If you have asked three companies in Hertford or Radlett for a sliding door price, at least one quote will say ASE 60 somewhere on it, usually without a word about what that means. It is not a marketing name. It is a system code, and once you can read it the rest of the quote makes far more sense.
What the name means
ASE stands for Aluminium Sliding Element — Schüco's designation for its sliding door platform. The number is the basic depth of the frame profile in millimetres. So ASE 60 is a sliding system built on a 60 mm deep frame.
That depth matters because it drives almost everything else: how much insulation can be packed into the profile, how heavy a panel the frame can carry, and how slim the visible aluminium looks when you stand in the room and look out. Deeper frames generally mean better thermal performance and higher weight capacity. They also mean a chunkier section at the perimeter.
Where it sits in the range
ASE 60 is the workhorse. Above it sit variants aimed at specific problems — higher-insulation versions for projects chasing tight energy targets, and panorama-design variants that shrink the interlock where two panels meet down to a genuinely thin line. Below and alongside it are lighter systems for smaller openings.
For a typical rear extension of three to five metres in a house in Enfield or Welwyn Garden City, ASE 60 is usually the sensible landing point. You reach for the higher-spec variants when you are either heating a very exposed room, or you care enough about a slim central sightline to pay for it.
Ask which variant you are being quoted, in writing. "Schüco sliding" on a quotation is not a specification. The difference between the standard system and a panorama variant is visible from across the room and visible on the invoice.
Lift-and-slide, and why you will notice it
Most quality aluminium sliders, ASE 60 included, use lift-and-slide gear rather than a simple roller. It works like this: with the handle down, the panel sits on its weather seals, compressed and sealed. Turn the handle 180 degrees and a cam lifts the whole panel a few millimetres onto its rollers, off the seals. It then glides.
Two consequences, one obvious and one not. The obvious one is that the door seals properly when closed — the panel is clamped rather than resting. The less obvious one is that a 250 kg panel becomes genuinely easy to move once lifted, because it is on bearings rather than dragging along a gasket. People are usually surprised by how light a very large panel feels.
The trade-off is that operation is a two-step action, and small children and some older users find the handle rotation stiff. Try one in a showroom before committing. That sentence applies to every door on this site, but it applies double here.
Panel sizes and configurations
The common configurations are two-panel (one fixed, one sliding), three-panel and four-panel, running on two or three tracks. More tracks means more panels can stack in front of each other, but also a deeper frame and more visible track in the floor.
| Configuration | Tracks | Max clear opening | Suits |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 panel, one sliding | 2 | ~50% | Openings up to about 3.5 m |
| 2 panel, both sliding | 2 | ~50% | Central opening, symmetrical elevations |
| 3 panel | 2–3 | ~66% | 4–5 m openings |
| 4 panel | 2–3 | ~50–75% | Wide openings, pocket details |
Panel weights climb fast. A 1.5 m by 2.4 m panel in double glazing is already well over 100 kg; triple glazing or acoustic laminates push it considerably higher. Every fabricator sets its own maximum panel size and weight for the system, so the honest answer to how big can it go is always: ask the person quoting, and get the number written down. If you want to compare what different fabricators publish, Schüco sliding door systems are usually documented with their size and configuration limits set out openly.
What ASE 60 does well
- Glass, uninterrupted. A slider closed is mostly view. A folding set closed is a series of vertical bars.
- Weather. Compression seals plus a lower exposed track make sliders generally better in wind-driven rain than folding sets.
- Space. Nothing swings, nothing stacks into the room. In a narrow Victorian return this is decisive.
- Feel. Well-adjusted lift-and-slide gear is one of the more satisfying mechanisms in a house.
Where it struggles
You never get the whole opening. A three-panel slider gives you roughly two thirds of the width at best, because the panels have to go somewhere. If your ambition is a wall that entirely disappears, sliding is the wrong technology unless you are prepared to pay for panels that pocket into the wall — which needs the wall design to accommodate it from the start.
The other issue is retrofitting. Large sliding panels need to physically get to the opening. We have seen a delivery abandoned in Woodford Green because the only route to the rear garden was a 700 mm side alley and nobody had checked. Craning glass over a roof is possible; it is also four figures.
Before ordering, walk the route the largest panel has to take, tape measure in hand, including gate widths, corners and any step. Then ask the installer to confirm in writing that access is adequate. This one question has saved more money than any other on this site.
Getting the structural opening right
Sliders are less fussy about deflection than folding doors but still need a properly designed beam and, crucially, a level and stable base. The bottom track carries the weight and the alignment; if the slab settles or the screed is out of level along the run, the panel will bind. On new extensions built on the shrinkable clay that covers much of southern Hertfordshire, this is a real risk, and it is worth asking your builder how the slab is founded before the doors are surveyed.
Common questions
Is ASE 60 the same as a lift-and-slide door?
Lift-and-slide describes the gear, not the system. ASE 60 is normally supplied with lift-and-slide hardware, where turning the handle lifts the panel off its seals onto rollers before it moves.
How much of the opening will actually be clear?
Around half on a two-panel set and up to two thirds on a three-panel set. The panels have to stack somewhere, so a slider never gives you the full opening unless the panels pocket into the wall.
Can ASE 60 take triple glazing?
The frame depth allows for thicker units, but the panel weight is the practical limit. Ask your fabricator for the maximum panel weight for the exact configuration you are ordering rather than for the system in general.
Is a sliding door warmer than a bifold?
Usually a little, because there are fewer opening joints and fewer metres of gasket to leak through. The difference in a real house is smaller than the difference between two glass specifications.