[spaceman spif]

I have a 48" wide closet I'm working on, and I'm planning on installing two 24" wide bi-fold doors. Since I'm using two doors in one opening, obviously these are not pre-hung doors. Can I place drywall along the jambs and mount the hinges to that using screws that are deep enough to go well past the drywall and into the studs? Or do I need to have a wood surface on the jambs?

I'd prefer to use the drywall if I could so I could have a smooth, paintable surface.

 

[drtbk4ever]

I thought bifold doors hinge on pins at the top (with a track) and the bottom. No hinges on the jambs.

Am I missing something?

 

[spaceman spif]

I thought bifold doors hinge on pins at the top (with a track) and the bottom. No hinges on the jambs.

Am I missing something?

You know, you could very well be right. I haven't bought the doors and opened them to see, I just assumed they had hinges on the sides like other doors.

This might qualify as my derp-de-derrrrr moment of the day. :jester:

 

[drtbk4ever]

I haven't seen too many jambs done with drywall, most of them are wood to match the jambs/trim of other doors in the home.

When we did our reno, we did the jambs and trim in MDF and it was all painted the same colour. So were the doors for that matter.

 

[drtbk4ever]

Here is a quick photo I got from the internet. You can see the track along the top. You can also barely see the pins that go up into the track from the door corners.

 

[drtbk4ever]

And an image of the hardware and track.

 

[coupe]

all my bifold doors have drywall casings, make sure tiye track at top and pins at bottom are plumb

good luck

 

[joecaption]

There's a differant rough open if your going to use drywall returns.
It's written right on the outside of the box the doors come in what size to make the opening.
Drywall returns are far more subject to damage.

 

[princelake]

typically there is a piece with a knob that the door sits on and swivels on that http://www.homedepot.ca/product/bi-fold-door-hardware-kit/977330 the metal piece sits on the floor and is screwed into the bottom of the jamb. so your going to have to stop your baseboard somewhere which look a little funny and you have to drywall right to the floor and butt your flooring right up to the wall. then there is a top track that has to be screwed into some meat. make sure you have long screw and dont screw in to tight so you dont crack the drywall or suck the track into the drywall.

 

[dengle]

a nice piece of 1x6 or 1x<whatever width the jamb is> should provide a smooth surface for painting and provide the rigidity you'd need, if any type of mounting is required for it. Most closet jambs are wood to handle the stresses and traffic (think shoes kicking the corners for example.). If you do go the drywall route, ensure to use corner bead or some other form of corner support.

 

[spaceman spif]

a nice piece of 1x6 or 1x<whatever width the jamb is> should provide a smooth surface for painting and provide the rigidity you'd need, if any type of mounting is required for it. Most closet jambs are wood to handle the stresses and traffic (think shoes kicking the corners for example.). If you do go the drywall route, ensure to use corner bead or some other form of corner support.

That's exactly what I was thinking last night and I picked up some 1x6 paintable wood for that reason. I could have done drywall, but then I thought "I'm going to be carrying boxes and clothes in and out of these closets all the time, so the odds of an occasional bump and scrape are pretty good".

I'll have to cut back some of what I've already done to fit in the wood, but I think it's the right way to go. Thanks again, alla you!

 

[Larryh86GT]

My 1950's ranch's 4 closets all had sliding doors that I replaced with pine bifold doors. They just have drywall openings. If you are using stained wood doors you might want to rip a piece of pine to fit the face of the top track, stain it to match your doors, then glue it to the face of the track.

 

[DIY_Gal]

My 1950's ranch's 4 closets all had sliding doors that I replaced with pine bifold doors. They just have drywall openings. If you are using stained wood doors you might want to rip a piece of pine to fit the face of the top track, stain it to match your doors, then glue it to the face of the track.

Larry, how did you get the old sliding door tracks out? And what did you have to do to cover over it in the jamb? I have a thread going with a similar type project and I'm stuck. You can look at my album to see what I'm dealing with. Just want to put up some bifold doors, haha. Thanks in advance!

 

[Larryh86GT]

My sliding door tracks were screwed in so it was easy to remove them. New carpeting covered the holes in the floor. I had rip cut the tops and bottoms and remove the hinges and rip all the sides of the doors to make them fit right.