Schuco ASE 60 Sliding Door Review

In 2018, the new Schuco ASE 60 sliding door was introduced by Schuco.  That same year this door won the Red Dot Design Award 2018 under the Interior Design Elements category.  

The Schüco FWS 35 PD.HI used with the sliding patio door ASS 77 PD.HI also won awards in this category, as did the Schuco FireStop system, an internal slimline door with a fire rating.   A latest-generation sliding door, with impressive aesthetics and clever design features. We review the latest Schuco ASE 60 sliding door and tell you everything you need to know.  Also mentioned is its other variant the Schuco ASE 80.HI model.

What is the Schuco ASE 60 Sliding Door?

Schuco is already internationally renowned as a leading aluminium systems company.  In the UK, their bifolding and sliding doors are especially popular, not only as top-of-the-line doors but for brand kudos, engineering and design.  While there are similar-looking doors to Schuco, you only need to slide or fold a Schuco door to see the real quality behind the product. The Schuco ASS70 FD bifolding door is slim, highly engineered and one of the best bifolds on the market. There is also the ASS70 sliding door is also widely used in the UK available as an inline or lift and slide door for the home.

With the ASE 60, Schuco has set out to enhance an improve a winning concept. However, the trend for thinner sliding doors continues and especially at the door mullion, also known as the interlock. So not only has the company created a better, thinner and more attractive door, but they have also made it easier to make for the fabricators and better to fit for the installer. The ASE stands for Aluminium Sliding Element and the number denotes the frame thickness.

As well as this, this new door provides enhanced thermal insulation up to passive house standards when chosen as an 80mm deep system. As with any modern sliding door, you also get a choice of tracks meaning multiple leaves slide to the left or to the right. For fabricators especially, Schuco makes life easy thanks to multi-functional profiles.  The logic behind this is to streamline the stockholding and number of components fabricators hold. So whether you choose the ASE60 or the ASE80 model, most use the same parts whether you choose an inline or a lift and slide version.

Finally, this new door comes with the same broad range of sizes the company is well known for as well as continuing the brand reputation of architectural design freedom. This makes Schuco ideal for architectural glazing and more ambitious design projects.  Of course, it’s also possible to create the desirable recessed track or low threshold, for a seamless transition to the outside.

Comparing Schuco ASE 80.HI and ASE60 sliding doors.

So what is the difference between these two models? It mainly comes down to U-Values,  frame depth and how thick you want the glass to be.  Most people will opt for the ASE60 for new build applications, but we see situations where the Schuco ASE 80.HI will suit replacement applications for the deeper frame depth.

Feature	ASE 60	ASE 80.HI
Approximate 1.8m 2-panel Price	£5500	£5900
Approximate 2.7m  3-panel Price	£6200	£6800
Interlock sightline	40mm inline  or 94mm	40mm inline  or 94mm
Maximum door sizes	3.5 metres width or height	3.5 metres with or height
Outer frame-vent sightline	82mm or 92mm	82mm or 92mm
Opening Types	15	15
Track Options	Single, double or triple	Single, double or triple
Frame Depth	60mm	80mm
Typical best U-Value	1.1Wm2K	Passivhaus Standard
Weathered Low threshold	Design Line	Design Line
Open corner option	Yes	Yes
Glass thickness	24mm to 40mm triple	36mm to 60mm triple

For clarity on the maximum sizes, both the ASE 60 or the ASE 80 go up to 3.2metres wide and 3.5 metres high, or 3.5 metres wide and 3.2 metres high. Schuco says this makes their door the largest possible on the market.  This is not strictly true as there are doors such as the Panoramah system that go up to 27 square metres per panel. But if you take the combined width and height then, yes, Schuco has engineered a door at a quite impressive size capability.

Importantly, we need to focus on the interlock.  The UK home improvement market has significantly over-marketed the thin interlock message.  Our advice is it does not matter.  There are some outstanding doors on the market with thicker interlocks than the 20mm found on minimalist structurally bonded sliding doors.

Obviously, size governs the thickness of interlock available on these and other dry-glazed doors.  So while your local Schuco installer may market the 40mm sight lines this does not mean it comes with any size door.  You will more likely get the 92mm interlock on the biggest size doors for strength and wind loading. However, for most standard size doors at say, 2200mm high the 40mm interlock comes as an option.  A Schuco door is an engineering masterpiece and the thicker sightlines at the interlock should in no way put you off. Look at the overall product and, importantly, slide it to see just how well it works.

Features of the Schuco ASE 60 and Schuco ASE 80.HI Sliding Doors.

