Centor Wins Best Door Component Award

Centor Architectural's reputation for innovation has received another boost with three prestigious awards in the growing North American market. Window and Door magazine's annual Crystal Achievement awards not only honoured Centor's Exterior Folding Door Hardware with the Most Innovative Door Component prize, but named major industry player JELD-WEN's IWP Exterior Folding Door powered by Centor's E3X system - as the Most Innovative Door. JELD-WEN and Centor scored again with the JELD-WEN IWP Door taking out the MVP Award from the authoritative Building Products Magazine.

Based in Klamath Falls, Oregon, JELD-WEN Inc is the world's leading manufacturer of reliable windows and doors. Beginning as a small millwork plant in 1960 and growing into a company with more than 150 divisions and 20,000 employees worldwide, JELD-WEN is no stranger to industry awards of this type. Product marketing manager Shane Meisel said the new folding door system was introduced to meet the growing demand for bringing the outdoors in.

"Homeowners want to have more of a visual connection with the outdoors and make their homes more functional for outdoor entertaining," he said.

"It's a great combination of bold style that makes a dramatic statement, yet it is also highly functional. It's perfect for traditional as well as contemporary homes anywhere you want free-flowing access from inside to out."

Window and Door magazine highlighted the impressive scale of openings allowed for by bi-fold doors and described the JELD-WEN doors as combining the "style, customization opportunities and elegance of a classic French door with the updated benefits and features of a sliding door.

In describing the Centor systems Window and Door noted the ability for manufacturers to use either standard or custom sized doors to create folding door systems. The impressive weight capacities across the system range and the multiple door configurations possible also rated a mention but the main focus remained on the systems' renowned space-transforming benefits.

"When the weather is good these systems allow homeowners to enjoy seamless transitions between indoors and outdoors as panels fold away to the side," they said.

"This is tremendous news for Centor," said Centor North America president Paul Cornish. "We've put a lot of work into the products, and into pairing those products with the right manufacturers. Now people in North America are finally beginning to see just what these systems can do!"