ALUMEN Ltd is an established aluminium manufacturer providing both Smart Systems windows and doors and many of the best residential aluminium doors and windows by Schuco.
ALUMEN have added to its range of architectural aluminium windows and doors with the addition of the new ALUMEN bifolding door system.
The Bifold by Alumen door.
ALUMEN LTD has brought out the Bi-Fold By Alumen door in response to the active bifolding door market and to offer a product that brings all the best features of a great bifold alongside their own successful Schuco ASS70 FD and the very popular and impressive Smarts Visofold bifolding door products.
Alumen’s Managing Director, Alan Robinson says:
Alumen has been manufacturing aluminium windows and doors for over a decade, and throughout that time partnered with both Schueco and Smarts – to the extent that we were commissioned to build and install a set of bi-fold doors for the new Schueco showroom.
With our roots firmly in supplying aluminium products for the home improvement market, and our knowledge and experience gained through years of bespoke fabrication with leading systems, Alumen is launching what we believe to be the perfect bi-fold door set.
Combining ultra slim 120mm sightlines with minimal limitations on size, the Bi-Fold By Alumen has an ultra-smooth running action and adjustable jambs for easy fitting as an optional extra. Flush and standard threshold options are available, as is a choice of door furniture.
Is the new Alumen bifolding door their own system?
No. Like most skilled and expert trade fabricators, Alumen have looked at how to take their business to the next level. Like many, they’ve chosen to bring out another bifolding door product. But it is not their own system in the literal sense.
The Bifold by Alumen is the same Debar DeWall bifolding door system that we reported on in September 2016. This is the Cortizo bifold door system. We can’t see any immediate differences between the Alumen bifold and the DeWall Bifold by Debar Hardware so the same technical specifications, sizes, performance and other features of this quite impressive system all apply.
The Debar product is based upon the Cortizo system. Cortizo you may not have heard of as a systems company. Cortizo is one of the world’s larger aluminium extrusion providers, and other very well known bifolding door brands are Cortizo extrusions modified for the UK.
Given the substantial costs involved in bringing out a new system with new dies, it’s a logical move for any trade fabricator to make. We are not sure yet if this new Alumen aluminium bifold will feature any specific features such as different handles or hardware that differentiate it from the basic DeWall bifolding door product and will report on this as further information becomes available.
The new Alumen bifolding door adds yet another brand name to the many bifolding door systems, brands and rebranded products accessible in the UK today. If ever there were vast bifolding door product choices available for consumers and the trade, the UK market is leading the way.
How will Alumen benchmark this new bifolding door?
Installers and fabricators frequently scratch their heads at how prices vary so much for the same systems. Obviously, every fabricator has different terms and buying power with systems companies. Alumen say on their website that their new aluminium bifolding door will be at an ‘industry beating price’.
In our analysis of the DeWall bifolding door, we thought it featured all the right features a well-designed bifolding door requires. The adjustable frame jambs and the 120mm sight line are two of the most notable.
So while this is a good bifolding door in specification, design and performance, what it doesn’t have is the established kudos of the Schuco and the Smarts name that Alumen have built an excellent business around. We wish them well with their new product.
(Image courtesy of www.cortizo.com)
