Pro-Lock · Kent
Bifold door repair in Dover — seal compression and draughts
Bifold doorsets are not all built the same way, and the arrangement decides how a fault behaves rather than the badge on the door. Some systems carry the panels from a head track; others run them on bottom rollers in the threshold, with the head track guiding rather than supporting. Which arrangement a doorset uses is something the assessment establishes, because it changes what a draught or a gap actually means.
In Dover the complaint we hear most often is a draught or a whistle at the closed edge of the doorset, usually worse on the side the weather reaches. It is rarely a seal that has simply worn out. A bifold seal only works while the panel is pressing against it evenly, and once that pressure is uneven the seal loses contact along the same part of its length every time.
Local fault emphasis
Seal compression and draughts: why Dover doors stop sealing evenly
The seals in a bifold doorset are compressed by the panel, not by the door handle. Panel position, hinge condition and the alignment of the leaves all set how much contact each seal gets, and the contact has to be consistent along the whole edge for the seal to do its job. A seal that is compressed on one run and barely touched on another cannot close the gap, however sound the rubber itself still is.
That is why we look at the doorset before replacing a seal. If the panel has moved, a new seal will be compressed just as unevenly as the old one and the draught will return. The assessment establishes whether the fault is the seal, the panel position behind it, or the locking pressure that holds the leaf closed — and only then is a repair route worth quoting.
Brands fitted locally
Bifold systems we assess across Kent
Bifold doors across Kent are fitted with hardware from a wide range of systems, and the components inside a doorset are frequently a mix rather than a single brand. The guides below cover the systems we are asked about most often, and each sets out how that manufacturer's running gear, locking and sealing details behave, and what tends to fail first.
Local conditions
Local conditions in Dover
Dover is about 2 kilometres from the coast. Its mean wind speed is about 6.63 m/s, against a range of 4.96 m/s at the most sheltered locations we cover to 6.63 m/s at the windiest. Its seasonal temperature range runs from about 3.6°C to 20.4°C, a spread of roughly 17 degrees.
Dover faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel, 33 km from Cap Gris-Nez.
Pro-Lock repairs bifold doors; we do not sell new ones. That matters more than it sounds. A company that fits replacement doorsets has somewhere to send a problem a repair would have solved, and a recommendation is only as independent as the person giving it. We have nothing to upsell you, so the honest answer is also the only one available to us: if your doorset can be repaired, that is what we will quote for. Every assessment ends in a written report and an itemised quotation, the repair is booked separately and only if you decide to go ahead, and completed work is backed by a 12-month warranty.
Complete doorset overhauls may help where frame distortion exceeds tolerances or panel realignment cannot compensate; read the full explanation ↗
Toe and heel is checked when appropriate as part of alignment; understand toe and heel ↗
A clear first step
£79 professional assessment, credited against any repair, or refunded if we cannot quote. 12-month warranty on completed repair work.
Why do you charge £79 for an assessment when some companies offer free quotes?
An experienced engineer checks the complete doorset, explains the findings, and sets out the sensible repair route. Read the full explanation on the FAQ ↗