The Techprofil range includes over 50 different finishes including white and cream, all backed with a comprehensive and extensive 10 year warranty and can be used on standard foil lamination machinery. With one dominant player supplying window grade foils in the UK, 3D believe that they have a product range that can directly compete and that includes the enhanced Cool Colors range for extremes in temperature.

Mark Lofthouse, managing director of 3D Laminates comments: “We’ve built an impressive reputation for our CoolSkin sheets and are looking to expand our long-term relationship with Hornschuch in the window grade foil market. There are a lot of exciting technological developments coming from Hornschuch and we’re excited about introducing these to the UK market.”

Confidence is running high with the product and the existing 10 year warranty has been extended further, to cover other European markets. The company can now offer 26 finishes including Irish Oak, each matching perfectly to the now widely available PVCu door frames and sashes. At a time when many of the first generation composite doors are painted, stained and embossed the ability to provide an exact matching solution is an important sales opportunity, as their customers are already finding out.

3D Laminates now supply around 75% of the UK’s door panel manufacturers and there have been no product quality issues since the product was introduced. This has helped built a renewed confidence in the sector through customers such as Classic Door Panels, GAP and Nice Door Panels.

The fact that CoolSkin™ is now a registered trademark reflects the products’ impressive performance and the fact that it is far more advanced than other door skins in the market. The company is quick to emphasize that if installers want a long lasting, hassle free solution then they should demand a door panel that has been manufactured with CoolSkin™ technology.

Mark Lofthouse, managing director of 3D Laminates comments: “The extension of our trading agreement, extended warranty and Trademark of the CoolSkin name clearly reflects our leading position in the market. There are now some fantastic design and colour options in door panels and also far more confidence in their performance. We’re hoping to continue our development programme with both Hornschuch and our valued customers for many years to come.”

The door panel market is seeing a resurgence with several suppliers experiencing a period of growth as confidence in the product grows. Companies such as APC Panels, Direct Form Plastics, East Midlands Panels, North East Panels, Panels Direct and Plasway, have enjoyed a great start to the year with their CoolSkin door panels. Installers are also now realising that many composite doors do not match their respective outer frames, as they have a painted or non-laminated finish.

With sales increasing from existing customers, new customers and from several emerging export markets, the decision was made to relocate to larger premises to cope with growing demand by the company. Managing director, Mark Lofthouse comments: “The new premises are impressive and are designed to carry more stock of existing colours and new ones that are planned for later in the year. We now offer 26 colours so we feel we’re nearly competing with Dulux!”

In addition, sister company Direct Form Plastics manufactures their own composite doors under the brand name Trojan and have also started using the CoolSkin material from 3D Laminates. In stark contrast to the colour matching issues with some external GRP doors, the coloured and woodgrained Trojan doors are a perfect match from door slab to PVCu frame material.  

The CoolSkin technology that’s inherent in the door skins from 3D Laminates means that remedials are all but a thing of the past, even for dark colours on a south facing door. Customers such as Door Panels, GAP and Nice Door Panels can bear testament to this technological revolution.

A case in point is that a golden oak door frame could be installed with a poor paint or stained imitation GRP golden oak effect door which harnesses a caramel glazing cassette. Alternatively you could have a matching suite of frame, sash, door panel and glazing cassette all with a golden oak foil. In such an installation, it’s clear that the door surface wouldn’t be a true golden oak.
Vince Richardson, technical director of 3D Laminates comments: “Not only do our door skins perform, but they perfectly match laminated door profiles and glazing cassettes. It’s a complete uniform finish for the installer and discerning homeowner. Next time you consider a coloured door check that everything matches!”

The door panel sector still remains a strong and fundamentally important segment of the glazing industry thanks to new colours, modern designs and better performing panels in the extremes of temperature. They also perform well enough to meet the needs of the very latest Building Regulations, requiring a U-value of 1.8 W/(m²K) in England and Wales or 1.6 W/(m²K) in Scotland.

CoolSkin technology is designed to deal with the extremes in climate for foiled PVCu door skins and in 3 years since its launch, there have been near zero defects as companies such as GAP, Nice Door Panels and Plasway can testify. Indeed the company now supplies over 80% of the laminated door skins to the sector, with second generation panels now offering considerably better performance levels.

This unique technology is based on the Cool Colors foil from Konrad Hornschuch which is exclusive to 3D Laminates in the UK and it’s been designed for applications right across Europe from the hot Mediterranean climates to the cold Scandinavian environments. The substrate base material is also heat reflective to add further performance benefits.

Laboratory Testing
Look at what appears to be two identical foil laminates in the first picture and at first glance there appears to be no discernable difference in typical daylight conditions. On the left is a standard window and door grade foil laminate of 230 microns and on the right a Cool Colors laminate of 300 microns.

Tests carried out using a radiation thermometer show how much surfaces can heat up on a typical door panel. A direct comparison shows that the surface temperature of Cool Colors laminate is lower than that of a standard window and door grade laminate after exposure to direct radiation as shown in the second picture.

The special camera demonstrates the optimised reflective properties of the Cool Colors product (lighter in the picture) in comparison to the standard product. There’s a remarkable difference in the surface temperature between the two samples in this second picture.

New Technology
The new generation of laminates represent a considerable technological leap forward. In the case of Cool Colors which is exclusively used by 3D Laminates, it reflects up to 80% of the NIR proportion of sunlight which reduces the heat build up by over 20%.

