Bi-fold doors opening from a living room to a garden

Service Profile · Sliding Folding System

When closed, a wall. When open, no wall.

A bi-fold (concertina) door system where 3, 4 or 5 panels fold and stack against one or both ends — leaving the full opening clear. Thermal-broken frame, multipoint locking, weather-tight when shut. Built for villas and penthouses where the design intent is the wall disappears.

Send the drawing

Or call Suraj — +91 98703 08481

Section

50 × 100 mm

Panels

Up to 6

Run

Up to 6 m

Glazing

8 / 12 mm

Mech

Top-hung

Clear / panel

1.0 m

Scroll

Chapter 01 · The Problem

Three answers when
the wall has to disappear.

A villa great-room opening onto a garden. A penthouse podium meeting a terrace. A restaurant private dining opening to a balcony. The brief is the same — when the doors are open, the wall should not exist; when shut, the room should be a sealed envelope. The standard sliders never quite delivered both.

The room and the outdoors stop being two places joined by a door — they become one space.

A standard sliding door

Always leaves at least one panel in the way of the opening. The wall reduces but never disappears. The threshold is a constant compromise.

ii.

A pair of French doors

Look right in a townhouse. On a 5 m opening they need a fixed centre mullion or a flying post — and the brief just became a small door on a wide wall.

iii.

A fixed glass wall

Beautiful, but sealed. The garden the designer drew never actually meets the room. The view is paid for and never used.

iv.

The fourth answer

A bi-fold of 4, 5 or 6 panels that fold and stack against the side jamb. The wall is a sealed thermal-broken envelope when shut and entirely absent when open.

Chapter 02 · How it works

Hinged at the top.
Stacked at the side.

A 50 × 100 thermal-broken head

A continuous head track carries every panel on top-hung pivot rollers — the floor track is recessed flush, so nothing crosses the threshold underfoot. The thermal break inside the section keeps AC inside and Mumbai heat outside.

Panels coupled in pairs

Each pair of panels is hinged together with three SS 304 hinges. Pull the leading panel and the pair folds inward, then outward, like a concertina. Three pairs make a 6-panel run; the same hinge logic scales down to 4 or 3 panels.

Multipoint lock at full close

When the run is shut, a single lever drives a five-point lock — top, bottom, two side jambs and the leading edge — into stainless keepers. EPDM gasket on every meeting edge. The door is now a sealed envelope, not a sliding system pretending to be one.

—

No flying post.
No centre mullion.
No thresholds underfoot.

When the door is folded back, the opening is fully clear from one jamb to the stack. Suraj walks the floor with the joinery before fabrication — the threshold detail is the part that catches most installers out, and we draw it before we cut.

Sliding folding door system stacked open

Chapter 03 · Material

What it’s made of.
Down to the gasket.

A heavier section than our 16 × 45 sliders — because a bi-fold panel is asked to do more work. Thermal break for AC efficiency. Multipoint lock for security. Every hinge stainless. Every gasket continuous.

Material 01

The section — thermal-broken 6063-T6.

A 50 × 100 mm thermal-broken architectural aluminium profile. The polyamide thermal break inside the section cuts heat transfer — meaningful in Mumbai AC season, where a non-broken bi-fold sweats and chills the room edge in equal measure.

Material 02

The glass — toughened 8 or 12 mm.

8 mm toughened on standard runs; 12 mm where panel spans cross 1.0 m or where the brief calls for a heavier acoustic or impact spec. DGU available for sound-sensitive rooms — a private cinema room opening to a podium garden, for instance.

Material 03

The hardware — all stainless.

SS 304 hinges, top-hung pivot rollers, multipoint lock gear, every fastener stainless. The lever and barrel are solid brushed stainless — no zinc-plated handle that pits in three years. EPDM continuous gasket across every meeting edge and the head and sill.

Chapter 04 · Where it’s installed

When the brief is
the wall disappears.

Villa great-rooms opening to gardens. Penthouse podiums meeting terraces. Restaurant private-dining rooms onto balconies. Pool-deck lounges. The bi-fold is for the moment in a project where the designer wants the boundary between inside and outside to genuinely disappear — not just visually reduce.

Villa great room with bi-fold doors to garden

Villa great-room · Khar

The most common install.

A 5 m great-room opening to a garden. Six panels fold and stack against the side jamb in two-pair groups. Threshold runs flush so the parquet inside meets the IPS outside without a step.

Penthouse podium · Worli

Terrace opening

Private dining · Lower Parel

Restaurant terrace

Indoor lounge with glass doors to pool deck

Pool deck · Powai villa

Indoor lounge to pool

Family room · Juhu

4-panel run

Cabana · Bandra

Villa-style addition

South Mumbai · Sea-facing

Marine-grade hinges and SS 316 multipoint gear within 1 km of the coastline

Chapter 05 · Comparison

A direct read on the
seven decisions that matter.

