closetdoors
I have multiple closets with bi-fold doors and they all have the same issue: shaky, noisy and hard to open. It looks like the doors were installed using cheap sliding hardware. The doors are so shaky and noisy that I try to not open them.
I am dreaming of seeing those bi-fold doors opening and closing easily and with no noise. Does anybody have experience with those doors? What hardware should I get to replace the cheap sliding hardware?
I had basically the same situation in my 70's-built house, the closet doors went all the way to the roof, and were horrible looking bi-folds.
Basically what I did is framed in a header to bring the opening to 81" (remember to account for 1/2" drywall while framing):
Then some drywall and paint (note I didn't yet repaint the ceiling in this picture):
I had 4 closets like this. One by the front door got sliding mirror doors, the rest got frosted-glass sliding doors. The right picture below is actually the "after" shot of the first one in this answer.
The width is going to be challenging for stock stuff. If it was a bit wider, you could probably split the door into two by putting a small column in the middle, but that would leave you with a couple 3.5' doors, which are pretty small. If you went to bi-folds, you might be able to do a 4' and a 2' door, though that might look a bit strange.
A quick search turns up some custom closet door manufacturers, which might be an option to get multi-panel sliding doors, like this:
If you do this you can probably also get them 8' high, but honestly, even without the doors on, just making the opening 81" really updated the look of the house.
Yet another option is that you could shrink the width down to 72" (basically just extend the wall/framing on one side by 9"), and along with making the height 81", you're into a standard size where you can get both sliding or bi-fold doors off the shelf from any box store.
Good luck, and let us know how it turns out
You have two problems really and you can choose to solve one, the other or both.
First is the easier one, securing your doors so they can't be opened by the air. As Gunner mentioned, a ball latch/catch might work however they are designed to allow the door to open with a bit of force.
(source: homedepot.ca)
Other options include a bolt that you manually open at the top/bottom, or a panic bar:
(source: keylessaccesslocks.com)
The second way to tackle this problem is to prevent the vacuum that is occurring when the doors are opened. You likely need vents to allow air to flow between the two rooms - either slats in the door or more dedicated HVAC.
Best Answer
Bi-fold doors are just terrible. Even at their best they're often jiggly and awkward. They're such a pain that half of them end up perpetually open.
I'd look at replacing the hardware with a kit from your local store. They'll include track, door lap guides, upper rollers, and bottom pins and brackets.
Another problem is when the carpenter puts the knobs in the wrong place. They're often set right near the hinges. This makes the closing force all wrong, which results in premature wear and deformation of hardware. Ideally, the knobs will be in the center of the inner panel. This allows force to be applied in all necessary directions for both opening and closing action.