As you would expect with any Schuco product, you get insulated aluminium sections, durable powder coated finish, security testing to the latest standards as well as exceptional weather performance.  Therefore, we focus on other features of the door and around the design in particular.

First of all, one of the reasons the Schüco ASE 60 and 80 won the Red Dot Design Award is overall appearance.  A clean, sleek appearance is what this door offers homeowners and a great selling point for installers.  Flush locking points, concealed grooves and a better-looking door when open is just a start.

When you see the doors, take a look at the locking system. These doors come with a near flush lock design. Open other quality doors and you’ll find the locking systems is relatively prominent.  While this does not matter too much, the Schuco doors come with a more seamless appearance whereby the major lock components are less visible. As well as this many of the components in the sliding panels are also hidden from sight thanks to a panel that closes the profile off neatly.  Even better with Schuco doors is the ability to have the vents sliding on the outside or the inside of the frame. This comes about as a result of the doors being symmetrically identical.

Also on the locking system, you get a choice of where the bolt pins locate.  You get the option of the bolt pins fixed in the vent frame as well as the standard option of going into the outer frame.  Again this offers a cleaner overall design to the whole product with less visible hardware.

The Schüco SmartStop and SmartClose are other excellent design features. Relatively new amongst sliding doors is a soft close mechanism. While we’ve never heard of people slamming their sliding doors shut, Smart Close does slow the door down gently as it approaches the frame.  Then the Smart Stop feature draws the door slowly into the closed position.  As a result, you get a more intuitive door panel that appears to bring itself into the frame, adding an extra feature to the overall closing process.

Other products to compare with the Schuco ASE 80.HI and ASE60.

For anyone looking to buy a premium brand sliding door, it makes sense to compare some products.  There is no bad door on the market, but if you’re looking for similarly engineered doors and with comparable aesthetics, we suggest the following doors at similar price points. There are, of course, many different sliding doors on the market, from many different brands, but we consider these to be comparable in terms of sight lines, engineering, features and brand.

1.  Reynaers Hi-Finity Sliding Doors.

The Reynaers Hi-Finity sliding doors is another excellent sliding door with impressive engineering and design. Reynaers offers another door with an excellent brand reputation as well as another door going up to 3.5-metre sizes.  The Hi-Finity also comes with a 35mm interlock as well as some intelligent design features like Schuco.

2.  Sunflex SVG 30 Sliding Door.

Also worth looking at is the Sunflex SVG30 re-engineered sliding door.  This particular door comes with a 30mm interlock, an excellent low threshold as well as being a Sunflex brand.  Well worth looking at.

3.  Air 500 and 600 LS.

The air 500 or 600 LS sliding doors are also re-engineered by Everglade Windows with an excellent surface finish, 25-year warranty and luxury door hardware options.

4.  Solarlux Cero Doors.

We think the Solarlux Cero is excellent for all manner of reasons and another German-engineered sliding door for the home.  Great in use, slim to look at and with the outstanding build quality.  The range of colours is also excellent as is the thermal performance and quality of the door components.

5.  Reynaers CP130 and CP155 Sliding Doors.

Alongside the more expensive Hi-Finity door, we suggest the CP130 or CP155 products.  With a very high specification, four threshold options and a very good system, these are another brand of sliding doors to compare with the Schuco.

6.  Origin OS-77 and OS-44 Sliding Patio Doors.

The latest generation of inline sliding patio doors from Origin offers the legendary Origin build quality with a 20-year guarantee. These doors also come at very fast lead times for those wishing to complete a build project quickly.  You also get excellent self-levelling running gear and premium quality door furniture. These are also well work looking at and comparing with Schuco.

Schuco ASE60 sliding doors review.  Conclusion.

With any Schuco door, you get elegant, functional and highly reliable doors.  These are not the cheapest doors on the market, but they are some of the best.  While they don’t have the one-manufacturer supply route of products by Sunflex, Origin, Centor or Air doors, they do come through a highly trained network of manufacturers, supplied to good installers all over the UK.

The SmartClose and SmartStop features are great to see on a quality sliding door. We especially like how this door is also designed to be sophisticated yet easy to make, thanks to its modular and scalable profile system. The hidden hardware, impressive sizes and great thermal performance are other great design features Schuco is well known for. And even if you need big doors needing the thicker door mullion, our advice is, it does not matter. A Schuco door will enhance any home with a luxury sliding door that is engineered to last and is outstanding in many ways.  And as always, buying large sliding doors offers more benefits in aluminium than in PVCu.