New UPVC door bowing - update

[Harry Bloomfield]

I earlier mentioned we had had a new rear door fitted, along with all of the windows and the fact that the door had a vertical bow at both sides, touching at top and bottom leaving a gap halfway down. Adjusting the latch so it compressed the seal more, improved the gap, but made it difficult latch / lock and unlock.

The bow as near as I could measure it was around 3mm, but with the latch set for ease of opening/ closing, it left a 2mm gap between seal and door.

We got the installer back yet again, pointed out the bow plus the difficulty of locking unlocking and he was then talking in terms of getting the manufacturer back to sort the bow out, in the meantime he was going to fit a new lock as the original had suffered damage due to the problems.

Last week he returned with a new lock, fitted it, but denied having suggested getting the bow sorted out by the manufacturer, so after numerous visits from them I am now giving up and taking it up with FENSA. Its a 50/50 Glass/Solid door, so comes within their remit.

[Brian Gaff]

I'm not impressed by upvc doors. A few years in and my back door has twisted and has a tendency to let in drafts at the bottom catch edge no matter how you adjust things. I just don't think they are internally strong enough to reseist the weight and the passage of time.

Brian

[Tim Streater]

Ours has been in 18 months now and still fits perfectly. Closes to a touch. But I agree there a while to yet to get to a few years :-)

[harry]

you may find the hinges are ajustable. The hinge pins are eccenrically mounted and can be revolved to adjust. If they are not right (ie axises inline) the door is bowed.

The frame is easily distorted by the fixing screws if the correct packing pieces have not been fitted. You can bet your life it was OK when manufactured and the installer has f****d it up. They are hard to adjust but that's why you pay "experts".

[Weatherlawyer]

I wonder if the packers they rest the glass on was badly or wrongly placed.

[Harry Bloomfield]

harry was thinking very hard :

The frame is, as near as I can check, spot on. The frame was my first suspect. Top edge and bottom edge meets the frame perfectly, it is just that it bows in the middle as if it had been transported flat, supported under the top and bottom edges, with some weight placed in the middle which bent the steel frame.

It is a three hinge door. The only adjustments he has made in his 5(?) visits, is to the latch and to replace the lock on his last visit.

[harry]

With the three hinges, the middle on being out of line with the top and bottom ones bows the door. Usually there is a cap on the hinge pins that comes off and the pin is turned with an allen(hex) key. Because it is an eccentric the door is moved. Ovbiously it can be moved in all directions depending on where the eccentric is turned. The bit you turn is a tube (closed top end) but the bore is eccentric to the outer diameter. The actual hing pin is inside this tube.

(All assuming this is in fact the adjustment method). But worth looking at. If the bow is worse on the hinge edge as opposed to the slam edge you can bet this is the cause of the problem if the frame is OK.

[Harry Bloomfield]

harry explained on 24/09/2012 :

Thanks for that, I'll certainly take a look at the hinges.

[Muddymike]

We have three that were installed under the previous owners that are now 12 years old. They fit and work perfectly.

Mike

[Ilene D'over]

Although I agree that this is a possibility, there should never been a need to touch the hinge cams as they are factory set. The fitter would know not to touch them and if they were the cause of the problem, he should have checked them on the first visit to rectify the fault.

However, I have seen stranger things!

[harry]

They can also be turned to make the lock line up. Sometimes the frame distorts during fitting & adjustment is needed. But if it's too far out then it's no help. Frame needs checking for squareness too.