Bi Fold Door Has Its Own Lift Frame

Bi fold door has its own lift frame BUILDINGS Accessories 14-5-31 Most bifold doors require a header which takes up a lot of headroom. A Canadian company makes a bifold door that eliminates the need for a header, resulting in no loss of headroom. Lew Dalman says his company's patent pending bi-fold door transfers most of the forces of raising, lowering and folding the door to ground level through triangle-shaped lift frames on each end of the door. A pair of hydraulic cylinders run from the ground up to the framework. As the cylinders are ex-tended, the two halves of the door are raised and "sandwiched" together horizontally, leaving the entire door opening clear. "Other bifold doors require a heavy, expensive header and they take up to 2 ft. of headroom because, they can't open all the way," says Dalman. "On my door vertical forces are transferred to the ground. Horizontal forces are accommodated by tying into the wall or roofline. There's no loss of headroom at all and the door is 4 in. thick so it can be insulated to R-30. Other bifold doors are limited to 2 in. thick insulation because they can't lift more weight." According to Dalman, the door can be built to almost any width. "One farmer wants me to build a 75 ft. wide, 16-ft. high door on his machine shed. There's no reason it can't be done. The door isn't affected by wind because the double-acting cylinders automatically lock it in any position when it stops. There's no need for manual locks." A 14 by 20-ft. door sells for about $3,600 depending on the building. You can make your own door and buy the framework in kit form. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Dal-man Eqpt. Inc., Box 261, Baldur, Manitoba, Canada ROK OBO (ph 204 535-2083).

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