Slide, fold, tilt or lift?
Richard Gyde, MD at VBH, discusses the trends in patio door hardware and how the company has made this area a speciality.
Sliding doors still represent a huge slice of our industry, and VBH has become well known as a manufacturer and supplier of a wide choice of hardware options. It’s something of a speciality.
Tastes change and there will always be one door type that is in vogue at any one time. But with so many different opening functions and patterns there is always plenty of business to be had across the broad spectrum of sliding door styles.
We are told that the preferred replacement option for homeowners is, once again, inline sliding doors. At VBH, we have seen an upwards shift in sales of our 8-hook Greenteq Clearslide stainless steel lock for PVC-U sliding doors. We now supply Clearslide kit for seven of the leading PVC-U systems.
Clearslide is just one of the patio door hardware solutions that VBH groups as ‘Lifestyle’ products.
Our Clearspan hardware for aluminium bi-fold doors remains the biggest seller in the Lifestyle group. Launched in 2013, its ease of fitting and useful features, such as height adjustment, make Clearspan immensely popular with fabricators and installers alike. We now offer a Clearspan solution for most of the leading aluminium systems.
Tilt/slide doors, using standard tilt and turn or resi-door profiles, have a steady following as they not only slide to create an opening, but also provide a tilt position for ventilation. The hardware extends around the entire perimeter of the sliding sash, providing compression or security mushroom locking points all the way around the opener. We supply the AGB Galileo tilt/slide system.
Whilst standard inline sliders cater well for traditional housing, many larger or more contemporary homes, hotels and offices provide architects with the opportunity to maximise the amount of natural light entering a space by including very large openings.
While bi-folds continue to be popular in these situations, many designers prefer the ‘more glass less profile’ ethos to take full advantage of the natural light.
This is where lift and slide doors really come into their own.
We recently refreshed our ClearLift lift and slide hardware range with the arrival of our new Slim system. We worked with our partners at AGB to develop this product and our first profile related solution suits the Sheerline Prestige aluminium system.
ClearLift Slim allows the creation of sliding panels measuring up to 3.6m wide and 2.75m high, with a standard weight capacity of 250kg straight out of the box. This can easily be increased to 400kg with the addition of just one item.
Locking is provided by two sturdy hook bolts that project from the lock and locate into flat adjustable keeps that fit flush on the frame. The hooks retract into the sash when the door is open, leaving a neat finish and no hardware projecting into the opening.
Additional hooks can be fitted in the middle and at the top of the door to provide additional security if required.
There are many extras to choose from. These include a ventilation position, opening and closing dampers, and assisted operation kits that make the action of lifting and lowering the door via the handle so easy for the user. When dealing with glazed units that have the potential to be extremely large and heavy, it is important that the operation is controlled for user comfort and safety.
Of course, the hardware is fully proven, having undergone cycle testing to 25,000 operations, and AGB’s Activeage surface protection treatment has achieved 2,000 hours in a neutral salt spray test.
Whichever patio door style is in vogue at any time, VBH will have it covered. If you manufacture doors that slide, fold, tilt or lift, I am sure that we have the ideal product for you.