Aluhaus tell us that in creating Alufold, they were anxious to look at what the customer would want not what installers and systems companies believe the customer wants.
Aluhaus developed the Alufold bifolding doors after many years in the home improvement industry, a long period of research, understanding the market and talking to many expert home improvement companies.
When it comes to what makes a quality bifolding door, every professional door installer has a view. Over the last ten years, we have seen the introduction of many good bifolding door brands as well as niche trade suppliers focusing on providing an excellent service with aluminium folding doors.
What features must a quality bifolding have?
There are many great bifolding door systems on the market. But what features make a good bifold?
- A salesperson will want slim sight lines and perceived benefits that make their job of selling doors easy.
- A fabricator wants a good system that is simple to machine and fabricate for their customers or the trade as well as a reliable service from the systems company.
- An installer wants a door that is easy to fit, easy to adjust and one they will not have to keep coming back to.
- An end user has a mixture of all the above and more.
Consumers arguably want a door that looks good, operates smoothly, has handles that look and feel right and a door that sings out to them. They will also do their research on specifications.
Then we have to look at other features behind a good bifolding door:
- Does a bifolding door that achieves a 1200mm width or a 3000mm height rank as a better door?
- How important are colour quality and availability?
- How important are the main and intermediate bifolding door handles in a door from a quality and visual standpoint?
All of these features are well known to bifolding door professionals. Aluhaus went a stage further by cementing exclusive agreements with component manufacturers, finishers and others in the supply chain to create a door that offers much more than the expected plus points in a quality bifold. Let’s examine these.
The Key Features of the Aluhaus Bifolding Door.
Welded Corner Construction.
Aluhaus has invested substantially in the latest GRAF Fusion welder to create an aluminium bifolding door with a welded corner construction. The advantage of fusion welding is that it creates a virtually seamless joint while ensuring it remains incredibly strong.
When comparing a conventional mechanical joint with a Fusion GRAF welded one, the latter is evidently and visually better.
A mitred outer frame.
The traditional method of assembling a bifolding door is with mitred corners and a square outer frame. Normally this is for design and installation reasons.
Aluhaus has added a mitre to the outer frame of the bifold for a consistent diagonal line at the corner of every door set and arguably a much better appearance.
Severe weather rating to standard and low thresholds.
Alufold bifolding doors come with four different threshold options including a low threshold and a Part M compliant threshold. All of these have a severe weather rating.
In an industry with limitations and exclusions on where you can use a door with a low threshold, finally we have a system providing a low threshold with a weather rating.
Colour matched seals and gaskets
The colour matching of gaskets may not be that new an innovation, however, on the Alufold Warmcore, door gaskets provide an exact match, not a near match. This is achieved by forging an exclusive agreement with Schlegel, the Q-Lon manufacturer for colour matched gaskets only available for the Alufold door.
Importantly colour matching is not restricted to a standard range of colours.
A unique seal where doors meet
Aluhaus have redesigned the sight line where bifolding door panels meet in the middle. Look at any other bifold with the doors closed, and the seal between the doors always has two gaskets on each door that compress and help provide a good seal. Aluhaus provides only the one gasket. This not only reduces the visible sight line by 9mm but retains all the weather performance and the anti-finger trap protection typical of other quality bifolds.
Colour matched premium hardware
Again Aluhaus has partnered with leading hardware manufacturers to create an exclusive range of hardware specifically for Alufold that is colour matched.
The HAFI door handle is arguably one of the most impressive and desirable door handles, familiar with the door industry and end-user customers. Alufold doors have these excellent handles and with all the external components in the same colour too.
1250mm door leaves
One of the things that professionals regard as integral to a premium bifolding door is door leaves at over 1000mm wide.
An Alufold Warmcore door is possible with doors at 1250mm high.
Schuco inspired door catch.
Like it or love it, the Schuco door catch is distinctive but functional. It is is not exclusive to Schuco doors as other systems also use it. Aluhaus has re-engineered it for Alufold, provided as standard instead of a conventional door magnet.
Up to 80-micron thick powder paint finish.
Those that understand the powder coating process will know that a standard paint finish on architectural aluminium is a minimum of 40 microns.
Marine grade goes better at 50 microns for a more severe environment’. Alufold doors come as standard with 70-80 micron paint thickness.
AntiRack and Safetrack
Antirack is a method of ensuring every door leaf aligns correctly in the open position. For large doors over one metre wide, it is often the case with other systems that the doors can separate. Antirack ensures the door leaves all stay level, aligned and together.
Safetrack ensures that the critical top and bottom sliding components remain inside their respective tracks. The top guides have a much deeper engagement in the head than other doors. The benefit Aluhaus say, eliminates derailing and the jumping effect of some bifolding doors as they slide open.
Has Aluhaus got their bifolding door right?
Many bifolding door brands exist possessing individual features and benefits to fabricators, installers and the public. Alufold is another excellent bifolding door in the luxury and quality market. The engineering, the colour matching choices, the different method of fabrication, the low thresholds and the excellent U-Values of the Warmcore system are all great benefits.
For a homeowner doing in-depth research around quality bifolding doors, the features of Alufold Warmcore bifolding door give them a new and very different product to consider. How a bifolding door is engineered matters to many quality-focused customers. For them, Alufold is a consideration.
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