Aluminium bifold doors make an environmentally friendly, durable option for your home. Powder coating can improve this durability even further, with high-quality suppliers such as Origin offering powder coated aluminium bifolds.
In this guide:
Here, we take you through the key benefits of powder coated aluminium bifold doors and answer common queries on aluminium powder coating. We also explore the features of Origin Soho External Doors and the Origin Contemporary External Door.
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- What is powder coating?
- Why is powder coating important?
- Is powder coating environmentally friendly?
- Are you looking for a durable steel-look?
- How tough is the powder coated finish on your windows and doors?
- What powder coating colours are available?
- What does RAL colour mean?
- Can I choose different colours for the inside and outside of the frames?
- Are door handles available in different colours?
- Can I get windows and doors in a wood-grain finish?
- How do you create the wood-grain effect?
- Who makes the paint you use on your doors and windows?
- Why choose Origin?
What is powder coating?
Powder coating is a dry powdered paint which is baked at extremely high temperatures, so it hardens. It’s the process of applying a dry, electrostatically charged powdered paint to an object (usually one made of metal). Once painted, the object is heated in an oven at a very high temperature so the powder particles bond together and form a coating.
Read our guide to choosing a bifold door colour here.
What are the advantages of powder coating?
Powder coating has a number of advantages:
Environmentally friendly—it’s much better for the environment than traditional liquid paint - the benefits are explained further below
Durable—the heating process causes the powder coating to harden and provide a very durable, long-lasting, weather-resistant finish - Read more below
Wide range of colours—powder coating is available in a multitude of colours and finishes, meaning you can choose an exact shade for your windows and doors
Quick to apply—it takes two or three coats of liquid paint to achieve the thickness that just one layer of powder coating provides
Consistent—it provides a smoother, more uniform finish than liquid paint
Thickness—it produces much thicker coatings than standard liquid paint, without running or sagging.
Read our guide “Is aluminium environmentally friendly?” to find out more.
Read how aluminium compares to timber here.
Is powder coating environmentally friendly?
Yes - Origin’s powder coatings won’t harm the environment or human health and causes little waste. Powder coating is much more environmentally friendly than liquid paint as it contains no volatile organic compounds (VOCs), heavy metals or solvents. This means the paint poses no threat to human health or the environment.
The process also produces little waste. Traditional spray painting with liquid paint results in lots of excess paint, which can’t be recycled. Any over-spraying during the powder coating process can be collected and used again.
Find out why aluminium bifold doors are environmentally friendly here.
Are you looking for a durable steel-look aluminium bifold door?
Explore our luxury Origin Soho External Door.
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Created bespoke to ensure you can make the most of your space, Origin bifold doors range from one to eight door sets and individual doors can be manufactured as narrow as 400mm, as wide as 1,200mm and as tall as 3,000mm. You can choose how they open and close – whether they fold in or out, and how they slide – to meet your exact needs.
Our all-new Soho Collection epitomises the pinnacle of luxury and style. The sought after steel-look, seamlessly merges cutting-edge design and ultra-slim sightlines with unparalleled functionality. With sightlines of just 36mm, the Soho External Door provides extensive glass panels for maximum light and eye-catching aesthetics for any property development.
View our aluminium bifold doors today, or contact an installer to turn your vision into a reality.
How tough is the powder coated finish on your windows and doors?
Very tough, thanks to the coating process and the high-grade aluminium used by Origin.
The finish on any Origin product is the result of using:
Premium-grade aluminium for the door or window
The highest grade of powder coating for the paint
The powder coating process goes like this:
We pre-treat the doors
We apply the powder coating using an electrostatic process (an electric charge)
We then “cure” (heat) the painted door to 200°C—this forms a smooth yet robust coating which is extremely hard-wearing and is resistant to scratches
The flawless surface of the frames is guaranteed to last an astonishing 20-years (depending on where the products are installed)
What powder coating colours are available for bifold doors?
