Unlocking the entrance door market
Entrance doors have been one of the biggest sellers since lockdown, something which makes Deceuninck Aluminium’s launch of its new aluminium panel entrance option timely. Nigel Headford, business development director at Deceuninck Aluminium, explains.
Speak to any installer, and entrance doors have been one of the biggest sellers during and since, the easing of lockdown.
This is born out in retail sale figures. June’s Business Pilot retail report showed that average installed values as a whole had dropped. This attributed to more single product installations, including bifolds, inline sliding/lift-and-slide, and entrance doors.
Others, including AMA Research in its new post-lockdown forecast for the window and door industry, suggest that residential entrance doors will be important in supporting the market’s recovery at the end of this year and into next, with security, aesthetics and thermal performance cited as key drivers.
Accounting for 1.6 million installations in 2019, AMA said the shift to hybrid and composite products will continue – largely at the expense of PVCU and lower value products.
Decalu88, the new residential aluminium entrance door from Deceuninck Aluminium, is geared towards providing access to what has so far, coming out of lockdown, proved a growth market.
Having a residential entrance door is really important to us. We have a complete system – casements, tilt-and-turns, a bifold, a lift-and-slide – and a residential entrance door gives us a complete offer.
Aluminium entrance doors are also seeing growth. They currently make up a tiny percentage of the residential door market – maybe 1% or at best 2% – but they sell at high margin, and lower volumes mean that the market has far more to give.
The Decalu88 Residential Door delivers a number of USPs. Consumer appeal is one; contemporary sightlines and sophisticated styling give it reach in a wide variety of applications.
Its true USP is, however, a maximum bowing tolerance of only 2.5mm under heat stress.
That means no call-backs, no customer complaints, and the flexibility to specify dark colours regardless of aspect and exposure to heat.
Deceuninck Aluminium uses a pre-rolled high-performance polyamide thermal-breaking system throughout its range, including the Decalu88 Entrance Door.
Where it differs from the rest of the range is that in Decalu88 it also features special ABS inserts, which adapt to temperature change allowing the internal and external faces to expand and contract independently of one another, limiting bowing to a maximum of 2.5mm – even in extreme heat.
This includes testing to 80°C (or 176°F). To put that into context, that’s double the highest daytime temperatures of most of the world’s desserts. Optimistically, here in the UK even on out hottest days it’s nowhere close.
The system also works in reverse, so that even on the coldest day, deflection in the door is limited to no more than 3.5mm at temperatures as low as -30°C. Again, to put that into context, the average wintertime temperature in the Artic is -34°C.
With ultra-low maximum bowing tolerances, limitations on door design are removed. This includes the specification of dark colours on south-facing elevations.
This core stability also means that it achieves high levels of weather performance and sealing, offering a contemporary flush sash option across 21 styles, in addition to 30 insert panel options. These are available in any RAL finish.
“The design styles that we are moving forward with reflect the design trends that are driving retail. This includes understated solid options and glazed panels. The flush finish we can offer is also very much aligned to the direction of the market.
We can do this without compromising on weather sealing and performance because the panel is so stable regardless of temperature or aspect.
The Decalu88 Entrance Door can accept sash weights of up to 150kg, and offer U-values as low as 1.1W/m2k.
Offering manufacturing efficiencies of up to 40% and, with lower stock holding, the Decalu range is supplied in dual-colour, textured finish options and marine grade as standard.
Sales are being driven by an underlying shift to aluminium and, since lockdown, real growth in sales of entrance, bifolding and lift-and-slide doors as single ticket items, or alongside one or two windows as part of a home extension.
If you’re not manufacturing those products, you’re by definition giving margin away. And if you are already making them, wouldn’t it be better to cut your manufacturing costs by 40%?
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