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Talk to me about front doors please, I'm totally confused.

mandryka

mandryka

pfm Member
I have to buy a new front door and I want to choose the best value for money. Here are my questions.

There seem to be three options: timber, composite and uPVC.

I have two quotes from double glazing companies to fit composite doors, they're a little under £2,300.

I can buy a composite door from Wickes for max £1000 and the prices go gown to £600. I can get it fitted in a day max. Why is the double glazing company so expensive? Are they just pushing their luck or is there something I should be aware of?

I have a quote for a uPVC door for about £1800. I know they are less secure and some people say they don't look as good as composite. In terms of durability though, is there any difference (both come with a 10 year guarantee)

I can get a timber door from Wickes for £250. Is this the best option? It certainly is the cheapest!
 
There are other options.

I would GUESS that the DG co. would measure-up and make a bespoke door, and fit.

Whatever you choose, aspect will be everything.
My front door is on the outer face of my bungalow, no recess or porch, and faces east, but gets LOTS of sun as it is on the S-facing side of the building. A wooden door really needs stripping, filling/treating and repainting every year. Every second year it will make you feel guilty if you did nothing the previous year.
My (north-facing) timber back door will be fine, if shabby, after 50 years of total neglect.

Personally, security considerations in connection with what a door is, do not even register. They are all but irrelevant. If someone wants "in", they most certainly will get that far.
 
mandryka said:
I have to buy a new front door and I want to choose the best value for money. Here are my questions.

There seem to be three options: timber, composite and uPVC.

I have two quotes from double glazing companies to fit composite doors, they're a little under £2,300.

I can buy a composite door from Wickes for max £1000 and the prices go gown to £600. I can get it fitted in a day max. Why is the double glazing company so expensive? Are they just pushing their luck or is there something I should be aware of?

I have a quote for a uPVC door for about £1800. I know they are less secure and some people say they don't look as good as composite. In terms of durability though, is there any difference (both come with a 10 year guarantee)

I can get a timber door from Wickes for £250. Is this the best option? It certainly is the cheapest!
Click to expand...

£250 for a timber, exterior door seems a bit cheap. On the other hand, if it is un-finished ( no varnish) and without "hardware" or "furniture" (handles, locks, hinges) etc. then maybe about right.
If buying timber, and it's exposed to the weather; sun, rain, wind, it's better to get an "engineered" timber door. This just means that it may be a sandwich of laminated timber, maybe with a metal or insulated core. The "engineered" (man-made) elements of the design mean that it will not be subject to the same expansion, contraction and warping of a 100% solid timber door.

If your door leaf (the moving part) is a standard size, then it should be easy to just get a replacement leaf. The D.G companies are probably quoting for a complete, pre-hung door and frame unit which would need a bit of finishing work around the edges to make it fit neatly into the "rough opening".

I recently paid £650 for a pre-hung, exterior, hardwood, glazed door and frame. It was unfinished and the glazing beads had to be fitted by me, although they were supplied, along with the glazing, with the door. The sanding and varnishing took about 4 hours in total and the varnish cost around £40. I wished I'd bought a pre-finished door by the end. Took bloody ages for the varnish to set.

Doors look simple but they have a lot of different parts and mating surfaces. Making them stable, insulated, secure, wind and watertight takes a bit of design effort. A boring thing to spend money on but I suppose your front door "says something"; kerb appeal and all that guff.

As above, level of exposure to the elements is everything.

PS: Re varnish...I hate the stuff, but I have noticed that darker "wood stain" colours last a lot longer than clear varnish. And the good old, toxic, nasty "High in Volatile Organic Compounds" stuff seems to penetrate the timber better.
 
Our composite back door, standard size was £1000 Inc frame. Six big screws and it was in. Bit of tape, foam filler, cut off excess, leave then silicon a week later. Easier into brick...
 
We got an Endurance door custom size with matching colour glazed side panels etc for about £2,200. It’s sturdy, well insulated, stable in winter and sun scorched summer, came with about 5 keys (a friend said their door came with 2 keys and additionals were £70 each) and additional keys are £9 ea. If you’re going with timber, Sikkens will last for years between coats.
 
Linds said:
If you’re going with timber, Sikkens will last for years between coats.
Click to expand...

If it is straight timber, it doesn't matter if God made the door - it will still be timber and subject to all the limitations of timber.
 
I hate composite doors - it’s what we have on our current house front door wise. ln the same way that I dislike composite decking. Plastic - yuk!
 
doors-and-skirting-talk-to-me.jpg
 
mandryka said:
I can get a timber door from Wickes for £250. Is this the best option? It certainly is the cheapest!
Click to expand...

No.

