An end to bowing from the bending specialist

Force 8 is well-known for its arch profile bending, but over the last 10 years it has also developed its own unique composite doors.

Force 8 has focused more on contemporary composite designs, as it feels the market is ‘flooded with look-alike’ traditional doors, and it adds that a good amount of those designs are unique and developed in-house.

Although Force 8 is primarily a manufacturer, it still retains a small team of installers for the local area, which gives it direct feedback when it comes to composite doors, both in design and style, and any fitting issues.

Its recent outing at the FIT Show enabled the company to display some of its exclusive products, such as the Force 8 stable door. What makes it unique is not just the decorative moulding on the front, but the fact that it can be fabricated to open either inwards or outwards, which as far as the company is aware is not possible with any other manufacture. Also on show was a new set of composite French doors which utilise a traditional night latch and five lever mortice lock, making them very easy to be installed and user friendly.

One of the stars of the display was the new Touchkey lock system which uses biometrics, similar to a finger print recognition on a smart phone and can be operated by a smart phone as well. This was mounted on a part arch door within one of Force 8’s unique single length profile bend frames. The frame has no weld breaks which makes it structurally stronger and more refined aesthetically.

The composite doors you see today from Force 8 have been developed to solve many of the common issues concerning composite door systems, both in fabrication and installation.

One of the recent issues Force 8 says it has solved is bowing in hot weather, particularly dark colours with a south facing aspect.

According to Force 8, a major problem with doors bowing is that 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, says the manufacturer, is to replace the door, but that does not solve the problem as it can re-occur during the next bout of hot weather.

Force 8 identified at an early stage of design with their new Decadence door range that this was not a simple problem to solve. The company is said to have looked at every component, starting with the door slab; it needed to have the highest and most robust quality available and chose a reinforced slab, which offered the extra strength. Force 8 then improved the quality of the hinges with a fully adjustable system, making sure that the door could be properly aligned during installation.

Another area that was addressed was the locking system. Force 8 found that, 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. The three-latch system (Surefire Auto Lock) is said to have made a considerable difference combined with the reinforced slab and hinge system, but Force 8 wanted to combat the root of the bowing – the heat build-up and the temperature difference, from outside to inside.

As Force 8 was developing its new two-tone colour range, it decided to formulate a new heat resistant paint. This was the final piece in the jigsaw, which to date, combined with the other components has reportedly cured the bowing problem. With its installation team on the ground reporting directly back to Force 8, plus other installation companies, even grey doors facing south have had no issues.

Again, one of the key points to the success of the Force 8 composite doors, is the fact it has a local fitting team, so any issues are reported directly, and design alterations can be made – it does not have to filter through various companies.

The fitting team – like the fabrication team – are all part of the new employees owned trust, which means that workers have a stake in the company and its reputation. This means that quality control and customer care is a priority for every member of staff.