Bifold doors or sliding doors

Hi

Does anyone have experience of bifold doors? We have a gap of about 15ft and are thinking of either installing bifold doors or sliding doors (2). Is there such a thing as a sliding door that can open from either end?

With the bifolds, are they easy to open and close? Do they stay on their tracks?

I like the impact of the open bifold doors but worry about their longevity.

Any advice would be great.

I would suggest sliding doors with a fixed panel to each side and both doors to the centre sliding back over the fixed panel giving you a large opening to the centre. (4 sections - 2 fixed and 2 sliding) The door and the fixed unit at each side where they meet will overlap each other so you only see one piece of timber/pvc etc of aprox 110mm (measurements taken from Timber set) Where the two sliding doors meet you will have the 200/220 of solid timber/pvc.

With Bifold doors you would have 5 doors as the maximum width each door can be is 900mm and when closed where each door meets the next you will have a minimum of 200mm of Timber or PVC or whatever they are made from whereas on the sliding doors they overlap where they meet giving you more glass.

Unfortunately it is Ireland we live in (assuming you are living in Ireland also) and it is not very often that we can have the pleasure of opening up the bifold doors/sliding doors early in the morning until late at night as on the continent therefore most of the time you will be looking out through glazed sections of 680mm each (aprox 3400mm of glass in width) with 200mm of solid between, whereas on the sliding doors you would have 4 panes of glass of aprox 1000mm each (aprox 4000mm of glass in width) - MEASUREMENTS ARE VERY APROX - each manufacturer may use different dimensions.

I know this is old but going through this debate myself, the bifold doors look great when they are done well with minimal frame but I just looked at some on a site and they look like prison doors, lots of metal frame - not too subtle at all. Look great on the brochures though.