Unable to execute child_process.exec() when path has spaces

I am using appjs * and I want to execute a command to open a folder.

What I have

var path = __dirname + '/folder to open/'; 
// path = C:\Program Files\myapplication/folder to open/
require("child_process").exec("start " + path);

Error

Could not find file C:\Program

What I tried

I already tried to escape the spaces, that didn't work.

var path = __dirname + '/folder to open/'; 
path = path.replace(' ', '\ ');
// path = C:\Program Files\myapplication/folder to open/
require("child_process").exec("start " + path);

When I put the path between quotes, No folder is opened, only another prompt.

var path = "\"" + __dirname + "/folder to open/\"";
path = path.replace(' ', '\ ');
// path = "C:\Program Files\myapplication/folder to open/"
require("child_process").exec("start " + path);

Related bug https://github.com/isaacs/npm/pull/2479

Does anyone has a fix or a workaround?

* link removed