Here at the studio we needed to refurbish one of our gable ends situated in a wooden building and thought it was an ideal opportunity to bring it up-to-date and, as it is south facing, include a large width of bi-fold doors. This has given us the ideal opportunity to check out the super slim Origin aluminium brand of bi-fold OB-49 model external doors and share our finished project to hopefully inspire anyone searching for design ideas.

Firstly, why Origin aluminium?

We thought it worth mentioning to begin with that following some careful research it is definitely better to use aluminium for bi-fold doors. The strength of the material means that there is less of it than with PVC and this means more view and larger areas of expansive glass. Aluminium also does not warp or discolour under the British weather conditions in the way that plastics and wood can, and is recognised to be far more secure. The one down side with aluminium is that it is not as thermally effective as PVC, but the British based company Origin have developed their own line of thermal polyamide breaks that cleverly separate the outside of the frames and doors from the inside. They also offer up to 20 years guarantee, showing that they have confidence that their products are built to last - and all direct from their own factory in Buckinghamshire.

Choice and Delivery

One of the great things with Origin aluminium doors is that they run an entirely bespoke custom service - ideal for our 4 metre opening. You choose the height, width and number of doors, along with further choices of colours and fittings. There are showrooms across the UK where they can be seen in person, with the expansive options also presented. They too have an easily navigated website visually detailing the customisation and we decided on their four door outward opening OB-49 option which offers the slimmest sightline of a 110mm (OB-72 model has 154mm sightlines). Our four door option with cill has a lead door set to the left that will act as our general access door. We also included a central air vent. Origin offer multiple powder coated colour choices including woodgrain finishes if you wish, and we thought the anthracite grey was just right for us, keeping the frame, handles and fittings to match. However, you can choose to have contrasting colours in an expansive array, for the fittings if you wish.

Once you make your choice they’ll be delivered to the site directly from Origin, with the four outer frame lengths and all four door frames well protected and a box full of fastenings and fixings, including necessary spacers and glass gaskets.

Fitting of the frame

Any trade person that has experience fitting bi-folds, will declare that Origin’s system is one of the best and easiest to follow. Basically the process is speedy, saving you time and money. We have documented the process to illustrate this and to show the before and after. The important thing is to make sure you have the correct space to fit the frame squarely and accurately, before dimensions are confirmed (which should be checked by your builder prior to any installation). We decided that having a flush threshold, meaning the inside and outside floor height become the same, would be essential for our build, so in our scenario our cill had to be placed low enough to accommodate this. The cill remains important, even though not seen, because it becomes the drainage system for the bi-folds.

So the cill was placed in position first. Then the jambs to the top and bottom rails of the outer frame. The complete outer frame was then offered into the opening and placed on the cill in less than 30 minutes. Then it’s secured in place, starting with the bottom track where the screws go through this. Silicone was used between the cill and frame to keep good thermal and water resistance. Silicone is also run into both ends of the cill which are then covered by the plastic caps supplied. Importantly all Origin frames and doors are thermally protected and it is important that trades keep this thermal protection in place by screwing through the thermal layer in the frames and also adding silicone where advised. Then the alignment of the complete frame is checked and jambs are fastened into place, then finally the head top rail was screwed into place.

Fitting of the doors and double glazing

The top and bottom forks are put into place and the doors are hung in order, tapping in the fork pins where necessary to complete the hinge structure. All the doors are factory labelled so that trades can follow the order with ease. Both the D-handle (or slave handle) and main door handle will now be screwed into place. Following this, the glazing takes place, with each glass panel ‘toe and heeled’ utilising a glazing paddle and packers, and then the glazing bars are fitted and the wedge gasket pushed between these and the glass. Then it’s just the fitting of the air vent and door handle in place.

Finish and operation

Having successfully established that the Origin Bi-Fold doors were bespoke made to true precision against our original configuration and that the Origin system for fitting the doors is very straightforward for builders, we can now see just how well they are constructed. The baked on powder coated anthracite colour has a perfectly even and beautifully smooth finish and all the aluminium is strong and robust. The doors float smoothly and evenly along their tracks, making them a pleasure to use, and when opened we now have a beautifully seamless link to the outside. Also to add with the whole bi fold door vs sliding door debate, for us we wanted to connect the outside and inside spaces, which bi-folding doors only made possible. We can benefit from simply entering through the single left hand door, or open the next door to make a French door effect; then from there we can fold over all three of the right doors and have the whole extent of the opening absolutely clear between the inside and outside - the effect it stunning and the Origin bi-fold doors make an impressive frame to our inside-out experience. When closed the studio is left feeling snug and safe, with the slim line of Origin’s framing offering a stylish look and an amazing flow of light into the studio. Added to this we know that this system of bi-fold doors is particularly secure, not only because it is made of strong aluminium, but the hinges are specially made to be robust against attack and there are multi-lock fittings, with the main door having a single key eight-point locking system.

Thermally these doors are particularly good because of Origin’s polyamide thermal breaks, and their weather resistance is second to none. Being on a hill we are very exposed to serious southwest winds and lashing rain, and can with confidence say that these doors are up to the challenge - there are no annoying drafts or leaks here.

Overall

These Origin OB-49 Bi-fold doors have surpassed our expectations. They are truly outstanding, featuring such incredible slimness of framing whilst remaining extremely strong and robust. The powder coated finish is excellent and they look amazing, opening in various configurations smoothly and easily. Our studio gable end has been transformed with a truly seamless inside-out transition and a continually amazing amount of light.