Sliding aluminium doors

[Crumbelina]

Has anyone had any fitted recently/have any recommendations?

I went to Grand Designs with the intention of buying some nice £5k bifolds and saw the slimline sliding doors that cost double that figure - sigh ... Now I've seen them I can't unsee them, IYSWIM.

We've got quotes from companies such as ODC and IDSystems which have come in around £10k and my preference is to go with a bigger company given that it's such a huge amount of money, they're well established etc., come with a guarantee, are less likely to go out of business.

The other companies on my shortlist are less well known but I'm guessing they won't come out much cheaper. Companies such as Culmax, Cantifix, Sunvista, Fineline Aluminium, Slimline Aluminium, Panoramic Doors, Sky Glaze ... so many!

We had Warmcore doors installed on the recommendation of our builder and are really happy with them. Theyre not quite as slim a profile as some aluminium systems, but they're really well insulated, and a really neat, flush system.

Apart from the issues with the glass are you happy with Reynaers?

Good luck with it all.

We fit windows and doors and fitted our first slider with 20mm clashing bar and it was nice to look at but the operation was terrible. We have fitted a few reynaers cp130 lift and slides and although not slim sightline the operating is really smooth. Also the reynaers units are glazed like a regular unit and all of the slim sighydoors are bonded so if you get a unit fail or breakage you will generally need to go back to get the frame and glass unbounded and then repaired.

Ooh hello! Original OP here. Glad to see the thread has taken on a new life and good luck with all your projects!

Just a quickie from me but we ended up opting for the Origin inline sliding door and had then installed by Open Living for just over £8k (for a run of almost 5m by around 2.2m high). We absolutely love them - great quality, competitive price and they look beautiful with super slim sight lines of around 2cm.

Have added a pic - please excuse the mess of the garden and the kitchen extension. They're a work in progress!

Crumbelina, those windows are fantastic! You must be so pleased. Thank you for sharing...

They are stunning! I'd love an aluminium sliding door for a 3m wide space, I'm assuming that would be two pane. Does anyone have any idea what sort of cost I'd be looking at? (Suspect i might need to get second job...)

About £5000

crumbelina,

I was thinking about how your work is going. Love the skylight, floor and door. Beautiful.

Thank's v much God33 i might have to go back to my budget

Thank you Mum 2015. Still plodding on with our kitchen but have a big deadline next week when Diapol are coming to fit our quartz worktop and marble splashback. Must get some pics to put on the other thread when they're finished.

Hope all is good with you?

Yes, we are fine. New planning permission granted and waiting for structural drawings. Have one builder lined up, so hopefully we will start in Nov. More than a year later than we thought...

Good news on the planning permission! Things always move so slowly for us as well, and we always seem to do the trickiest/external work in winter!

....sorry didn’t realise this thread had gone to a second page.
I’ll upload some photos of the doors arriving on the outside of the van minus any protective film or similar, the doors just after installation from the inside (the circles are from the glass handling suckers) and a more recent phot of the doors as the project progresses. As we look through the doors to the garden, The scratching is difficult to see, it’s when we sit with friends on the deck as a westerly evening light hits the windows, then the scratches become more apparent, precisely because the light conditions mean we are not looking through them, but at them. We don’t yet have the electrics on, but it will be interesting to see if there isn’t a similar effect on winter nights when the downlighters are on.
Regarding Renka, they have agreed to make a site visit to inspect the glass again in October, but this time with Crystal who manufacture the glass and possibly Reynaers who own the HiFinity brand. We’ve been told there is no way they will replace the glass regardless of the 150 scratches! I honestly don’t know how they can take such a position and totally ignore their obligations in law after we’ve rejected the installation.
We’ve actually bought secondhand Rational windows and doors and sunsquare skylights for the project too which are less scratched. I’m appalled that’s for such an expensive installation (£18,000) pounds there is no responsibility being taken for the state of the glass. What I have learnt is not to use anyone who isn’t registered the Glass and Glazing federation who offer a free and binding arbitration service. I think we will end up in court the way it’s going. Which is a pain.... Especially as scratches aside, we think the windows are beautiful.
Regarding curtains - I think such a vast expanse of glass at night is quite chilling visually, so our builder has built a recess for two curtain tracks. A set of sheer voiles and maybe later on something thermal if needed.

