DOORS&WINDOWS
Wave Goodbye to Bowing Doors
» WHILE THE RECENT HOT
weather was a welcome benefit during the
lockdown, it was probably a nightmare
for installation companies, with endless
complaints from customers due to bowing
composite doors. They range from the door
not closing properly, or getting very stiff,
to not being able to open the door at all. A
major problem highlighted was as the door
bows, the hooks can bind against the keeps,
making it difficult to unlock, and this issue is
accentuated with the new pull latch systems.
The normal remedy is to replace the door, but
that does not solve the problem as it can reoccur
during the next bout of hot weather. At
Force 8 this issue is now consigned to the past
with not a single door problem or issue in the
past twelve months and during the recent hot
weather.
“Having a fitting team based at our
Stockport manufacturing facility gave us a
distinct advantage over rival composite door
manufacturers”, comments Dennis Sumner,
managing director at Force 8. “Dealing with
actual customers on the ground gave us a
hands on insight to the issues and problems.
We also identified that the darker coloured
doors installed with a south facing aspect
were the most affected, due to the extra heat
absorption.”
They looked at every component starting
with the door slab; they needed to have the
highest and most robust quality available and
chose a reinforced slab, which offered the
extra strength with value. They improved the
quality of the hinges with a fully adjustable
system, making sure that the door could be
properly aligned during installation. “The
major problem was the locking system, we
had to completely rethink how this would
work. As the normal central latch helped to
pull the door into line in the middle, the
answer in the end was quite simple, a three
latch system, top, middle and bottom,” added
Dennis.
“As we were developing our new two-tone
colour range, which we spray in-house along
with the frames, we decided to formulate a
new heat resistant paint”, continues Dennis.
“This was the final piece in the jigsaw, which
to date, combined with the other components
has cured the bowing problems we incurred.”
www.force8.uk
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Tel: +44(0)1422 315300, Fax: +44(0)1422 315310, Email: [email protected]
CLEARVIEW-UK.COM » SEP 2020 » 33