I have had two new wooden doors - one from b&q for the front door (hard wood), the other from wickes for the shed (pine).
Both were liabilities despite extensive preparation and sealing; front door painted, shed door yacht varnish (copious layers)
Seasonal expansion/shrinkage rates on both meant that locks either jammed in Winter or wouldn't engage properly in Summer.
Front door also started to split and rot within no time :mad:

Quality of wood on both was in fact woeful ... in hindsight needed to find much better (seasoned) quality from the off.

Now have a composite front door with frame, fitted professionally (fifth year, no problems whatsoever) and will replace shed door at some point when I can be bothered - fitted a hasp/padlock in the meantime.
 
+1 for composite doors I have one and it’s very good.
Accoya, which is a sustainable, totally stable chemically altered softwood (Radiata Pine) is guaranteed for 50 years and the best for external joinery, it eats screws and nails so good stainless steel fasteners are needed and it’s expensive apart from that it’s all good.

Pete
 
We have a composite door which is fine. Avoid ‘slam locks’ as they are less reliable and if you have space for a wall mounted post box it gives you more options for door design.
 
we have a composite door. Been in about 10 years, never budged or faded.... looks the same as the day it was fitted. Looks great....
 
I've got a composite front door, good and thick so it's made the hall much warmer in winter.

Just putting in a UPVC double glazed cheap back door from a local made to measure place and it was c£450, fairly simple job if you can handle a tape measure.

Whole job including three small and one very big windows is about £1500, i built the porch 35 years ago cheaply so not doing too badly.
 
Call Todd Doors.

South facing doors - composite is recommended. If not, go for wood - better looking IMO. Glass should be double-glazed. Check your door frame as well. Warped frames can be problematic. Better to buy a new frame and door together if the frame needs replacing.

Another option - get a local carpenter to make a bespoke door.
 
Thanks for all this advice. It's a hard decision -- but I've excluded uPVC (someone told me that their uPVC door stuck in the heat!) The choice is between timber and composite. There are some bargains online, for sure, and I've seen that going to a double glazing company for a composite door will cost me at least £1K more than ordering myself and getting a carpenter to fit it -- my door opening is a standard size. The websites seem very good!
 
mandryka said:
I have to buy a new front door and I want to choose the best value for money. Here are my questions.

There seem to be three options: timber, composite and uPVC.

I have two quotes from double glazing companies to fit composite doors, they're a little under £2,300.

I can buy a composite door from Wickes for max £1000 and the prices go gown to £600. I can get it fitted in a day max. Why is the double glazing company so expensive? Are they just pushing their luck or is there something I should be aware of?

I have a quote for a uPVC door for about £1800. I know they are less secure and some people say they don't look as good as composite. In terms of durability though, is there any difference (both come with a 10 year guarantee)

I can get a timber door from Wickes for £250. Is this the best option? It certainly is the cheapest!
Click to expand...

Get the Wickes one. Take it into the garage and look it over carefully. Re glue any loose joints with a good exterior wood glue and then give it at least 5 coats of the best exterior varnish you can afford or, 2 coats of exterior wood primer, rub down, one coat exterior undercoat, rub down and two coats of a good quality exterior paint in your fave colour. Then buy some good door furniture and home fit it and the door, Cost? maybe £400.

You can do this three times (maybe 25 years) and still be in money.
 
Rockmeister said:
Get the Wickes one. Take it into the garage and look it over carefully. Re glue any loose joints with a good exterior wood glue and then give it at least 5 coats of the best exterior varnish you can afford or, 2 coats of exterior wood primer, rub down, one coat exterior undercoat, rub down and two coats of a good quality exterior paint in your fave colour. Then buy some good door furniture and home fit it and the door, Cost? maybe £400.

You can do this three times (maybe 25 years) and still be in money.
Click to expand...


way too much hassle

composite all the way, no stupid maintenance
 
Rockmeister said:
Get the Wickes one. Take it into the garage and look it over carefully. Re glue any loose joints with a good exterior wood glue and then give it at least 5 coats of the best exterior varnish you can afford or, 2 coats of exterior wood primer, rub down, one coat exterior undercoat, rub down and two coats of a good quality exterior paint in your fave colour. Then buy some good door furniture and home fit it and the door, Cost? maybe £400.

You can do this three times (maybe 25 years) and still be in money.
Click to expand...

I so wish this were true .. unfortunately poor quality wood, extreme winters and record heat waves are not a combination I ever want to experience again.
Also having to repeat the whole filling/painting/resetting shebang every year is no joke ... or trying to placate the better half when it's pissing down and (yet again) we can't open the front door to get in.

And I am not exaggerating ..........
 
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