Bowing to industry pressure?
A recent study found that bowing composite doors remain a continuing source of frustration for installers. Sliders UK talks to Glass Times.
There were the expected gripes about the things rumbling away in the background: Brexit, and the difficulty in recruiting and retaining skilled people. What, however, came out loud and clear from a poll of new customers by Sliders UK, was that composite door bowing remains a significant challenge for installers.
“We were told by a number of respondents that it wasn’t ‘uncommon’ to go back three or four times to the same job because doors were sticking or jamming,” Steve Mines, sales director at Sliders UK, said.
“There’s a lot of loyalty in this business, which is a good thing, but there’s a point where however well you get on with the sales rep, or how long you’ve been buying from them, you have to put your business first.
“If you’re getting three or four call backs on the same composite door, you need to be thinking very hard about your supply chain.”
The study conducted over eight months through to the end of last year asked retailers what they saw as the biggest challenges facing their businesses going into 2019.
It found that retention of skilled labour, cited by 86% of respondents, and reliability of supply (81%), were listed as threats to their business in the coming year.
A further 67% said that they believed consumer confidence had been eroded by continuing confusion and the lack of clarity surrounding the UK’s exit from the EU.
While, more positively, composite door sales were seen universally as a growth area, 78% of respondents said that they had encountered issues in reliability of supply in the last year, with composite door bowing, cited as a problem by the same figure.
“Building products have tolerances – that’s accepted,” Steve said. “In composite door manufacture, however, slab bowing tolerances seem to be being set completely arbitrarily. We’re being told by installers that some manufacturers argue that 8mm tolerances are simply ‘par for the course’.
“We’re not, however, dealing with what’s acceptable according to a technical manual. It’s about the reality on the ground and, ultimately, what’s acceptable to the end user.
“If a door won’t open or close properly, if the weather sealing fails or the locking mechanism sticks because the slab has bowed, installers are going to get call backs, plain and simple. And that costs, with the installer, not the manufacturer, picking up the bill.”
Out-of-tolerance doors are a clear problem at point of installation; bowing carrying significant potential to impact on the performance locking mechanisms and seals. This, according to Steve, has become a more significant issue as slabs have been redesigned to include more timber to address security concerns.
“The trigger was PAS24 and particularly cut-through testing, which exposed a fundamental and underlying vulnerability in the make-up of composites,” Steve said. “This drove slab manufacturers to use more timber in their designs, addressing issues around cut-through tests but creating others in the process.
“Timber swells, bows and contracts, depending on humidity and temperature. And it’s this, which is leading to call-backs for installers, because it impacts on weather sealing and locking mechanisms.
“Doors can be adjusted. The problem is how do you adjust and set up a door correctly when it is bowing 8mm or maybe more? It means installers are going out to the same job on multiple occasions.”
Steve said call backs are costing installers ‘£thousands each year.
“You’re looking at time lost for a fitter to go back,” he said. “That’s not simply a cost associated with time on site when they’re not effectively earning a fee but time lost when they could be.
“If you’re going back two or three times – which installers are – costs associated with bowing composite doors very quickly add up.”
Steve said this is just the tip of the iceberg, suggesting that reputational damage, although more difficult to quantify, should also be factored into the equation.
“You spend a huge amount on advertising and lead-generation but word-of-mouth recommendation and reputation are still critical,” Steve said. “If you’re a homeowner and your door is sticking and the supplier can’t seem to get it right, would you recommend them?
“An 8mm, bowing tolerance is simply too much – you can’t set the door right and you’re going to get call backs.”
Sliders UK’s took a decision to launch a new composite door offer from Capstone last year. This uses ‘intelligent timber inserts’, manufactured from 15mm LVL, which are deployed to strengthen the slab at points historically vulnerable to attack in other leaf systems, giving it a PAS24 cut-through test approval.
It means that this technically advanced combination of timber inserts and thermally insulating foam used in Ultimate Composite Doors, delivers on security while balancing it with the core structural stability of the slab – giving it a maximum bowing tolerance of just 3mm.
“We needed a solution to PAS24 and we got it in the Capstone slab,” Steve said. “What we have also been able to guarantee is performance. At a maximum of 3mm, movement in the slab isn’t going to impact on locking mechanisms or weather sealing.
“3mm is not something we aim for but it’s certainly not going to generate a call back. Six and 8mm tolerance is. And that’s the point.
“We wouldn’t want to be servicing doors with a 6mm or 8mm tolerance so why should we as a composite door manufacturer expect our customers to?”
And Sliders UK is putting its money where its mouth is, underwriting this 3mm bowing tolerance with a guarantee, which writes off anything more as a manufacturing fault.
“If it bows beyond 3mm, we’ll replace it at our cost. It’s that simple,” Steve said.
The Ultimate Composite Door by Sliders UK also features a number of other efficiencies. Capstone’s patented three stage glazing cassette system, supports easy replacement of glass but also maximises security.
Available in a choice of Eurocell or Duraflex framing options and a range of 36 premium finishes, with any RAL colour available through Sliders UK’s in-house spray-painting facility, the Ultimate Evolution also delivers U-values as low as 1.0Wm2K.
Door furniture and hardware is Trojan, while standard hinges and locks are manufactured by Ingenious, with heritage and auto-locking options from Winkhaus. Door cylinders are six-pin anti-drill and pick as standard with the Ukas-accredited 3-Star BSI TS007 tested Ingenious cylinder also available as an upgrade option.
According to The Market for Domestic Entrance Doors by Palmer, composite doors now account for 50% of the market, the share rising to 54% by installed value with the inclusion of PVC/ABS faced doors. Going forward, composites are forecast to see a 22% increase in sales through to 2020.
“It’s fair to argue that was a sense of panic when PAS24 cut-through tests exposed a failing in the design of composite slabs,” Steve said.
“The irony is that in addressing it and bringing in more timber into composite doors slab manufacturers introduced the same fundamental problem that has formed the foundation of the pitch against timber doors.
“This is that as a natural material, timber moves. It takes only the slightest ingress of moisture or a significant change in temperature for it to swell or contract and bow.
“Using intelligent LVL inserts, we can offer a highly engineered solution that brings new stability to slab design, while meeting all requirements under Part Q and PAS24 – including cut-through tests.”