Standard sliding door

French doors / fixed glass

Aditi Sliding Folding System

Opening when fully open

One panel always in the way

Hinged door swing eats floor

Fully clear — wall disappears

Sealed envelope when shut

Sliding gasket — limited seal

French / fixed — sealed

Multipoint lock + EPDM — sealed

Thermal performance

Non-broken — heat bridges

Depends on spec

Thermal-broken — meaningful in AC season

Threshold underfoot

Raised bottom track

Hinged threshold rebate

Flush recessed threshold

Span without flying post

Limited to 4 m

Centre mullion required

6 m clear without intermediate post

Security at full close

Single-point hook lock

Multipoint hinged

Multipoint at top, bottom, sides + lead

Stack direction

Fixed at design stage

Fixed swing

Reversible — stack left, right or split

Chapter 06 · Benefits

Rarely a single feature.
Always the combination.

A full clear opening when folded.

Every panel folds and stacks against the side jamb. Three-quarters of the run is fully clear; the stack itself sits roughly 200 mm proud of the jamb. The wall genuinely disappears, not visually reduces.

Multipoint lock at full close.

A single lever drives a five-point lock — top, bottom, two side jambs and the leading edge — into stainless keepers. The door is a sealed envelope when shut, with security spec that no slider can match.

Thermal-broken for AC efficiency.

A polyamide thermal break inside the 50 × 100 section stops heat from bridging through the aluminium. Meaningful on a Mumbai AC bill — and the inside of the frame stops sweating during a humid May afternoon.

Weather-tight in monsoon.

EPDM continuous gasket on every meeting edge and across the head and sill. Drained head channel routes water out before it reaches the gasket line. We test the run with a hose at handover, not at first monsoon.

Spans up to 6 m without an intermediate post.

A 6-panel run carries on top-hung pivot rollers — no centre flying post, no tie-bar across the soffit. The opening reads as a single continuous gesture in plan and elevation.

Configurable hinge points.

Stack can be set against the left jamb, the right jamb, or split — three panels each side meeting at the centre when shut, parting outward when open. Drawn at shop-drawing stage, not site-improvised.

A flush recessed threshold.

The bottom track sits flush with the finished floor — parquet, IPS or stone — so the inside meets the outside without a step. We coordinate the recess depth with the joinery before the floor screed goes down.

Reverses for left or right stack.

Mirrored shop drawing if the brief asks for the stack on the opposite end. We confirm the stack direction with the designer at drawing approval — sometimes the room reorganises and the stack moves with it.

Designer-direct.

Suraj reads the drawing. He measures the opening himself, signs off the shop drawing before fabrication, and coordinates the threshold detail with the joinery and flooring trades. No franchise, no rep.

Chapter 07 · Common questions

The questions a designer
asks before the quote.

Up to 6 m on a 6-panel run with each panel at roughly 1.0 m. The top-hung head section carries the panel weight to a continuous lintel — no flying post, no tie-bar. Beyond 6 m we either step into a 7th panel or recommend a split-stack with a fixed centre fin.

Yes — when the multipoint lock is engaged. EPDM continuous gasket on every edge, drained head channel, and a flush recessed threshold with a hidden weep route. The five-point lock pulls the leading edge into the side jamb on a positive seal. We hose-test at handover.

Yes — for AC season more than winter. Without a thermal break, a 50 × 100 aluminium frame conducts heat across the section and the inside surface sweats on a humid May day. The polyamide thermal break stops the bridge — the frame stays dry inside, and the AC bill drops a meaningful amount on a heavily glazed wall.

Yes — and we encourage it. The bottom track is recessed into the floor screed so parquet, IPS or stone meets the outside surface without a step. We coordinate the recess depth with the joinery and flooring trades before the floor goes down — retrofitting a flush threshold after the fact is rarely clean.

The five-point multipoint lock — top, bottom, two side jambs, leading edge — is significantly more secure than any sliding door at the same price point. The hinges are SS 304 with security pins. For ground-floor villa installs we add a key-locked lever and an internal anti-lift bar.

Bi-folds are not commonly motorised — the folding action wants a manual feel and the panels are too heavy to safely automate without significant cost. For motorised wide openings we recommend the (2+2) or 1 fix + 3 sync slider with a concealed 24 V drive.

6–8 weeks for a standard 4–6 panel install, drawing approval to handover. Add 1–2 weeks if the threshold detail needs joinery and floor coordination, and a week for sea-facing flats — SS 316 hardware orders are longer.

Send the drawing

Send the drawing.
We’ll quote by Friday.

No site-visit fee. No call-centre. No quote written before measurement. Suraj reads the drawing himself, walks the site within 48 hours of enquiry, and coordinates the threshold detail with the joinery before fabrication.

If the brief is closer to the room is a wider window, not the wall disappears, ask about the 1 fix + 3 sync slider instead — slimmer section, simpler mechanism, half the install time.

Phone

+91 98703 08481

surajgudhka@gmail.com

Web

www.aditienterprise.org

Workshop

Santacruz (East), Mumbai

aditi enterprise · Aluminium fabricators for Mumbai's interior designers, architects and HNI residences.