To colouringinpro, you might like to look at these HiFinity windows on EBay. Item 283165283309
They are 3.5metres. They are a higher spec than ours as they open electronically. The seller says they have some minimal scratching caused by transportation, so you’d need to look at them to see if it was at an acceptable level - but for £4750 (offers accepted)a few scratches might feel quite liveable with.

Thanks cmb they look great!

Hi LaParisiennne, did you go with AVS where you happy?

Hey Cmbhughes, hope you are well.

Just wondering how things are going?

We keep going form sliding doors, to bi-folds, it's a pain.

Hope you got the situation sorted,

Thanks,

Cava38

Hi Cava83,
Sorry, for the late response, we’ve tried and tried to get Renka to take the problem seriously. But they’ve just been awful, they wanted to charge us £400 to visit regarding our complaint and rejection of the windows initially. Mark does admit they’re badly scratched, but says we’ve done it, despite some of the scratches going underneath the aluminium, They were supposed to visit in October with Crystal (the manufacturers) but cried off because of drizzle. We re-scheduled for today, but they failed to show up.
I think we have no other option than to take them to court which is a complete drag. So Reynaers Hi Finity are gorgeous windows (I’ll post a pic) but poor manufacturing or supply line problems and very poor customer service.

....forgot to say, they are really thermally efficient too.... such a shame.

We did consider Bifolds, but you end up with a lot of vertical lines and we also get a lot of Westerlies and knew we would want wind shielding rather than having the whole space open. There’s lots to consider. Did you decide?

Well, that's a ridiculously big house for starters ! Those doors look impressive, so nice. It's a real shame that they are not taking responsibility. I am sure you will work things out hopefully! To be honest, we were considering the Hi Finity range but it was a lot more than I anticipated and there are a lot of mixed reviews with suppliers, and I think the supplier/installer is the most important aspect. We are going to go with Origin sliding doors in the end, again though the proposed supplier has never installed it, even though they are an origin reseller :(

What are you doing for coverage, as in blinds/curtains?

Really do wish you the best of luck with yours. Sorry to hear about your troubles.

More pics please :D

Actually the house is an L shaped 3up, 3down and the exterior wall to the kitchen has been removed so the kitchen is open to the new space - which does feel like a barn at present.. I’ll post more pics so you can see the doors a bit more clearly. The lock is electronic, you can get them so they open electronically, but ours don’t. I must say for big heavy windows, they glide easily and smoothly. I’ve also posted a couple of pics of the scratches which are actually quite difficult to capture in a photo. Renka, the suppliers have contacted us to suggest another visit, so we’ve agreed, as we feel quite sorry for the supplier really as he might end up having to bear the cost of damage caused earlier in the chain. The glazing industry is tricky. Origin have a good reputation I think, but I would check your supplier is a member of the Glass & Glazing Federation. Ours isn’t, and I think it would have been helpful. So good luck and I hope it all goes smoothly.
Regarding blinds/curtains, I we’ve opted for very fine linen shears hanging from a recessed tract. The track has 3 rails so we could add thicker curtains if we decide it’s needed. In the day the pristine window is great, but at night it’s a great black hole.🤭

And some more

Hi there, my partner and I really like the Reynaers' Hi Finity windows and we are considering Renka to install them. Cmbhughes I have read through this thread and I am now a little concerned by your experience as its such an expense. Do you mind me asking what the outcome has been since you last posted? Did they replace the scratched units? Thank you

I've had doors fitted by www.sehbac.com/ - Fineline sister company I think is their relation. Absolutely fantastic and built to my spec.

But if you're looking for those contemporary pure glass slim doors, I've heard good things of www.viiu.co.uk/ . Neighbour got them installed and they're gorgeous, wish they suited my property. But no idea about their costs?

Wow just realised this is such an old thread.