinges however they still protrude a bit. I'll use those if I can't find a better solution. Piano hinges seemed like a good idea until my wife pictured 79" of piano hinge on both sides of the door (still I could potentially get 3 sections of piano hinge. I've looked at the "European hinges" found on most store bought diy cabinets (i.e. ikea and others) but I just don't think they can hold up to the weight, I could be wrong.

Sorry for the long post. Hopefully I can get a picture or two and post for a better idea of what I'm looking at.

Thanks,
-Kirk


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## tdublyou (Jan 8, 2010)

Kirk,
I'm sure there is a solution to be had here but some pictures would definitely help visualize the situation.
For what it's worth, unless I am misunderstanding the situation, I don't think the barrel of a hinge sticking out 1/2" from the wall will be that big of a deal in most cases. Nobody walks right along a wall.


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## TheCaptain (Aug 3, 2010)

Unfortunately my 2yr old has other ideas about walking along and into walls...LOL But yes, I don't see a major deal with the barrel, just that it is so close to a corner wall that most people cut real close when they walk by. I had also looked at pivot hinges, though most were way too expensive for laundry room doors.

I am going to try and get some pictures tonight when I'm home from work.

-Kirk


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## RJM (Apr 11, 2010)

Look for an offset hinge like this 











or this


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## TheCaptain (Aug 3, 2010)

Robert, thank you for the hinge reference. The pivot hinges are a bit pricey for my ultra low budget. I'll have to check out the offset hinges. I found another potential hinge from johnson hardware that is a non-mortise hinge w/o a removable pin, it is their Casing Clearance Jamb hinge used in their full access kits.









As promised here are some pics of this simple project.


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