Rainbow Zero Clearance Fireplace Door

Custom Rainbow Z-door. Ordered 2/3/15. Received today; installed today – 3/5/15.
Nice product and finish and matched provided measurements exactly, which is critical for INside fit. My choices were bifold doors and all metal = polished brass and glass = gray. Installed in a Heatilator NA36AI metal box fireplace from 1993 house build.

Product shipping packaging was exemplary. Cardboard wedges offset unit within cardboard box and then extruded foam tubes and corners filled into place to harden while the shipping box was closed and strapped. There should NOT be any damage to product enroute unless shippers mishandle box or don’t follow handling instructions. Only a catastrophic puncture through the face of the box could be an issue, so check for any punctures or gouges in the box on the large faces. Shippers have no excuses about handling if these arrive damaged! My box was 30 x 40 x 6 for a 21 x 36 unit.
Product design and fabrication information: This is extruded aluminum metal with anodized color on top. The outer frame is corner mitered and assembled like metal picture framing and so very strong and square in the corners. Handles are shallow ‘squared D’ attached to top rail of inner bifold door. Knife hinges holding doors to frame are pop riveted to the glass panel frames and then screwed to the outer frame; bifold hinges are strap hinges and pop riveted to the extruded rails at top and bottom. FOUR magnets on the back of the free corners of the doors hold them to the strips of metal bands which run the length of the top and bottom on the BACK of the frame that fix the width of the whole unit. These are also pop riveted so that there is no play nor any adjustment of the corners, even though the instructions included said the picture framing corners are adjustable. They are not.

Product install: Follow instructions! Some are out of date and might be better presented for NOVICE install. I would NOT recommend non-handy install this unit, NOT a novice install, only because of the adjustments needed with the hinges and the glass panels within the rails to make the aesthetic details turn out – it IS hard to get the glass gapping and the metal door rails gapped with the overall frame after you have squared and plumbed the outer frame into your fireplace. Remember, my unit was installed into a metal prefabricated Heatilator fireplace with easily measured space for the install. I would recommend reading and rereading the install instructions and then modifying the sequence to your knowledge of how to do this BETTER than the instructions. I do NOT recommend this install for novice. Get someone very exact to measure and someone very handy to install. With the five screws that are to be used to hold this in place, please set in place as it needs to be and mark top center screw hole first so that you can use this install to hold the unit so it doesn’t fall out unexpectedly, IF the left and right measures are good and centered. Then mark the left and right pairs of screws – start with the lower ones first. Make sure all of these are EXACT for the metal on metal install with metal firebox for a good flush-face INside measure install to turn out well. I have over 40 years of general house puttering and repair and design and install experience and saw where I could modify order of installation instructions somewhat and get to better endpoint with the install of this unit.

One point of difficulty, mentioned above, is actually daring to hammer hard enough edge-on to the glass and end-on to the metal with a rubber hammer to get glass spacing with each other right and getting glass rails on doors spaced out with respect to the outer frame. This is tricky business and I actually had to demount the bifold doors to get better hold and better hammerblows to the points in question. That only takes care of the glass panels. You still have to do the second part with the doors in the frame, of course, but now the strong spring clips holding the rails and glass together have broken their grip and allow for this.

Overall and final review: Nice product. Well constructed. Good price. CJs folks were very helpful and understanding with my emails with questions and concerns and photos detailing install before the purchase. Two items of issue were I was initially told 2 to 3 weeks before shipping and it was actually almost 4 weeks; I’d rather have an underpromise and overdeliver on that. The other was that the instructions indicate that the glass and metal parts may get out of register (and need to be rubber hammered back into position) due to shipping. I don’t see this happening; I’m thinking they weren’t exactly set into proper aesthetic and functional spacing during assembly. Maybe they don’t bother because they figure this will happen? Anyway, that’s my product review/testimonial. We’ll send out the warranty registration in snail mail soon.

Thanks for your help with this project.