Wide bi-folding doors with top tracks

For these style doors, we are talking about 2m, 3m, 4m wide openings. Shutters for these size doors would typically need to be mounted on a track. This means they are supported from above and the weight is taken through small wheels that slide up and down the track. This allows multiple shutters to be hinged together and be slid to one side or the other.

Horizontal Rails

Most tracked shutters will need a horizontal rail if the panel heights are over 1981mm, but you can choose not to have the rail and void the guarantee if you prefer to match the shutters to the doors. The photos you see of shutters without a rail would have been ordered without the guarantee. Elite shutters are normally used with tracked designs as they are lightweight and can have multiple bi-folds. The track frames are about 100mm wide and need to be fitted in front of any protruding door handles, so if you have a recess less than 100mm, the track frame would protrude.

Opening

When you fold back the shutters you can start at either end. You don’t need to hinge them open all at once, you can choose just to slide a couple of shutters back revealing enough gap to access the opening door. You do need to close all the louvre blades, either before you start folding back or as the bi-folding shutters come together. You simply pull the side stile where the hinges are facing you and the shutters will start to slide and concertina up.

Autoclose upgrade

There is an upgrade option available for a tracked shutter called Auto Close. A clever mechanism links all the louvres together, and as you start to fold and hinge the shutters back to the side recess, all the louvres will automatically tilt and close if they are open.

Bottom guide

Track-mounted shutters will require a bottom guide to be installed, this would be either a small ‘M’ shaped aluminium guide, or if they are fitted onto carpet you will need a complete bottom frame. The shutters have sprung loaded bottom pivots, that run along an aluminium grove in either the M track or bottom frame, stopping the shutters from tilting or moving backwards and forwards. There is no limit on the number of shutters, but you do need an even amount across the track as they fold in pairs, so if you had 3 large doors that opened you would normally have 6 shutters, 2 per section. These would either all slide to the left or right, or you could split them 2/4. If you had 6 large doors, you would need 12 shutters, these could all slide to one side or they could be split 6 left and 6 right.

Width limits

There is a panel width limit of 660mm, this means maximum opening widths of
  • 2640mm for 4 shutters
  • 3960mm for 6 shutters
  • 5280mm for 8 shutters
  • 7920mm for 12 shutters.
If there is any skirting board within your recess, it would be cut out or removed to allow for the trackside frame to run down to the floor.