Do-it-yourself interior door

If you are interested in interior accordion doors, with equal success, you can either be an oriental esthete enthusiastic about the Sino-Japanese interior style or the owner of a small apartment. In the first case, folding accordion doors are a tribute to preferences, decorative lyrics, in the second - an urgent need.

Accordion doors are a type of folding structure consisting of panels (lamellas) connected by hinges or hinges. Such doors do not open wide open, and thanks to the roller mechanism they fold in one or both sides.

The advantages of folding doors

Agree, the accordion door is a non-standard solution. Therefore, the advantages of such a choice should be clear and undeniable.
So, the advantages of sliding doors are as follows:

1. Space saving. To open the accordion door does not require additional space, while a conventional swing door, when opened, takes up space equal to the width of the canvas.
2. Function of a decorative delimiter of living space. Separate the kitchen area, mark the limits of the pantry or dressing room, serve as a shower screen, decorate any thematic niche - sliding interior doors will perfectly solve these problems.
3. Noiselessness. If you purchased high-quality components for the manufacture of folding doors, be sure that they will serve you quietly and imperceptibly.
4. Low cost. Sometimes in the ratio “affordable price-quality” it is the quality of the goods that is modestly silent aside. Sliding accordion doors refute this fact: purchased from a decent manufacturer and having a decent quality, not even the cheapest of their options will still cost less than traditional doors from a single canvases. Of course, you should avoid buying cheap Chinese counterparts, for which only the price is their only advantage.
5. Easy installation. With your own hands, you can not only easily install accordion doors, but even completely make them.
6. Construction regulation. If necessary, you can change the width of the door leaves yourself, add or remove panels.

disadvantages

Alas, not only certain advantages are indisputable. The disadvantages of sliding doors are also obvious:

1. Fragility. Like any prefabricated design with movable elements, a sliding door has a shorter service life than a swing door. But if you reduce the operating load on such doors and install high-quality fittings with your own hands, you can somewhat extend their life.
2. Insufficient noise and heat insulation. Through the docking slots of the panels, noise penetrates more easily than through a solid door leaf. Warmly sliding doors also hold worse. If you install them in the kitchen, they are unlikely to fully prevent the penetration of odors from it into the living area. But it is still possible to symbolically separate the kitchen area with the help of folding doors.

But as a design that saves space, the sliding accordion door in the kitchen fully justifies itself: in small apartments, the kitchen is often the smallest room.

Types of accordion sliding doors

The main criterion for dividing these doors into types is the material from which they are made. Most often they are:

• plastic;
• wooden;
• glass;
• combined;
• made from chipboard;
• made of MDF.

Plastic sliding accordion doors are the most inexpensive economy-class products. They can be both deaf and with decorative inserts. Reliability and quality are poor. It is rather a design element of the interior, a screen. But due to its moisture resistance, such a door can be an excellent solution for the bathroom.

Wooden doors are much more expensive, but they also have a big advantage compared to plastic ones - the naturalness of the material and a solid appearance. But it is important to consider that heavy solid wooden plates of such doors require a more thorough sliding mechanism and high-quality fittings.

Glass sliding doors allow you to make any room visually more spacious and will be appropriate both in the kitchen and in the living room. The durable glass from which they are made can be corrugated, frosted, transparent, mirrored, with a pattern or sandblasted. In addition to the spectacular appearance, the advantage of glass accordion doors is water resistance, corrosion resistance and durability.

Combined interior doors-accordions combine several types of material, for example, wood and glass. There are a lot of combinations: artistic stained-glass windows, engraving, mosaic, mirror insert.

Particleboard is not a very reliable material that does not hold loops well, so when deciding to make a sliding door with your own hands, you should not choose your choice.

Doors from MDF are moisture resistant, fireproof and environmentally friendly.

Important! Folding folding doors can only be installed as interior doors, indoors. They are leaky and therefore not intended for external use as entrance doors.

How to make an accordion door yourself

Making such a door with your own hands is not difficult. The most important point in this case will be the choice of high-quality fittings. In order to make the accordion door yourself, you will need:

• sheets of material;
• loops;
• articulated guides;
• a pen;
• Castle;
• plastic edge;
• side profiles;
• stubs;
• guide;
• roller mechanism;
• self-tapping screws;
• drill;
• roulette;
• pencil;
• stationery knife.

Sequencing

You can make your own interior sliding door-accordion in two stages.

Door leaf fabrication:

1. Measure the height and width of the doorway.
2. According to the data obtained, mark the sheet material and cut out from it the desired number of panels (optimally - 5-6), of which the sashes will consist. The width of individual elements may be different.
3. Squeeze the edges of the cut-off panels with fine-grained emery paper and stick a plastic edge on them to match.
4. Leave the blanks to dry for about 12 hours.
5. Mark the installation location of the fittings and handles with a lock.
6. At the end of the sash end, strengthen the metal axes above and below 2. Their position should be strictly the same relative to each other.
7. Drill a hole for the roller mechanism at the top and install the wheels.
8. Lay the panels on the floor to connect them with hinges. The loops should be located at the same level horizontally so that there are no distortions. Between all panels, except the extreme, it is necessary to install 3 loops.
9. Connect adjacent panels with loops so that the clear distance between them is 3 mm.
10. Make recesses under the handle and lock.

Important! Before installing the folding structure, it is advisable to dismantle the old door box and strip it to the base. This will slightly expand the doorway.

Installation in the doorway:

1. Every 25-30 cm, drill small holes in the upper guide.
2. Choose which way the door will fold. Install a latch on the opposite side of the rail.
3. Insert the carriage slider into the guide.
4. Fasten the guide to the upper level of the door frame.
5. At the bottom of the opening, fasten the receiving plate.
6. Introduce the metal axes of the finished flaps into the receiving plates.
7. To install platbands around the perimeter of the doorway.

As can be seen from the recommendations, the question of how to install an accordion door will not even complicate an inexperienced master himself. Correctly choose the material of the sliding doors, accessories for them, take into account all the features of these designs, and they will serve you properly.