Composite front doors - best makes?
Discussion
Just had a Tollerton door fitted the other week from https://www.barbicancompositedoors.com/
Very pleased with it.
Very pleased with it.
Edited by Sixpackpert on Friday 3rd February 17:51
We got our front door made by Welthaus https://www.welt-haus.com/ (Austrian/German border). Used their online configurator - had someone at their end verify it, and then they fabricated it. Delivered roughly 4wks later. Door is 1m, side panel is 50cm (frame also included). IIRC we paid about £1600 inc delivery. Similar spec door here would be more than double that price.
We got the WH75+ spec is here:
https://www.welt-haus.com/index.php/en/door/weltha...
It's now been in for over 4yrs and we've had no issues.
Front doors do seem to be a challenge and everybody tries to sell you a composite rather than tree wood.
I am not entirely convinced there are as many door manufactures as there are brands. The pretend wood grain pattern looks suspiciously similar. The exception seems to be Rock Door which has what it calls a “high density core” what ever that is rather than a chunk of ply which the others seem to have.
What puts me off is the pretend grain. No proper painted wooden door has grain showing unless you made a really poor job of rubbing it down, presumably the skins can not be moulded without some imperfections so the grain is required. Some suppliers offer a pretend varnished wood effect, which looks like..... pretend wood.
Solidor and others make a fuss about using ABS skins but the supplied frames are Upvc which is a shame.
The main thing obviously is you can't paint it when you want a change of colour.
I am not entirely convinced there are as many door manufactures as there are brands. The pretend wood grain pattern looks suspiciously similar. The exception seems to be Rock Door which has what it calls a “high density core” what ever that is rather than a chunk of ply which the others seem to have.
What puts me off is the pretend grain. No proper painted wooden door has grain showing unless you made a really poor job of rubbing it down, presumably the skins can not be moulded without some imperfections so the grain is required. Some suppliers offer a pretend varnished wood effect, which looks like..... pretend wood.
Solidor and others make a fuss about using ABS skins but the supplied frames are Upvc which is a shame.
The main thing obviously is you can't paint it when you want a change of colour.
steve-V8s said:
Another brand I just encountered is Endurance
We had endurance front and back doors a few months ago. I wouldn't recommend them but I wouldn't not recommend them!They seem fine, not blown away and we've had issues with glass that they are still sorting. Lack of quality control with the glazing units.
Having looked into the ootions I concluded they are all largely the same but, Solidor appear to be out of favour bacause they expand and contract too much!
We had an Anglian composite door fitted last year.
If the door construction, fitment and design was better it would be great. Just a general lack of thought and care by employees. It is being replaced in a couple of weeks because of the issues, including
Dropped hinge, resulting in damage to frame and door edge.
Locking mechanism failure(so my wife cannot open the door and won't use it)
No internal furniture, so nothing to open the door with from inside.
Poor finishing of the whole job
I am hoping the replacement door and fitting solve all the issues.
If the door construction, fitment and design was better it would be great. Just a general lack of thought and care by employees. It is being replaced in a couple of weeks because of the issues, including
Dropped hinge, resulting in damage to frame and door edge.
Locking mechanism failure(so my wife cannot open the door and won't use it)
No internal furniture, so nothing to open the door with from inside.
Poor finishing of the whole job
I am hoping the replacement door and fitting solve all the issues.
I'm looking to get a composite door fitted as well and have got a few quotes. Single door with glazed panel so nothing fancy.
First quotes from local company https://www.amberhome.co.uk/ came in at just over £2k which I thought was a bit punchy, but local showroom and use their own fitters etc.
Timber Composite Doors https://www.timbercompositedoors.com/ quoted £1600 for a Solidor, and had a good chat on the phone when they called. Didn't fill me with confidence about the issues relating to warping - basically said that it's something that could occur with a solid wooden core and that issues that have occurred are due to owners not locking the door when closed i.e. door needs to be retained by the latches to stop it warping.
Another quote from a local supplier https://astraframe.co.uk/ came in at just under £1500 fitted, but I'd need to dispose of the old door, etc.
Hurst https://www.hurstdoors.co.uk/ via a local fitter quoted £1500 as well - this is probably the most likely option, but I'm going to check out a few showrooms locally before I buy.
Also requested a quote from Anglian, but their rep never turned up to the appointment so they're out of the running now.
Before I'd started looking, I had in my mind this would be around £1k all in but seems the going rate is about 50% more so need to adjust my expectations.
First quotes from local company https://www.amberhome.co.uk/ came in at just over £2k which I thought was a bit punchy, but local showroom and use their own fitters etc.
Timber Composite Doors https://www.timbercompositedoors.com/ quoted £1600 for a Solidor, and had a good chat on the phone when they called. Didn't fill me with confidence about the issues relating to warping - basically said that it's something that could occur with a solid wooden core and that issues that have occurred are due to owners not locking the door when closed i.e. door needs to be retained by the latches to stop it warping.
Another quote from a local supplier https://astraframe.co.uk/ came in at just under £1500 fitted, but I'd need to dispose of the old door, etc.
Hurst https://www.hurstdoors.co.uk/ via a local fitter quoted £1500 as well - this is probably the most likely option, but I'm going to check out a few showrooms locally before I buy.
Also requested a quote from Anglian, but their rep never turned up to the appointment so they're out of the running now.
Before I'd started looking, I had in my mind this would be around £1k all in but seems the going rate is about 50% more so need to adjust my expectations.
steve-V8s said:
Front doors do seem to be a challenge and everybody tries to sell you a composite rather than tree wood.
I am not entirely convinced there are as many door manufactures as there are brands. The pretend wood grain pattern looks suspiciously similar. The exception seems to be Rock Door which has what it calls a “high density core” what ever that is rather than a chunk of ply which the others seem to have.
What puts me off is the pretend grain. No proper painted wooden door has grain showing unless you made a really poor job of rubbing it down, presumably the skins can not be moulded without some imperfections so the grain is required. Some suppliers offer a pretend varnished wood effect, which looks like..... pretend wood.
Solidor and others make a fuss about using ABS skins but the supplied frames are Upvc which is a shame.
The main thing obviously is you can't paint it when you want a change of colour.
Bit of a hijack of the OP’s thread but where can I find a sensibly priced secure timber door? I wanted to replace a tired back door and garage side door with composite but her indoors vetoed the idea because they look too much like fake wood which doesn’t really work on a 30s house. I would prefer a 3 point locking system using conventional flat keys rather than a mortice lock.I am not entirely convinced there are as many door manufactures as there are brands. The pretend wood grain pattern looks suspiciously similar. The exception seems to be Rock Door which has what it calls a “high density core” what ever that is rather than a chunk of ply which the others seem to have.
What puts me off is the pretend grain. No proper painted wooden door has grain showing unless you made a really poor job of rubbing it down, presumably the skins can not be moulded without some imperfections so the grain is required. Some suppliers offer a pretend varnished wood effect, which looks like..... pretend wood.
Solidor and others make a fuss about using ABS skins but the supplied frames are Upvc which is a shame.
The main thing obviously is you can't paint it when you want a change of colour.
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