Aluminium bi-folding doors have grown massively in popularity in the last 10 years. They rose to prominence on the Channel 4 TV programme Grand Designs and since then more and more homeowners across the UK have looked at ways in which they can use them in any extension or new building project.
They offer something very different to the home, allowing large amount of natural light into the building and when open creating free movement between internal and exterior parts of the home. They are a superb stand-alone feature in their own right and can also be married into curtain walling structures which has also seen them used more and more in commercial applications too.
Due to their popularity, many aluminium bi-folding door manufacturers are now getting asked to produce them with multicoloured frames. All Aluminium frames can be matches to over 200 RAL colours so that if you want to get an exact frame match to existing coloured windows you can. A company called Clear View in Yorkshire have possibly the strangest colour request ever having to sue speciality paint from Belgium to match a Pink colour used on a home in Gloucester.
As standard however, most people stick to the natural grey/silver colour of the aluminium. There are two major reasons for this:
- It has no additional cost and shows off the quality engineering on show.
- Most people want to make their aluminium bi-fold doors a feature within their own right and thus making them conform to the colours of other windows and doors takes away this stunning new addition to the home.
For some people however, aluminium doors which are added to the home must conform to strict planning laws, or in more traditional properties, would look completely out of place if they were not finished in a similar colour.
Traditional homes, by habit and style often have wooden windows and therefore adding aluminium frames would look very strange and probably detract from the natural beauty of the home. Therefore an exact colour match is required to ensure that the customer gets all the benefits of aluminium bi-folding doors, without having to compromise. For larger older buildings this is even more apparent and often planning to change some of the features would only be granted if the doors and windows looked like they had been there for hundreds of years.
Another reason why choosing the right colour for your frames is important is because aluminium windows and doors last a long time, longer than UPVC counterparts. Therefore if you think you may be changing your windows in a few years, you may want to choose the colour of aluminium frame you want your new windows to be so that when you get these everything matches. Due to the fact that the colours on aluminium frames do not fade either, you will have a pristine colour for many years.
These are just a few reasons why choosing the right colour for your aluminium frames is important. Picking a strange colour may seem like a great idea at the time but with most doors lasting over 10 years, you will be stuck with a bad choice for a number of years. Remove that risk and pick right the first time.
