There are many different types of closet doors out on the market currently. It can feel overwhelming making the decision to what type of closet door to put into a project. Many designers have a default to place a pre-hung closet door in these types of openings as this is standard, to get it to match the rest of the development’s room opening doors. This type of closet door is actually the one that does not make sense for closets, due to limited accessibility surrounding the closet as well as inside of the closet. Another negative to the pre-hung closet door in a closet opening is they require casing from a construction standpoint underneath the drywall, adding costs. The types of interior closet doors that we will take a closer look at include bifold, pivot, bipass, barn and pocket.

Bifold

Bifold closet doors are a great option for urban interior multifamily units. These types of closet doors allow for the tenant to have a closet door that doesn’t take up much depth in the room. When open, the door will only protrude out according to how large the panel size is. For example, when a 4 panel bifold closet door is filling a 60” width, the panel will stick out in front of the opening 12 inches. This allows architects to design in tighter urban spaces, without throwing function to the wayside. As shown in the picture at right, bifold closet doors allow tenants to have full access to their closet doors without a floor track. Bifold closet doors do not need special casing underneath the drywall for additional support as prehungs and pocket doors do. Another positive of these types of closet doors are they look sleek and modern, to fit into the rest of the apartment/condo’s urban aesthetic. A major negative to using this type of closet door, is that they typically aren’t well made and will fall apart causing the building a lot of money in maintenance as well as replacements. (Magiglide closet doors are not so, incredibly durable)

Pivot

Pivot closet doors are another good option in lieu of of the typical prehung closet door. Shown above are double prehung closet doors in an urban unit. Pivot closet doors also allow the tenant to have full accessibility to the closet when open with no floor track. The pivot closet door has an advantage over prehung doors, as they do not require casing under the drywall for installation to be successful. This saves money in time and materials on the job site. In contrast, the pivot door can be intrusive with how much space the panel can take up into the unit when open. The pivot closet door will take up quite a lot of space in front of the closet when space is limited in urban units. For example, if the double pivot panel is covering a 60” width space, then each pivot door will take up 30 inches in front of it. Many times, architects will only have one wall to design a closet from as one wall is always the entrance wall, and the other is covered with a large or floor to ceiling windows in a skyscraper. This leaves the wall that hosts the bed and the wall that hosts the closet. In this type of situation, make note that the door can open full swing and not run into any furniture like a bed in this space. Another reason why an architect might be more inclined to using a pivot closet door, is ADA compliancy. In terms of clear width space, doors need to have a minimum of 32” clear space on the bottom to be accessible for wheelchairs. Each pivot door takes up about 2.25 inches on either side. If you have a 36 inch opening you would like to fill for a closet door, a single pivot could get you there at 34.25” width and up to the door’s manufacturers’ max constraint for single panels . A double pivot door would need a 37” opening and up to accommodate the 5” deduction for each panel using 2.25”. (A bifold closet uses 6.5 inches per 2-panel opening deduction on width, needing a minimum of 38.5” for a 32” clear width span.)

Bipass

Bipass closet doors are popular with very tight spacial concerns. Typically, the bipass closet is ideal for use when you have no inches in front of the door to accommodate any type of door swinging into the room. The bipass is great for these areas, and are even yet much more user friendly for seniors or those in wheelchairs. Bipass closet doors main downfall, is that the tenant can only access 1/2 of their closet at a time. This can prove to be problematic in everyday use to have limited access to an area that you will be using everyday in your home.

Barn

Barn closet doors have been the up and coming trend for that farmhouse look and appeal throughout developments. These types of doors are best designed when you have space to the left or right of your opening, and you would like to hold a standard size closet opening of no larger than 36”. Barn doors are a way to draw your attention to the closet door, make it the showpiece of the room. These types of doors are not sealing doors, so they are not a good option when noise or privacy is needed. For example, a barn door would be a great option for a showcase on a closet opening but when placed as an opening to a bedroom or bathroom, not so much.

Pocket

Pocket closet doors another option in lieu of the bipass or barn, when space is extremely limited. Pocket doors are something that need to be thought about prior to construction, as they require special casing surrounding the opening, to have a place for the panel to slide into. This means that their needs to be no HVAC or electric running for the whole width of the pocket panel next to either side of the opening as well. This can become difficult when wall space is at a premium in urban multifamily situations. The pocket door is great in the fact that there is no swing to worry about when open, and it allows for full accessibility into the closet as well.

Overall, a closet door is something that should be paid close attention to when designing a unit. There are many manufacturer’s and options out there, but of course durability in multifamily development use makes sense for something to be weary of as a spec’ing architect. Landquist and Son, Inc manufactures heavy duty Magiglide bifold, pivot and bipass closet doors that can withstand the test of time. Multifamily developer’s often write these closet doors into the master spec of their developments throughout the nation and for good reason. They need a closet door they can depend on. Made in the USA, family owned and operated.