The Alumina bifolding door has been on sale for several months, following its preview at the 2016 FiT Show. There are many Liniar window installers now selling Alumina. Established Liniar PVCu trade suppliers have also recognised the sales opportunity of the Alumina bifolding door.
The Alumina bifolding door joins the ranks of several other quality door systems. It is a well designed product that needs to be viewed in the flesh to be appreciated fully. The Alumina bifold we think offers numerous opportunities for existing Liniar pvcu installers as well as homeowner appeal as an individual aluminium bifold.
How Liniar window installers can benefit from Alumina.
The Alumina bifolding door comes from Liniar and is a very credible full aluminium bifolding door.
Our website contains several articles about Alumina, its primary feature being an aluminium bifolding door to match the existing Liniar suite of PVCu windows. This is important, given the prominence of Liniar in the PVCu sector and the broad appeal Liniar windows and doors have with installers and homeowners.
For advocates of the Liniar suite of products, Alumina is a great addition. Better still, for Liniar installers that have been used to the reliable and familiar Liniar supply chain, with Alumina, this remains unchanged.
Alumina can help Liniar installers enter the aluminium market.
Despite the popularity of aluminium today there are still a large number of retail window and door companies that still sell only PVCu. The distinct sales advantages of aluminium are now well reported. However, those PVCu installers that have yet to sell aluminium, while potentially missing out on sales opportunities, can also have legitimate reasons for doing so.
The fenestration sector can give the impression that starting to sell aluminium is easy. The reality as established aluminium professionals will tell you, is entirely different.
Training of all staff, product education, understanding colours, the risk to exposed paint finishes in transportation, caution about where to buy aluminium and just integrating an aluminium range into a business is not easy. For existing Liniar installers, we think Alumina gives them a great opportunity to enter the aluminium bifolding door arena while retaining the same supplier and a familiar system. Liniar is of course on hand as well.
Alumina also offers a single and French door opening option giving these PVCu installers an aluminium rear or side door product as well. These conventional hinged doors with Alumina have the same profiles as the folding door giving a consistent aesthetic in the home.
The advantage of a foiled aluminium bifolding door.
Alumina bifold doors offer a good looking wood effect bifolding door in more colour options than sublimated paint finishes.
As good as aluminium powder coated finishes are, Alumina gives the UK market a foiled aluminium bifold that looks the part. The quality of foils in the PVCu marketplace with systems such as Residence 9, make foiled PVCu windows far better than the not so authentic wood grains of many years ago.
Using the best in foiling technology and quality Alumina foiled bifolds provide both a decorative and a functional benefit. Foils look better, they do not need painting and offer protection to the aluminium profile beneath.
The other advantage of a foiled aluminium bifold is the warm touch exterior, something not possible with even the most insulated of aluminium systems.
Is a foiled bifold better than a painted wood effect bifold?
The only real contender presently for wood effect aluminium bifolds is the sublimated aluminium finish. There are no evident flaws with either method of achieving a wood effect to an aluminium profile. It is subjective which finish looks better, but the foil certainly improves the temperature of the profile.
The other thing favouring a foiled bifold is more choice of wood effects and other colours. Alumina offers more wood effect finishes than the other systems presently available with a sublimated paint finish. Alumina also provides the option of flat plain coloured foils, something the competition does not.
The obvious advantage is matching the existing Liniar finishes and as an aluminium bifold available in a host of other colours as well.
Fully Sculptured Aluminium Bi-fold Door.
Alumina provides the sculptured detailing that PVCu windows are known for and that homeowners want.
A fully sculptured bifolding door we think is an aesthetic advantage for Alumina. Most associate a bifolding door with a contemporary aesthetic, but having seen the door, the sculptured details does work in providing a softer profile while retaining proper proportions in the door given the typical size of a bifold in the home.
The sculptured aesthetic works very well with a wood foil finish and especially when chosen with black or gold hardware. Alumina is a great product for the installer in areas where traditional windows and doors sell better because of the regional styles of properties.
So while Liniar may market the bifold as matching their suite of PVCu windows, doors and roofing products, Alumina is credible as a stand-alone bifold with a traditional aesthetic. The foil finishes on offer its a great alternative to a timber bifolding door as well.
Plastic Glazing Beads for an aluminium bifold.
What you may not know is that when a foiled Alumina bifold is ordered, it is supplied with PVCu glazing beads.
Although rarely an issue for the professional installer, sometimes glazing beads that are cut to size a fraction oversize can mark the paint finish of the adjoining bead as it is clipped into position. The great thing about the PVCu beat is its wider range of movement and flexibility over an aluminium bead.
We can see the logic of providing plastic beads with the foiled Alumina bifold, which will please installers familiar with glazing PVCu system as well as a faster glazing time.
By far the biggest advantage is that window installers can choose to hold a ‘hospital kit’ of a selection of beads. In situations where beads may cut wrong, damaged or for any other reason replacements are needed, PVCu beads mean no waiting for replacements to arrive.
Finally, the foiled plastic extrusion options extend to trims, add-ons, trickle vent extension pieces and other window frame accessories.
The Alumina Advantage to Liniar Installers.
Liniar we think has been very smart with Alumina. Brand loyalty is hard to come by with most installers today. PVCu installers tend to offer a complete home solution from one system. With aluminium, most retailers choose windows from one supplier, doors from another, bifolds, sliding doors and roofs from others. Few are loyal to one system.
With Alumina, Liniar becomes another company that offers homeowners a complete suite of windows and doors under one system and guarantee. Liniar also provides bolt on products such as conservatories, soffits, fascias, trims and accessories.
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