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A PR IL 2015 | 41 Doors Travis Reynolds, national marketing manager for Steel-Craft Door Products, has noticed a swing towards steel panel front doors finished in a wood- grain style. The modern material allows for easier care and repair, compared to true wood doors. "I think that cottage or heritage feel is coming back into the indus- try, but people don't want to put in a wood product," he says. "It's expensive, and the maintenance on it is a nightmare. In two to three years you have to buy a new door and it's four or five times the amount you'd pay for steel." Steel-Craft's Contemporary series is available in myriad finishes – think walnut, cherry and cedar – to match with the overall look of a home. "While elaborate wood doors will never go out of fashion, we are noticing that customers are looking for interesting new materials like aluminum or metal to help differentiate their homes or offices," says Stein. A glass, barn-door style combines these modern and rustic elements perfectly. "The only word that accu- rately describes our Frameless Glass Barn door is 'rein- vention'. It's a modern twist on an old classic." These top-hung glass doors slide smoothly and quietly along a decorative rail, separating rooms while still allow- ing natural light to flow through. The Sliding Door Company uses a patented wheel lock system to avoid damaging customers' floors and affix all tracks using only silicone. Aluminum makes an excellent material choice for glass door frames, due to its durability and modern esthetic – the clean, low-profile lines are a favourite of architects, creating the illusion of a larger space – though Milgard offers plenty of alternative options, including clad wood in clear vertical grain Douglas fir or pine. After all, not everyone is interested in minimalism, as Ronaldo Chiovitti, director of sales and business development for PC350, has noticed. He is seeing a trend towards interesting finishes: "People are look- ing for exciting colours, unique finish choices and ergo- nomic hardware," he notes. Today's customer wants to make a splash when it comes to hardware. "Decorative levers are in," says Dorma's Gibson. "Just 10 years ago, we never saw any of that, now every job is asking for some sort of pretty lever. The advent of HGTV and those shows are pushing the trends. Now people are aware of what they can have." Clients are paying attention to colour and glazing, and com- panies are rushing to offer cus- tomization options to suit those tastes. "Certainly architects are liking the customization," says Reynolds from Steel-Craft Door Products. "They're after different styles of windows, dif- ferent types of tint. Even little details like weather strips can now be customized: we used to just throw in a white standard weather strip, but now we have a PVC wood-grained colour and powder-coated aluminum. It's those tiny subtle finishes that we're having to pay attention to." Custom looks like flush wood designs with contrasting, inte- grated stainless steel inlays are a popular option, and door pulls (rather than traditional levers) are another element that adds a unique finish to a modern design. Isbrand Funk, president and CEO for EuroLine Windows, notes that energy efficiency is still a key consideration when it comes to choosing a door. "With today's increasing cost of energy, homeowners and building professionals alike are interested in products that provide superior thermal comfort and significant energy savings without sacrificing elegance or design." EuroLine's 4700-series ThermoPlus window and door systems have both energy-saving design and sleek esthetics that consumers are looking for – the latest edition of the line has been specifically designed for the North American market, manufactured with a high-tech, vinyl-fibreglass hybrid material that helps reduce energy lost and assures long-term air tightness, when combined with robust hard- ware and high-performance glazing. "The hybrid core pro- vides high stabilit y, torsion stiffness and static proper- ties of fibreglass and does not require steel reinforcement in most sizes," explains Funk. The ThermoPlus series is available for single patio doors, French patio doors, tilt and glide systems and entry doors, and comes in a wide range of colours and finishes to give homeown- ers and builders plent y of choices. Beyond glass, vinyl doors are seeing an increased popularit y as shoppers look for durable, low-maintenance options. UPVC doors in partic- ular are a hot ticket item, and they're 100 per cent recyclable. The energy efficiency that StarLine's Lift and Slide doors feature is appealing to project consultants and engineers as well. "Panels are installed to slide behind the others in a variety of configurations and can be triple glazed, while delivering the high perfor- mance that building engineers want to see." The systems is also being used in single family homes. "When you have an expensive home being built in Vancouver, Victoria, the Okanagan or Alberta, where people are spending good money, they want a door that opens up the indoors to their balcony in grand fashion, without having a system that's swinging into the room or out to the deck and inter- fering with furniture placement or space," says Harrison. There's also plenty of functional advances hap- pening this year. PC350 is offering its line now with the patented soft open and close feature, as well as a quiet rolling feature. The company is also pairing tall doors with tall pulls for ease of use. Best of all, though, are PC350's easy-to-install designs. "Our products fit seamlessly into any space, both new builds and exist- ing," Chiovitti explains, pointing to PC350's new Snap Glazing framing system, which is engineered to accom- modate a variety of glass thicknesses or panels, and is the only system capable of accepting half-inch glass. "We have the least impact on construction schedules and often general contractors ask for our brand on future jobs because we are very straightforward and deliver quality product every time." And what's coming up beyond 2015? Electronic hardware is making a push into the market. Over the next five or 10 years, Gibson predicts, we'll be seeing more of it in homes. "Instead of key fobs and cards, we'll be unlocking doors with cell phones." Dorma's automatic products are leading the way: its magnetic operator, Magneo, works much like trains in Europe, reversing the polarity of magnets for an efficient, quiet automatic slider. "It's probably the coolest product I've seen in years," laughs Gibson. But whether you're embracing modern design, seeking out a faux wood fin- ish or installing the next generation of automatic entry technology, this year's products are opening a door for creative architectural design. A Elite + premium exterior door line from Westeck Windows. Cut-away of the 4700-Series ThermoPlus window system from Euroline Windows; Wood-grain exterior garage doors from Steel-Craft Door Products; Glass room divider from The Sliding Door Company. Blending indoor and outdoor living spaces with Marvin Windows Snap Glazing framing system from PC350