Our Centor bifolding door review takes an in-depth look at this luxury bifolding door. Engineered for high performance, Centor bifolds come from an award-winning company. In this review of the, we pull out some of the best features of the C1 Bifold, why buy it and what doors are comparable to it. The Centor C1 bifold door is the all aluminium model.
Information about Centor Bifolding Doors.
First of all, a little history of Centor and how relevant they are to today’s buoyant bifolding door market. Whatever door you look at, Centor is one reason why you are even considering a bifold door for your home. Why? Because Centor invented the world’s first folding sliding door suitable for external use with weather resistance.
Indeed, credit invariably goes to Centor for transforming the home improvement market for doors. Centor is why today, a folding sliding door comes totally fit for purpose as an exterior door. As well as this, the bifolding door hardware side of the Centor business makes sophisticated hardware for door systems generally. The business started in 1951 making hardware for doors.
How good are Centor Doors?
Centor handle on a premium timber bifold by David Salisbury.
In our professional opinion, Centor is a luxury brand amongst the best bifolding doors you can buy. A Centor bifolding door is best known for its cutting-edge design, excellent functionality as well as long term performance. Importantly, look around and Centor is in the product range of some of the best home improvement companies, also selling other great brands.
Expertly made and with some clever features and options, Centor bifolds come in two versions. Centor C1 is the full aluminium bifold door. Centor Integrated is the ultra-premium aluminium and timber hybrid door product.
Features and benefits of the Centor C1 bifold door.
The Centor C1 bifold door is a thermally insulated aluminium bifold with all the functionality and style associated with bifolding doors. The meeting stile sight line is 136mm. So you won’t find it as slim as another highly engineered door such as the Sunflex SF 55 models, the Dutemann FD85 or the Schuco ASS70. However, we suggest you look at other innovations on the Centor c1 bifold door. Some of these are very clever indeed.
One of the best concealed bifold door tracks.
First of all, the all-important track. A Centor C1 bifolding door comes with a concealed track. The design of the concealed track arrangement makes for one of the best flush threshold options. Therefore, not only do you get a great looking low threshold, but also one that offers an aesthetically pleasing one too. Moreover, level tracks are great for families with a pushchair, a child’s bike or a wheelchair user.
The advanced track on a Centor C1 door has the wheels enclosed by the track. Hidden hardware and improved rolling are just two advantages of this arrangement. This arrangement is certainly preferred as other quality bifold doors use it.
Besides this, come over advantages. One is the concealed wheels are less exposed to the elements and last longer. Another is the integral drainage system meaning you can wash the track through removing any dirt.
The carriage wheels on the Centor product also come with a top-of-the-line design. Thanks to a mature market, many bifolding doors offer premium components. With a Centor door, you get angled wheels and an angled track. As the door panel slides, the wheels stay in constant contact with the track. The stacked doors are tight and sliding them is effortless.
Removable Track Sections for easy cleaning.
However, Centor offers one feature above other doors. Where other bifold door suppliers say take care when cleaning the track, Centor makes it easy. Removable sections on the door track allow easy cleaning compared to putting a vacuum hose in the cavity housing the wheels. Simply remove the section, clean the track and put back in place.
The flawless finish on the bifold door corners.
Second is how Centor makes this door. Unlike other systems, the powder coating process happens after the doors get assembled.
Other bifolding doors have the powder coated finish first. Then, the five or six-metre painted bars, in the chosen colour, get cut to the required sizes. After this, the bars are machined and assembled. The cutting and machining process removes the paint finish where saw and router blades make contact with the paint. There is nothing wrong with this process. In fact, most windows and doors come made this way. Any bare aluminium edges are hidden, sealed and rarely exposed to the elements when made right. However, Centor bifolding doors come made the other way round.
A Centor C1 bifold door is cut, machined and assembled. Then it is sent for painting. So what is the benefit? Invariably it is paint coverage in areas of the door where other products have bare metal. Not a problem with a properly serviced machine and a sharp blade. However the real difference is door edge, namely only that has a flawless fit and finish because of greater paint coverage.
In addition to this, Centor bifolding doors come with a marine grade finish of 60 microns, where standard powder coated finishes use 40 microns.
We know how powder coating plants work. Painting bars is their preferred method. Painting assembled components invariably this is not as easy as painting big numbers of aluminium bars. Powder coating shapes and short bars slow down a paint line. While this is not the concern of the end user, for Centor, it has a great end result. A flawless door corner with 100% paint coverage. Other systems rely on a precise corner joint, ensuring the bare metal exposed by the saw blade is not visible. This does not make other doors inferior. However, it’s another fine detail associated with Centor products.
A screening option for the open doors.
One other innovation with Centor doors is an integrated screen available as an option. While bifolding doors come into their own in the summer, so do bugs and insects.
Centor screens allow ventilation with all the protection of an insect screen and shade too. The screens sit neatly within the outer frame profile and offer added functionality to the doors. You get a choice of standard or tight weave, light filtering and blackout screens.
Sophisticated bifold door seals.
Rubber seals or brushes are commonplace on bifold doors providing good sealing and weather resistance. The door seals are another great design feature of Centor bifolding doors. All bifold door brands offer good sealing. Some have a standard design, others have a more thought out design. Doors such as the Schuco ASS70 has gaskets that move away from the frame, extending their service life as one example. Origin bifolding doors prefer to use Q-Lon where others use a rubber. Origin also offers colour matched gaskets where most doors come with black.
The gaskets on a Centor C1 bifold door offers an alternative design where the door panels meet and at the outer frame. Centor doors are seal-heavy using multiple gasket arrangements. One advantage is stormproof design. Another benefit is centre seals insulating the door better.
Other stand-out features of Centor C1 doors.
From a company starting out designing door hardware, come other functional yet impressive features rarely seen on other premium bifold doors.
- Milled and aesthetically minimalist hidden door hinges where other bifolds offer visible hinges.
- Wheels that clean and buff the track as they roll also lengthening service life and creating a unique sound as the doors move.
- Premium engineered door handles looking far better than other brands. Go see a Centor door and study the fine detail.
- The intermediate handles come in a flat and very contemporary design and one of the best looking handles we’ve seen on a bifold.
Centor bifolding doors review. Summary.
Of all the high end bifolding doors, Centor offers a lot of features. The wheel movement and design is one of the best. The facility to clean the track is simple yet we wonder why other door designers don’t adopt it.
Other brands to compare with Centor include the Dutemann FD85 based on the Alumil System for its great hardware, appearance and large door panels. The Solarlux bifolding door is another with similar attention to detail and design. The Sunflex SF55 is another contender amongst high-end doors. All of these also have a one-manufacturer supply route, through a Dealer Network of some professional and very experienced door companies with excellent showrooms.
We don’t mention performance in this review. Any door this good comes with the expected high specifications and product standards. Hurricane testing, Secured by Design, premium aluminium profiles as well as good size capability with large door panels. Also without question is a huge choice of colours, handle choices and glass upgrades. The Centor bifolding door is at the top of the price bracket and a fine example of a luxury bifold door where you get what you pay for.
Use our contact form to get in touch to find out more, ask a question or find out where to buy Centor bifolding doors as well as other brands.
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