PVCu Versus Aluminium For Bi Fold Doors There Are Alternative Materials That Can Be Used In The Manu

PVCu versus Aluminium for Bi Fold Doors

There are alternative materials that can be used in the manufacture of Bifold Doors but in our opinion the optimum material is Aluminium.

We list our reasons below why we think PVCu is a distant second for your consideration.

1. Bifold Doors require very accurate sizes to be manufactured. When joining PVCu section by fusion welding there is always a greater degree of finished size tolerance compared with Aluminium.
2. PVCu is known to expand and contract to a much greater degree than Aluminium. Ironically its probably during the hotter summer months when this expansion occurs which is the peak time for opening up your new Bi Fold Doors!
3. The maximum permitted size of a PVCu door is in the region of 4000mm wide x 2250mm high in white profile and when you want a colour or woodgrain then you are looking at 2.5 metres wide by 2.1metres high. Compare this to an our Aluminium Bifold Door where you can have a width of 20 metres and a height of 2.5metres regardless of colour. Can you see the difference?
4. Bifold Doors evolved from a mainly commercial market where they were mainly produced using Aluminium sections. They have stood the test of time. PVCu is a relative newcomer.
5. Bifold Doors can be asked to carry up to 80kg of glass per leaf. Securing the hardware to the profile in Aluminium is done using machine screws which are precision screws that can be screwed in and out many times. Generally PVCu profile is attached to the hardware using self tapping screws.
6. Some PVCu systems rely on manually sawing rebates off profiles (Like T section to Z section) to form a weatherseal. Whereas in our Aluminium system each profile is system specific.

This is not to say that Bifold Doors made from PVCu will not perform to system specifications because they do. But it is hard to deny that Aluminium has many advantages.