Replace Bifold Doors With French Doors on a Closet
Bifolds come off the track, pinch fingers and hide half the closet. A pair of hinged doors opens the whole thing and looks like a real door. We convert the opening.
JMB Builders will replace bifold doors with French doors on a closet in the Twin Cities metro. We remove the bifold track and pivots, rework the jamb so it has a stop and a flat head, hang a pair of hinged doors that meet in the middle with a ball catch, and set the knobs, or set a prehung double unit when the jamb is not worth keeping. Priced per opening, quoted from photos within one business day.
- Priced per opening; existing jamb or prehung pair
- Track and pivots out, hinged pair with ball catch
- Quote from photos in 1 business day
- Licensed MN contractor BC809005
A bifold opening is not quite a door opening. The jamb has no stop, the head has a track screwed to it, and there is a pivot bracket at the floor. A pair of hinged doors needs a stop for the doors to close against, a flat head, and jamb legs that are plumb enough to hang three hinges on each side. So the conversion is a jamb job first and a door job second.
Two ways to do it. When the existing jamb is straight and painted, we pull the track and pivots, fill the holes, add a stop, and hang two slabs on hinges mortised into the legs, with a ball catch at the head so they stay closed and a T-astragal or a rabbeted meeting edge in the middle if you want them to close tight. When the jamb is twisted, stained, or the opening is an odd size, a prehung double unit in the same width goes in and gets cased on both sides. Either way the doors are real doors with real knobs, and the whole closet is open when they swing.
JMB Builders converts bifold closets to French pairs across the Twin Cities metro, in bedrooms, hallways and laundry closets. Doors go in primed. Painting is quoted as a separate line, or leave them primed and paint them yourself. If you would rather keep bifolds and just fix or replace them, that is the closet door page.
What you supply
- A photo of the closet opening with the bifolds open and one closed, and a close-up of the jamb and head
- The width of the opening at the jamb and the ceiling height, or a tape in the photo
- The doors if you are buying them: two slabs half the opening width each, or a prehung double unit; or we supply them
- Knobs or pulls, and paint for the doors, or add both as lines on the quote
What JMB supplies
- Removal of the bifold doors, track, pivots and floor bracket, holes filled
- Jamb reworked with a stop and a flat head, or a new prehung double unit set plumb and cased
- Hinges mortised into both jamb legs and the doors, three per door for a full-height slab
- Ball catch or roller catch at the head, and a T-astragal or rabbeted meeting stile if the doors should close tight
- Dummy knobs or pulls installed, or a passage set on one door and a flush bolt on the other
- Casing repaired or replaced where the track and pivots were
- Two slabs or a prehung pair supplied when you want us to, matched to the other doors in the house
- Photos of the finished closet in your job folder
How it is priced: per opening
Quoted in writing from your photos within one business day. What moves the number:
- Rework the existing jamb vs. a new prehung double unit with casing
- Opening width: a standard pair vs. an odd width that needs slabs cut down or a special-order unit
- Door style: flush or stock panel slabs vs. glass French doors or a stain-grade species
- Meeting edge: ball catch only vs. an astragal, or a passage set with a flush bolt
- Carpet or flooring at the floor bracket that has to be patched
- Number of closets in the same visit; bedrooms usually come in twos and threes
Photos of the opening with the doors open and closed, plus the width across the jamb, is enough to quote it and to tell you what size doors to buy.
How long it takes
One closet on the existing jamb: half a day. With a new prehung double unit: most of a day. Three bedroom closets: one to two days.
How your project works
- 1
Send photos, get a written quote
Send three photos of the space and a sentence about what you want. You get a clear, itemized quote within one business day. We only come out to measure first when the job needs a tape measure — no pressure, no games.
- 2
Pick materials, or bring your own
We help you choose profiles and materials that fit the house and the budget, or match your existing millwork exactly — or you buy the door or trim yourself and we install it. Everything is confirmed before the crew is scheduled.
- 3
Clean, precise installation
The crew shows up on time, protects floors and furniture, and installs with tight joints and consistent reveals. Photos of the finished work go in your job folder.
- 4
Walkthrough and invoice
We walk the finished work with you. If anything is not right, we fix it before we call the job done. Then one invoice, paid by check or direct deposit — no card fees, no payment links.
Situations and options
Hinged pair on the existing jamb
Track and pivots out, holes filled, a stop added around the jamb, two slabs hung on mortised hinges with a ball catch at the head. The fastest conversion, and the one that works on most painted closet jambs.
Prehung double unit
For a twisted or stained jamb, or an odd-size opening that a stock prehung pair fits after a little reframing. The unit comes with the stop, hinges and astragal already set. Cased both sides to match the house.
Glass French pair
A pair of glass-lite doors on a closet reads as a room door and suits a linen or laundry closet where you want it to look like more than storage. Frosted or clear glass, hung the same way as solid doors.
Wide closet, four doors
On a wide reach-in that had four bifold panels, a French pair leaves the doors very wide. The alternative is two pairs meeting at a center mullion we add, so each door is a normal width and swings clear of the bed.
Replace Bifold Doors With French Doors on a Closet: questions, answered
Can bifold closet doors be replaced with hinged doors?
Yes. The opening needs a stop for the doors to close against, which bifolds do not have, so we pull the track and pivots, fill the holes and add a stop to the jamb, then hang two slabs on hinges with a ball catch at the top. If the jamb is not straight or is stained, a prehung double unit in the same width goes in instead. The closet ends up fully open when both doors swing.
Will French doors on a closet take up room when they open?
Yes, each door swings out into the room, and that is the trade-off against bifolds, which fold up in the opening. Each door swings about half the opening width. In a small bedroom we check the swing against the bed and dresser from your photos. If the swing is a problem, a pair of narrower doors on a wider opening, or keeping one door fixed with a flush bolt, both work.
What size doors do I need to replace bifolds?
Measure the opening between the jamb legs. Each door is half that width less a little for the hinge and meeting gaps, and the height matches the opening less the floor clearance. Stock slabs come in a range of widths, so most closets take a stock pair. Send the width and we tell you exactly what to buy, or we supply the doors sized to the opening.
How do French closet doors stay closed without a latch?
A ball catch or roller catch mounted in the head jamb grabs a strike on the top of each door when it closes; you push to close and pull the knob to open. That is standard on closet pairs. If you want them to close tight with no gap in the middle, we add a T-astragal or rabbet the meeting edges, and for a lockable closet we put a passage or privacy set on one door and a flush bolt on the other.
Can you match the new closet doors to the bedroom door?
Yes. Closet slabs come in the same panel styles as bedroom doors, so a six-panel bedroom door gets a pair of six-panel closet doors in the same height. They are primed. Painting is quoted as a separate line, or leave them primed and caulked and paint them yourself.
How long does a bifold to French door conversion take?
About half a day for one closet when the existing jamb is reused: remove the track, add the stop, hang and fit the pair, set the catch and knobs. A new prehung double unit takes most of a day with casing. Three bedroom closets in the same house are done in one to two days.
Get a written quote for this job
Three photos and a sentence is enough. You hear back within one business day. Or text the photos to 763-204-2099.
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Read morePage reviewed September 24, 2026 · JMB Builders LLC, MN license BC809005 · All doors pages
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Based in Zimmerman, scheduling across the Twin Cities metro. Closest first: