What front door should i buy

You can buy engineered timber doors or composite front doors that combine traditional designs with added strength. What is a composite door?

Some homeowners also specify aluminium or steel front doors for high-security entrances or to optimise cutting edge designs. However, these tend to be more expensive and heavier than alternatives. One of the most popular decorative features for front doors is glazed panels, this could be clear, frosted or opaque glass.

If your entrance hall is dark, this is the perfect way to bring in more light. Some people use transparent glass in their front door to check on the identity of callers, while others opt for frosted glass to maintain privacy yet benefit from the additional light in their homes. Our front doors use double glazed, toughened safety glass to ensure the security of your home whilst boosting the amount of natural light in your home.

Whatever type of front door you opt for, buying from a reputable supplier of front doors is essential. The best type of front door looks good and keeps in heat while acting as a security asset.

We have already discussed the pros and cons of glazed features in an entry door, however, you also need to find a front door that has been optimised for safety in other ways. Check that the lock system matches the latest recommendations for home security. Attention to detail also matters when choosing the right hardware and accessories for your front door. For example, are the door handles and letterbox designed to keep your home safe?

But more than just affecting your home's kerb appeal, your front door is a key practical purchase. It's your property's main access point so needs to ensure that your house is secure and warm too. With that in mind, our expert guide examines the key characteristics you need to consider, including the material choices available and what you need to know about security, thermal efficiency and door positioning.

Before you begin to shop for a front door, consider where the door is going to be positioned — despite their name, not all front doors lie to the front of the house. If, for example, your new front door will be leading into an entrance hall that is lacking in natural light, consider choosing a partially glazed design or one with sidelights.

On the other hand, if your home is located on a busy road or street, a solid door will be more suitable — a fanlight above can provide light. An alternative is to choose a door with frosted glass. There are several different options when it comes to selecting a material for your new front door. Despite all the new developments in the world of front doors, timber remains the most popular material.

Not only does timber look beautiful but, depending on the species you choose, can also be a budget-friendly choice. Do take care when selecting a timber for your front door, some of the cheaper softwoods can be prone to twisting and warping over time if not properly treated and maintained. Any timber will need a degree of maintenance to ensure it retains its good looks. Although it is true that PVCu sometimes written as uPVC tends to be the cheapest material for front doors, they are not right for everyone.

Appearance-wise PVCu does struggle to match the natural beauty of wood or the contemporary appeal of some metals. Having said that, if you are willing to splash out a bit you will find that the PVCu market has come a long way in recent years, both in terms of appearance as well as performance.

Aluminium doors are strong, durable and great for adding a sleek, contemporary or industrial look to a property. They are also great for those concerned about warping or movement due to changes in weather as they will do neither of these things. Composite front doors were designed to give an appearance akin to timber with a performance more like aluminium.

They require little in the way of maintenance and offer good thermal efficiency. When designing your new front door entrance, you have the choice whether to complement the style of the property or create a contrast.

Materials, door design, fixtures, fittings, glazing and finish all play their part in your decision. Generally, the simplest advice is to complement the existing property style.

A grand Victorian style front door, finished in a bold colour, might look great in a nineteenth or early twentieth-century property but the same door would probably not look as good if fitted to a property built in the nineteen sixties or seventies. Choosing to contrast rather than complement is harder but when carried out sensitively, it can look amazing.

Find an experienced front door supplier you can trust offers a good design service and they will help you achieve the perfect balance. Replacing a front door is a good time to consider related home improvements. If the front entrance has a porch, there may be the opportunity for an inner and an outer door, giving you a space to store coats, umbrellas or shoes and separating the living area from the entrance — this can not only be a great storage addition to the home, it is likely to further enhance security and energy saving too.

Where a front door is recessed, moving it forward, flush with the front of the house can create a bigger hallway space and the opportunity to plan flooring, levels and the front door step. Consider whether the way that the door opens left or right is best for you, do you need to swap to a left-handed or right-handed door?

The latest doors offer a range of materials, style and colours that complement both period and modern homes as well as delivering low maintenance, better security, improved insulation and reduced energy bills. There are a lot of options, so it will help if you make a sketch as the basis for a discussion with your door supplier. Take some photographs of what is currently in place to provide a useful reference.

If your property is leasehold, you may need to check with the freeholder or management company before making the upgrade. You may be surprised at the huge variety of choices of colours available for UPVC and composite doors as often only the most standard colours choices are advertised.

If you ask a good installer for a custom colour and finish and they will probably be able to supply within a short period. The production and installation have improved immensely in recent years offering a variety of finishes, excellent security, low maintenance together with sound and heat insulation. Composite doors can offer remarkably authentic looking wooden finishes which need virtually zero maintenance and will never need painting. Composite doors combine advantages of both solid wood and UPVC and are highly customisable in all aspects of their design.

They have become an established choice offering a strong structure achieved by combining different materials. A composite door is very durable, will not warp or rot and is very resistant to forced entry. Solid timber doors are traditional. However, they do not give the same security or insulation which composites and uPVC offer.

Older varnished wooden doors may no longer be the best choice if the door is facing south with exposure to a harsh sun. Traditional wood doors can be painted or varnished however they are susceptible to warping letting in draughts and sticking in wet weather.

You should expect timber doors appearance to deteriorate over time and you will need to maintain them. Rain, sunshine, prevailing wind are considerations when you are thinking about a replacement front door; the weather affects choice of material, maintenance and likely serviceable life of the door. If the property faces the direction from which heavy rain is driven, choose a high-quality front door and frame with excellent door seals.

An experienced door installation professional should be able to give you some good door ideas and detail for your situation.