Help with hard to use UPVC door - supplier issues

[phatboy]

Hi all,

Without getting too deep into the background as it's boring and lengthy, my front door is as per the attached picture. We have had this for 18 months and it has never operated properly.

It can be very difficult to open, requiring pressing the door closed, hard, to turn the lock. I have found that lifting the sash by the long handle makes it considerably easier to operate.

The hinges seem to be fully adjusted already to lift the sash yet as you can see from the photo, the sash is still sagging to the opening side.

During the time we have had the door, the hinges have been replaced as they lost all their paint on the closing surfaces, and at least 10 adjustment attempts to make the door easier to use.

The panel within the door is aluminium both sides with foam in the middle. This had to be resprayed twice due to careless repair work, and during those times plywood was installed instead - the door was easy to operate during those times.

So, I am hoping the experts on here can advise as to what may be the issues?

- Is an aluminium panel too heavy for a PVC door? I'd think not as french doors are often full of glass?!
- Why does the sash seem to be out of square, and what could cause this?

FYI, the locking mechanism is a 'Stronghold' type apparently.

Any advice gratefully received, as we are now in dispute with the supplier and are asking for a replacement door.

Thanks!

 

[crank39]

It really is impossible to say without being there yourself.

• The opening may be out of square which in turn has thrown the frame out of square too
• They've probably used up all the hinge adjustment to centralise the door within the frame
• Has it been toe and heeled, I've come across doors and companies who've admitted they've never fitted doors before , it looks as it needs toeing and healing as a minimum from that picture
• Is the frame 'in wind, i.e. when standing outside and closing the door gently does the locking side of the sash touch the outer rubber gasket along the whole length equally or does one of the top or bottom corners touch first?

A good service engineer could fix that, there's no reason a fitter couldn't either, it could be that it needs refitting, the previous fitters may know this but none want to have to admit it to their manager or boss which explains the numerous adjustments to try and rectify

 

[phatboy]

It really is impossible to say without being there yourself.

• The opening may be out of square which in turn has thrown the frame out of square too
• They've probably used up all the hinge adjustment to centralise the door within the frame
• Has it been toe and heeled, I've come across doors and companies who've admitted they've never fitted doors before , it looks as it needs toeing and healing as a minimum from that picture
• Is the frame 'in wind, i.e. when standing outside and closing the door gently does the locking side of the sash touch the outer rubber gasket along the whole length equally or does one of the top or bottom corners touch first?

A good service engineer could fix that, there's no reason a fitter couldn't either, it could be that it needs refitting, the previous fitters may know this but none want to have to admit it to their manager or boss which explains the numerous adjustments to try and rectify

Thanks for the reply, I appreciate its hard to say without actually trying it and seeing in real life.

• The opening could well have been not square, but I did see packers going in around the frame, and the fitter told me it was a slow one to fit as this type of mechanism was very sensitive to mis-alignment.

• It has been toe and heeled (several times), but maybe not enough? Am I right in thinking that this should be able to square up most sashes?

• From the outside the rubber gasket does touch all the way down the locking side, albeit gently. From the inside there is a very slight gap on that seal.

I just put a spirit level on the frame, and the hinge side seems to be out by about 4mm, so the top is 4mm to the right from the photo, which may explain the hinge adjustments?

Thanks for the help

 

[God]

All that needs would be toe and healing.

 

[phatboy]

All that needs would be toe and healing.

The company have been going for 20+ years, I wonder what the issue is with adjusting it properly!??

 

[phatboy]

Well, we never really got this fixed, and gave up all hope after the managed to mess it up again.

It's still an issue to open, especially in hot weather. They sent the guy who fitted it back to re-install the ali panel after re-spraying it for the third time. He said he had toe and heeled it as much as he could - anymore could result in damage to the ali panel.

I actually hate the mechanism, no visitors have a clue how to operate it, and it is hard to use - probably in part because you are unlocking and opening an entire door with the pressure from 1 finger and thumb.

Wishing we had gone for an ali door, as the options seem to be far greater