Frequently Asked Questions
Self cleaning glass combines both self cleaning and solar control properties, making them highly desirable amongst homeowners looking for the ultimate in glass solutions. The coating that is applied to the glass breaks down organic dirt and by doing so reduces the adhesion of inorganic dirt. Water droplets are spread out to form a sheet and this picks up the loosened dirt particles as it drains off the surface. The result is remarkable and a difference you can actually see.
Thermal transmittance, also known as U-value, is the rate of transfer of heat through the glass. It is measured as watts per square meter Kelvin or W/m²K. The better the insulation, the lower the U-value is.
Aluminium like all metals is a conductor of heat. If our profiles weren’t thermally broken the inside heat would be wicked away and lost to the colder outside. By creating a profile assembled with polyamide sections between the inside and outside portions, the ‘thermal bridge’ is stopped. Polyamide is a glass filled plastic meaning it is an insulator and therefore there is virtually no conduction of heat through it.
Powder coating provides better performance than wet paint—it is more resistant to chipping, scratching, and other wear because of the thermal bonding it undergoes during curing, and because it can be applied in much thicker layers. This performance is especially important for outdoor products, like aluminium glazed products.
In addition to its physical toughness, powder coating provides superior colour retention. Long term exposure to moisture, sunlight, and heat breaks down the resins found in both paint and powder coating. This process, known as chalking, causes resin and pigment particles to lose adhesion. Affected particles form a chalk-like layer on the coating surface.
The early stages of chalking merely give the coating a faded appearance, but severe chalking will eventually erode the coating enough to compromise surface protection. The rate of chalking depends on the resiliency of the resin. Polyester based powder coatings are frequently used as topcoats due to their exceptional chalk resistance.
By investing in a door that meets the UKAS PAS 24 2016 security regulations, you can rest assured that you are installing a safe and secure door into your property. The certification means that the door you are purchasing has been tried, tested and approved by the professionals, and can be considered secure enough to use for your home.
Our patented clip bead is used on our bifolding doors to retain the glass units in the sashes. The traditional method of retaining glass in aluminium glazed products is to locate an aluminium bead profile and pre load it with the use of a wedge gasket. Essentially there is enough room to locate the bead profile in the sash and then a wedge gasket is fitted to take up the gap and means the bead cant be removed. This is time consuming and fiddly and the result isn’t always as consistent in terms of appearance as some might hope. The patented clip bead we developed has a pre fitted gasket and utilises a plastic clip element that enables the bead to be clipped in incredibly easily and quickly. The result is not only neat and the sightlines consistent but also saves your installer a large amount of fitting time.
Most people want the option to have one of the sashes that can be used as an everyday access door instead of having to fold at least two sashes together to get in and out of the property. This access door is known as a traffic door. It has a more traditional lever / lever handle fitted to it and has the locking barrel incorporated. For more information on which styles incorporate a traffic door, look in the bifolding door section.
3 star locking barrels have been subjected to an attack test in addition to the testing performed on a one star cylinder. 3 star locking barrels resist direct attack and offer a significant security upgrade to any door regardless of the type of handle used. The 3 star barrel is part of the enhanced security we offer as standard as part of the PAS24:2016 standard.
New build extensions usually require trickle ventilation to comply with building regulations. It is always best to ask your preferred installer or building control officer about this and how much trickle ventilation is required. Our trickle vents can provide 2500mm2 each and we can offer up to 3 vents in each door set.
In most other bifolding door systems the trickle vent is usually housed in a frame extender that is fitted to the top of the door. This is both unsightly and adds additional cost and so we developed our system to allow trickle vents to be fitted directly into the head of the door outerframe.
Sealed bearings are often not used in the design of bifolding door rollers; however, they stop debris and moisture getting into the bearings which significantly increases the life of the bearing. So, bearings on the Korniche door include weather sealing rings on the horizontal rollers and nitrile rubber seals on the vertical rollers
Roller bearings provide the lowest friction available for bifold doors currently available. Many competitors utilise roller bearings on only the vertical wheels and plain bushes on the horizontal wheels. The horizontal rollers take as much load as the vertical wheels when the doors are folded fully open and so it is important to have the lowest possible friction on all the axles. The result is a very smooth door action with minimum friction and no stiction throughout the age of the doors.