For the purposes of product performance, the measurement of heat build up in the NIR section of the spectrum is the best way to assess the way building materials deal with heat. The result of this development is significantly improved application properties for various climates and greater durability of the materials. In layman’s terms the Cool Colors foil provides significantly lower heat absorption.

A Colourful Future
New colours and woodgrain finishes are becoming increasingly offered by the systems companies, including the conservatory sector and this is cascading down through fabricators and installers to the consumer. There are now 26 colours available from 3D Laminates including Irish Oak which means there’s a foiled door panel to perfectly match the foil of a PVCu door profile.

Much like the IT industry promotes ‘Intel Inside’ as a measure of the functionality of a computer, CoolSkin technology is an assurance of the quality and lasting performance of a foiled door panel. The industry has a re-ignited itself thanks to the development of CoolSkin and now installers can offer the consumer an impressive entrance to their home, safe in the knowledge that the products will provide lasting performance.

Rowley, Young and Hallas will play a number of gigs in the cultural home of the blues and will also spend a few days recording in Memphis. Leading on the guitar, Trevor will be using an original 1936 National Style O as seen on the front cover of Dire Strait’s iconic Brothers In Arms album.

Trevor comments: “I’ve been in the industry for 23 years dealing with PVCu sheets and now it’s time to invest into some musical sheets! I’ve made a lot of friends in this industry and I will leave the UK with some very fond memories of my time working with them and some great companies too.”

Since the launch of CoolSkin, the product has performed to the high expectations that were set during the research and development process and the exceptional performance levels have been fundamental to the recent emergence of 2^nd generation door panels. The door panel sector has benefitted from a renewed confidence and the fact that with a proven door frame, installers can readily meet the demands from the new Building Regulations.

Mark Lofthouse, managing director of 3D Laminates comments: “We’re delighted to sign a further exclusivity contract with Hornschuch, it shows a long-term commitment by both parties to the UK market and in particular to the door panel sector.

He continues: “Coloured and woodgrain door panel sales are increasing thanks to some very modern designs and supported by the wide availability of matching door frames. I must point out though that many first generation composite door slabs still don’t match their frames or glazing cassettes!”

Mark Lofthouse, managing director of 3D Laminates comments: “This is an industry first and for those companies manufacturing sandwich panels it will help improve their production efficiencies and reduce their manufacturing costs. This is another addition to our product range, along with our highly regarded CoolSkin laminated door panel sheets. This range is now available in 26 colours and woodgrain finishes including Irish Oak.”

In the 1990’s the PVCu window and door industry brought out the first laminated options of mahogany, to be followed later with golden oak and rosewood. At this stage there was the introduction of matching ancillaries such as cills and even drain hole covers. However over the last few years the industry has seen the emergence of a large number of colours for both windows and doors and many of the large extrusion companies now offer a colour range far in excess of the car industry. The latest evolution of the Ford Mondeo has a choice of just 9 colours in stark contrast to the dozens of colours/foils on offer for PVCu profiles.

Modern foils or laminates are generally around 200-220microns thick with 3D’s latest laminates for door skins 300 microns thick. When compared to the hot stamp foil at 20 microns thick that were used well over a decade ago, these latest foils have been proven to last in various extremes in climate and are highly resistant to scratching unlike GRP.

Some of the latest developments such as CoolColours^® from Hornschuch take this one step further as they reflect 80% of the energy-charged IR spectrum of sunlight, 4 times better than a standard foil. For door panels this was a major breakthrough in 2004 and proved the platform for the launch of 3D Laminates.

Dark colours absorb more heat that white PVCu products and this is something that the whole glazing industry has had to address. Colours are also a means to satisfy the replacement of the replacements market, not just vibrant colours such as red, green and blue finishes but greys, creams and even new woodgrain finishes. These products have improved immeasurably over the last 10 years and colours are proving to be a rewarding route to additional sales and better margins.

Door panels have come a long way over the last 20 years and we are now in a market where second generation products are primarily the norm. The problems associated with the first generation products are now a distant memory and companies are now able to offer coloured panels in a huge variety of colours and designs and are generally backed with 10 year warranties. Failures in coloured door panels are almost unheard of now thanks to new developments such as the CoolSkin technology we have developed at 3D Laminates with European partners Hornschuch and Röchling.

Yet composite doors are the major growth sector in the home improvement market and in recent years we have seen the emergence of a number of new companies looking to exploit the opportunities, including a number of the major PVCu systems companies. However these products are not the holy grail of doors, as the vast majority of these composite doors are manufactured from GRP. GRP doors cannot be foiled and therefore the colour match to the door frame can be an issue, as is the fact that the vast majority of GRP doors are only offered with a white internal finish.

New external colours and woodgrain effects are a great offering to the consumer and sales savvy installer but all the ancillaries also need to match. Door frames need to match the actual door slabs and the glazing cassettes in turn need to match the door skins. So what’s next?

In many instances external grade foils are used for internal purposes on window profiles while some composite doors are limited to a white-only internal finish, but there’s a wealth of choice for internal colours and foils. These add greater choice and are more cost effective for the latest generation of low maintenance home improvement products. The second generation of composite doors will address the key issues of colour matching, internal colour options and better scratch resistance. The future’s in colour for PVCu windows and doors.