Bi-Fold to Slider

Friday, 23 March

An in-house washer and dryer in the motorhome was a must-have for me.  Luckily, the former owners of our Phaeton had exercised the option to have a Whirlpool set installed.  The units are in a cabinet next to the clothes closet in the bedroom, with a bi-fold door hiding them from view.  It probably means we lost some storage space, but that’s OK by me as it beats trekking to a laundromat every time we want to throw a load in the washer.

Our only problem with the set up was that the bi-fold door did not stay open unless the coach was perfectly level.  Now, you tell me how many times that happens!  We were debating solutions when fellow Phaeton-owners MZ & TZ went to the Houston RV Show.  We must have been connected telepathically — when they got home, MZ emailed us a picture of the sliding door Tiffin is now installing to hide the W&D.  Perfect!

Nothing really wrong with the bi-fold door, but we would prefer a slider.

At first we thought we’d have Tiffin replace the door when we go to Red Bay next winter.  Then we thought, “why not do it ourselves?”  Easy enough to convert a bi-fold into a single panel door.  Mui went to work taking measurements.  And in no time, he had a rough sketch of the project drawn.

A measurement here; a measurement there.  Yeah, we can do this conversion.

Mui was able to get almost everything he needed at one of his favorite toy stores — the local Home Depot.  Unfortunately, HD didn’t carry the slides in the size we needed them, so the project was delayed until we received 26” Accuride slides from DrawerSlides.

We decided to tackle the project this afternoon, and as soon as Mui got home from work, we headed out to the coach.  Taking the bi-fold door down and removing the piano hinge was a piece of cake.  Even I could have done it, but Mui was having too much fun to let me get my hands on the drill.

Taking down the bi-fold door did not present a challenge.

After cutting the new aluminum brace down to size, Mui went to work screwing it in place to make a sturdy single-panel out of the two pieces of the bi-fold door.  As a finishing touch, he used self-adhesive felt to cover the screws.  It wasn’t really necessary, but he felt better doing it to protect our closet door from possible scratches when we slide open the new door.

Next step, converting the two panels into a single panel door.

Installing the slides and hanging the door, while not difficult, did require two people to do it right.  My job was to make sure the slides remained aligned while Mui screwed them to the back of the door, and to hold the door steady as he installed it in place later.  I must have done my part right — the door went up straight and it slides smoothly on the tracks.  The locking mechanism works to keep the door from sliding open when we’re not using the W&D.  Beautiful!

Once the first few screws are in place, I can step back and take photos of the last few
steps of the install process.

The width of the slide means that there is a narrow gap between the door and the frame.  Mui wants to cover that with trim, but it’s not visible and it does provide a bit of ventilation should I need to slide the door closed to get into the closet while the washer and dryer are in use.  We’ll use it as is for now and see how we feel about that gap once we’re living in the motorhome fulltime.

Mui showing off his handiwork!

So, what other mods do we have planned for the Phaeton?  Who knows!  Every time we go out to the motorhome, Mui gets a bright idea or two.  Stay tuned and we’ll keep you updated.