Pro-Lock · Kent
Bifold door repair in Tonbridge — grit in the bottom track
Bifold doorsets are not all built the same way, and it is the arrangement rather than the badge that decides how a fault behaves. Some systems hang the panels from a head track; others carry them on bottom rollers in the threshold, with the head track guiding rather than supporting. Which one a doorset uses is something the assessment establishes, because it changes what a drag or a scrape actually means.
In Tonbridge the fault we are called to most often is a panel that has begun to drag or scrape at the threshold with nothing visibly wrong. On doorsets that run on bottom rollers, that is usually the first sign that the channel has stopped being a clean running surface, and the door is telling us so before any part has failed.
Local fault emphasis
Contamination in the bottom track: why Tonbridge panels start to drag
A bottom track is a precision running surface, and it does not need much to stop behaving like one. When the channel is no longer clean, the rollers run through whatever is sitting in it every time the door is used, and the movement becomes progressively heavier rather than failing at once. The running surface marks, the bearings begin to sound rough, and the panel slowly stops sitting squarely in its channel.
A dragging panel rarely has a single cause by the time it is reported. Contamination is often the start, but the resistance it creates transfers load onto hinges, pivots and the frame, and a small obstruction can become a wider alignment fault. That is why we check the running gear and the channel together rather than treating a stiff door as a simple adjustment.
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 Tonbridge
Tonbridge is about 42 kilometres from the coast. Its mean wind speed is roughly 5.54 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 0.5°C to 22.4°C, a spread of roughly 22 degrees.
Tonbridge Castle, begun in the 11th century, guards a crossing of the River Medway.
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 ↗