Why aluminium threshold gaskets are costing installers thousands

ExtrudaSeal has warned that call backs for failed aluminium threshold gaskets are costing installers thousands of pounds a year in avoidable call-backs.

According to the specialist extruder, low tolerances – and even day to day usage – mean that some installers are going back to the same job on multiple occasions.

“The time it takes to replace a door threshold gasket might not be much but throw in travel time and disruption to core business and ancillary repairs quickly add-up,” said Paul James, sales director at Extrudaseal.

“The first thing to catch on an aluminium bifold door is the gasket. The tolerances in mechanisms are so minimal that even moderate misalignment, friction or settling can lead some aluminium bi-fold door threshold gaskets to kick, out and that creates call backs and cost.

“This can be a particular problem on multiple pane doors using a central shoot-bolt. It’s a low point and it can catch very easily if its only part retracted by the end user, then when they come to close the door again it will often catch, get damaged and fail.”

Extrudaseal launched its new ‘fit-and-forget’ aluminum bifolding door threshold gasket at the end of 2016. It uses a unique semi-rigid box foot, to provide a secure fix, delivering improved compression and weather sealing over aluminium system company own-gaskets.

Suitable for use with a wide range of leading aluminium systems including Aluk, it was developed by ExtrudaSeal’s in-house design team, specifically in response to installer and fabricator demand.

“We got a lot of approaches from fabricators and installers last summer who were reporting catching issues, kicking out and consequential threshold gasket damage and call backs. This was even on doors that were just a couple of months old,” Paul said.

“Working closely with those installers and fabricators, we were able to develop our own solution that can either be applied by fabricators during manufacture or retrofitted by installers.”