Why bifold doors stick in hot weather

Heat makes door panels grow.

Every door material expands as it warms up, and a bifold has more panels, more hinges and more meeting points than any other door in the house. A long run of panels in direct afternoon sun picks up a surprising amount of heat, and each panel grows by a small amount. Add that growth up across three or four panels and the gaps the door was set up with start to close.

Dark colours absorb more heat than light ones, and south or west facing openings get the longest exposure. If your door only sticks late on sunny days and frees itself by morning, expansion is almost certainly what you are feeling.

The track matters as much as the panels.

Bifolds run on rollers in a track, and summer is when tracks collect the most grit: dry soil, grass cuttings, sand and general garden traffic. Debris under a roller makes a door feel heavy long before anything is actually worn out.

Vacuum the track rather than sweeping it, because sweeping tends to push grit into the corners and under the rollers. A soft brush attachment gets into the channel. Avoid oiling the track itself; oil holds dust and makes the problem worse. If anything needs lubricating it is the hinges and locking points, and a silicone spray is the right thing there.

What you can safely check yourself.

Clear and vacuum the track, then open and close the door slowly and watch where it catches. If one panel rubs at the top on hot days only, that is expansion. If the door drags along the bottom in all weathers, the rollers or the alignment need attention.

Check the gaskets too. Rubber seals soften in heat, and a seal that has come loose from its groove can fold over and act like a brake. A loose gasket can usually be pressed back in by hand.

When it needs an engineer.

Bifold hardware is adjustable by design. The hinges and rollers carry adjustment points that set the panel gaps, and a door that has dropped or drifted out of alignment can usually be brought back without replacing anything. That adjustment is a job for someone who knows the hardware, because each change moves the panel in more than one direction at once.

If your door sticks in all weathers, will not lock without lifting or slamming, or shows daylight at a corner of the seals, have it looked at before winter. A door fighting its own alignment wears its rollers and gearbox faster than it should.

Thinking about a bifold that behaves better?

If you are living with an older bifold that has never run well, the difference in a current aluminium system is mostly in the engineering you cannot see: stiffer profiles that move less in heat, better rollers and adjustable hardware throughout. We fit and set up aluminium bifolds across Milton Keynes, and we survey the opening before anything is ordered so the door is built to the space it has to live in.