Are flush bifold doors any good?

[mooncake]

I'm wondering whether to go for the flush fitting (with a French drain) or just opt for standard - which with a cill would be no more than 5cm above the brickwork. The net difference in price is just under a grand. Standard is weather rated, flush is not (but then there is the trip hazard!)

If you have flush doors, did you have any problems with the rain last year?? I'm worried because we want to have wood floors and I don't want them to get ruined. There's no shelter over the door.

On a separate note - are integrated blinds any good? We've got an exposed west facing garden and I imagine we'll need to be able to shade... Especially in weather like this!

Any advice much appreciated. Thanks!

[susyp]

We have flush doors and we didn't have rain coming in - we have wood floors . We also have integrated blinds and I wouldn't be without them, especially as we are south facing so would be impossible in this heat! It's nice to shut them and know noone looking in on you - we have a lane behind our garden so this was pretty crucial to me.

[mooncake]

Thanks. That's good to know! Where did you get your doors from and did they do the fitting? The door is going to be completely exposed though as there's not really any roof above and no trees close by.

I think we'll definitely need something to shut out the light - just that the integrated blinds look a bit odd to me!

[jennyh]

We had a glass extension and ony got blinds on the roof and I wish we had paid for blinds for the other panels and doors because it was boiling!!! And privacy was an issue obviously. We ended up with roller blinds which did the job but didn't look quite as nice.