There are over 150 RAL colours to choose from. At Origin, we give you the choice of over 150 RAL colours for your doors or windows, including classic metallic shades and wood-grain finishes. We have 11 popular colours—including whites, blacks and greys—which we vow to deliver according to "Your lead time, not ours", our special delivery promise.
On certain products, we also offer the option of dual-colour frames, where the inside and outside surfaces of the frames are different colours.
What does RAL colour mean?
RAL refers to a European colour matching system used for powder coating paint, among other applications. As we can powder-coat our door and window frames in over 150 different RAL colours, we ensure there’s always a look to suit you and your home. Many of our RAL colours come with the option of a matt, satin, or gloss finish.
Read more about our RAL colours for doors and windows here.
Can I choose different colours for the inside and outside of the frames?
Yes. At Origin, we can powder-coat our door and window frames in different colours inside and outside. This means your windows or doors can complement both the style of the property and your surroundings outside, and your colour scheme inside.
For example, you can have white on the outside to match your existing windows and a wood-grain finish to match your home’s interior. Find out more about the benefits of aluminium frames here.
Are door handles available in different colours?
Yes - you have nine different models of handle to choose from, in stainless steel, white, chrome, black or gold. Certain models can also be colour-co-ordinated in any RAL shade.
With our bifold doors, both the slave handle and D-handle are available in any of the 150 RAL colours or in stainless steel, so you can decide whether you want handles and door frames to match or contrast.
Can I get windows and doors in a wood-grain finish?
Yes—there are two wood-grain finishes available.
If you’re looking for a natural or traditional style, you have two finishes to choose from:
Golden Oak
Natural Oak
The authentic look of these finishes gives you the beauty of real wood without the need to keep it well-maintained or the worry of it warping.
How do you create the wood-grain effect?
Through a special process involving transferring ink onto the surface of the metal while it’s being heated.
The process goes like this:
We powder coat the aluminium frame in a base colour before wrapping it in film to create a vacuum where the paint more effectively sticks to the frame’s surface
We then heat the aluminium to a high temperature, which transfers the ink on the film to the metal, creating a wood grain effect
When the aluminium has cooled, we remove the film to leave a finish that looks like natural wood
What powder coating does Origin use?
Origin uses paint made by a subsidiary of AkzoNobel Powder Coatings, the world’s leading powder coating manufacturer. We coat our door and window frames with paint from a company called Interpon. Interpon is part of AkzoNobel Powder Coatings, the leading powder coating manufacturer worldwide.
One of the main reasons we choose to work with AkzoNobel is its attitude towards protecting the environment. The company is one of the top three in the US Dow Jones Sustainability Index, which means it sets a benchmark in terms of committing to making sustainable products.
Why choose Origin bifold doors?
Origin bifold patio doors offer bespoke options to ensure you can make the most of your space. This also allows you to meet your exact design needs. With Origin Bifold Doors, you are guaranteed excellent thermal efficiency and durability, as well as a huge range of colour options and designs to choose from. Our doors are all manufactured in the United Kingdom, and we are proud to provide unbeatable lead times.
Contact a local installer to find out more about our aluminium bifold doors.
The Origin Soho External Doors and Origin Contemporary External Doors
The Soho and Contemporary external doors from Origin both offer unique design and functional features. The Soho Collection is characterised by its luxury, steel-look design, ultra-slim sightlines, and cutting-edge functionality. It aims for a blend of aesthetics and performance. The Contemporary Collection, on the other hand, revives the original appeal of bifolds with large panes of glass and slim sightlines, providing a traditional feel. Both collections are tailored for elegance and make bold statements, but they cater to different aesthetic preferences and design requirements.
The Soho Collection features a steel-look with ultra-slim sightlines, emphasising luxury and cutting-edge design. It offers sightlines as slim as 36mm and thermal efficiency up to 0.87W/m²K. The Contemporary Collection, on the other hand, focuses on large panes of glass and slim sightlines (49mm and 72mm) and thermal efficiency up to 1.1W/m²K.
Visit our aluminium bifold door range to find out more about the differences between each.
