Door Care & Maintenance Videos Released
External door and window hardware is under constant attack from environmental exposure, says Coastal Group
Whether it’s polluted city air, corrosive salt air in coastal settings or continual exposure to the elements, external hardware has a lot more to deal with compared to internal hardware.
With this in mind, the team at Coastal Group have launched a series of simple how-to videos, explaining the biggest headaches and demonstrating how to solve them.
“Wherever your doors are installed, they will endure some sort of ‘attack’ from the elements,” says Loren Jenner, Managing Director at Coastal Group.
“It’s not only the door furniture; it’s also the locks and cylinders, which can become clogged up with dirt and grime, drying out and becoming difficult to operate.”
This daily wear and tear can affect the lifespan of doors and can even lead to callbacks from customers. “Callbacks are expensive, time consuming and can sometimes lead to negative reviews,” continues Loren.
Neil Jones, Head of Marketing at Coastal, introduces some simple solutions: “The good news is that these challenges can easily be avoided. All it takes is a bit of regular TLC and maintenance with the right products.”
Coastal Group considers the following three main issues in a series of simple how-to videos, available on their website, and detailed below:
1. Tea staining on the door hardware.
2. Keys sticking or jamming in the Euro cylinder.
3. Multipoint locks seizing up, jamming and making it difficult to operate the door handle.
1. Tea-staining on the door hardware
Tea staining often gets confused by the homeowner as rust, but 316 Marine Grade Stainless Steel hardware – such as the BLU Hardware range – does not rust. Instead, it can discolour if not cared for.
Tea staining is a cosmetic issue that takes place on contaminants sitting on the surface of the stainless steel. It does not affect the structural integrity or lifetime of the material, but can be unsightly.
Door manufacturers, installers and homeowners will be relieved to know it can easily be avoided. As the name suggests, stainless steel is ‘stain less’ not ‘stain free’ and requires regular cleaning using a soft cloth and mild soapy water to maintain a polished blemish-free finish.
If the door is located in a more corrosive environment, or if tea staining has occurred, then Coastal recommend their DR121 stainless steel cleaner as a regular cleaner. This product has been proven to remove this staining quickly and effectively.
2. Keys sticking or jamming in the Euro cylinder
Over time cylinders can become dried out or clogged up with dirt and grime. Some cylinders can also become corroded.
These challenges combine to make the cylinder very difficult to operate and the key difficult to insert and turn around.
The dormakaba cylinder spray makes it very easy to resolve this issue. A regular squirt into the cylinder cleans, lubricates and maintains it, providing trouble-free operation and helping to prevent corrosion.
“Customers are often amazed at the difference it makes,” comments Neil.
“It’s worth adding a word of caution here; cylinder manufacturers strongly advise against using other fluids or common aerosol lubricants such as WD40 as they can have detrimental effects on the cylinder.”
3. Multipoint locks seizing up, jamming, and making your door handle difficult to operate
Again, over time the gearing in the multipoint lock can become dried out or clogged with dirt and grime. This makes the door handle difficult to move up and down and the multipoint lock hard to operate and lock.
Coastal Group have developed their GLS200 lubricant spray to help resolve this.
A regular application will soon have the handles and locks running smoothly. The specialist spray also prevents issues from recurring in the future.
To make it easy for door manufacturers and installers to help their customers look after their new front doors, Coastal Group have put together a Hardware Care and Maintenance Pack.
The pack is proving extremely popular as companies look to enhance their customer service, minimise callbacks and stand out from competitors.
As Coastal Managing Director, Loren Jenner highlights, “The cost of the pack is minimal compared to a callback, plus it ensures a great lasting impression with the homeowner, giving you that extra point of difference.”
Coastal’s Hardware Care & Maintenance Packs can be purchased online from coastal-group.com.
