I'll bet the answer to this is obvious, but I'll ask anyway...

I have a few sets of bifold, closet doors in my house. Both sides of one
closet are in alignment and open and close just fine, but they don't
"lock." Let me explain: There is a piece of metal on the outer edge of
each door that the two sides, when closed, are supposed to press against,
thereby holding the doors straight and closed. No matter how I adjust
these pieces of metal, the doors just won't lock and fall open slightly.
What's the trick? Should one be above the other a little bit? In perfect
alignment? How far out from the edge of the door should the metal
protrude? Is this really just a day-long, trial and error session? Help
me surprise my wife.

TIA.
C

I installed bifold doors in several closets this past summer. They were
4-panel doors, flat birch slab hollow core doors made by Masonite and
supplied with Stanley track and hardware. All but one went in with no
trouble. On one closet however a single door panel was not flat. This
became evident when I unscrewed the hinges between the two panels on
that side. The effect of this non-planarity was to force the system of
two doors when hinged to an equilibrium position which didn't happen to
be the "closed" position. No amount of adjustment would solve the
problem so I returned the door and received a no cost replacement. It
worked well.

There is a spring at the top center of the door which exerts some slight
force to keep the doors closed. There are a couple versions of this
assembly (varied spring lengths) that you might want to try but my guess
is a warped door panel.

RB

Curmudgeon wrote:
They should:

1. be just a coupla inches off the floor
2. One should be above the other when the doors meet...as close together as
you can get them ((vertically)WITHOUT touching just as the doors meet.
3. Each one is bent to provide some tension when the doors are fully
closed.

"C" wrote in message
news
I'll bet the answer to this is obvious, but I'll ask anyway...

I have a few sets of bifold, closet doors in my house. Both sides of one
closet are in alignment and open and close just fine, but they don't
"lock." Let me explain: There is a piece of metal on the outer edge of
each door that the two sides, when closed, are supposed to press against,
thereby holding the doors straight and closed. No matter how I adjust
these pieces of metal, the doors just won't lock and fall open slightly.
What's the trick? Should one be above the other a little bit? In perfect
alignment? How far out from the edge of the door should the metal
protrude? Is this really just a day-long, trial and error session? Help
me surprise my wife.

TIA.
C

Okay, I think I know what the problem is. The metal pieces are screwed
onto the doors so that they face into the closet - they never touch the
doors themselves. From your instructions, it sounds as though they should
be flipped around so they actually press against the opposite door. I'll
give that a shot.

Thanks,
C


On Tue, 16 Mar 2004 08:46:40 -0500, "Curmudgeon" wrote:

They should:

1. be just a coupla inches off the floor
2. One should be above the other when the doors meet...as close together as
you can get them ((vertically)WITHOUT touching just as the doors meet.
3. Each one is bent to provide some tension when the doors are fully
closed.

"C" wrote in message
news
I'll bet the answer to this is obvious, but I'll ask anyway...

I have a few sets of bifold, closet doors in my house. Both sides of one
closet are in alignment and open and close just fine, but they don't
"lock." Let me explain: There is a piece of metal on the outer edge of
each door that the two sides, when closed, are supposed to press against,
thereby holding the doors straight and closed. No matter how I adjust
these pieces of metal, the doors just won't lock and fall open slightly.
What's the trick? Should one be above the other a little bit? In perfect
alignment? How far out from the edge of the door should the metal
protrude? Is this really just a day-long, trial and error session? Help
me surprise my wife.

TIA.
C

Amazing! It seems the previous homeowners must have taken off the metal
pressure plates (for lack of anything better to call them) when they
painted the doors and put them back on wrong. I flipped them around,
adjusted them, and the doors stay closed! What a simple fix! I could even
see the marks on the edges of the doors where the plates had been pushing
for years and years.

Many, many thanks, sir. You have made my evening.

C


On Tue, 16 Mar 2004 08:46:40 -0500, "Curmudgeon" wrote:

They should:

1. be just a coupla inches off the floor
2. One should be above the other when the doors meet...as close together as
you can get them ((vertically)WITHOUT touching just as the doors meet.
3. Each one is bent to provide some tension when the doors are fully
closed.

"C" wrote in message
news
I'll bet the answer to this is obvious, but I'll ask anyway...

I have a few sets of bifold, closet doors in my house. Both sides of one
closet are in alignment and open and close just fine, but they don't
"lock." Let me explain: There is a piece of metal on the outer edge of
each door that the two sides, when closed, are supposed to press against,
thereby holding the doors straight and closed. No matter how I adjust
these pieces of metal, the doors just won't lock and fall open slightly.
What's the trick? Should one be above the other a little bit? In perfect
alignment? How far out from the edge of the door should the metal
protrude? Is this really just a day-long, trial and error session? Help
me surprise my wife.

TIA.
C