Door Styles
There are several ways in which doors open or are hung, some reflect the style of door as well. Some of these door types are outlined below.
Hinged Doors
The most common door type, it is a simple rigid panel the swings, opens and closes, on hinges. It comes in several styles: flush, contemporary, six panels, and glass. Hinged doors require a minimum amount of maintenance and cleaning, they are not expensive, and have an excellent insulating ability. However, they take up precious room space to swing in.
The bifold doors are used indoors only, the most common bifold doors include two narrow vertical panels that are hinged together. For small openings, a single bifold door with two narrow panels is an excellent option; however, for a larger opening it will require to have wider panels or double bifold doors.
These doors are ideal in cases where there is no room to swing a regular door outward, they allow the maximum opening to a closet with the smallest extension into the room.
The bifold doors come in styles which include solid or louvered panels. There are some drawbacks to these doors, they are more expensive than other doors, they can come untracked or malfunction easier than simple hinged doors can. Also, the bifold louvered doors are time consuming to clean, and it is very difficult to repaint them.
Sliding Doors
Sliding doors consist of two or three doors that slide by each other on a track. They are a good solution wherever doors are needed but there is no space to swing the doors, and pretty easily cleaned and maintained. These doors sound insulation is pretty poor usually, and they must be of high quality and fitted exactly in their tracks or else they may slide out of them. when fully open these doors will allow half the space of the opening in double sliding doors, or one third if triple.
Pocket Doors
Pocket doors slide on a track into a pocket built within the framing wall. They will be best used in a small room where there is not enough space to swing a hinged door open, or place double or triple sliding doors. When open, these doors will allow the use of the full opening size. Pocket doors can be installed on partition walls only, not on bear loading walls.
Folding Doors
Made of many narrow vertical strips or creases that fold back to back into a compact bundle when doors are pushed open, these strips or creases will be hanged from the top, and run on a track. They save space as they do not swing out of the door opening, though their sound and weather isolation is poor. Folding doors are usually pretty noisy, and considered not so durable.
Cafe Doors
You have probably seen these doors on TV and films, in saloons mainly. Usually two wooden doors hanging from each side of the frame, and placed in the middle between top and bottom of the opening. They swing open and can do so for both directions. These doors can be opened without the use of hands, just by pushing them. they are great for places where you think you will probably have your hands full most of the time. Bear in mind that they will not isolate sound, smell, and hardly even screen the content of the room. Considered unsafe for children, as they swing back in place automatically.
Pet Doors
Pet doors are installed on the bottom or side of a typically primary entrance door and include two main types, self closing and a lockable flip flop door. These type of doors allow for a pet to move freely in and out of a house, without having to leave a primary door open, or without anyone having to close and open the door for them, this saves energy and time. Makes sure your pet door is weather proof and sealed. And be aware that any dog or cat can potentially walk in your house through that door.
