The ultimate guide to buying a front door in the UK - 2020
Are you looking to replace your existing front door?
Or, perhaps you're looking at choosing a front door for a new build?
There are many options available on the market in the UK.
In this guide (updated for 2020) we'll attempt to help you make the right choice for your project.
What we'll cover:
- Door styles
- Common door materials
- Colours & finishes
- Front Door Options
- Environmental and Thermal considerations
- Security
- Technology
- Maintenance
- Guarantees
- European testing
- Price & budget
- Measuring for your door
- Choosing a supplier
Lets begin...
Door Styles
Choosing a front door largely comes down to pairing it with the style of your house or building.
For instance, if your house is a Victorian Semi-detached, in most (but not all) cases a traditional style will suit your house best.
Most doors can be categorised by the following styles:
- Contemporary / modern
- Traditional
Our advice when choosing a style is to decide what will work best with your house. It may seem obvious, but it's a mistake made by many people.
Get this decision wrong and no matter what else you choose for your door, it will not work in harmony with the design of your home.
The style is VERY important.
Choose wisely.
If you would like to speak to an expert, we are here to help.
Common door Materials
Front doors are available in a variety of materials.
Here are some of the more common:
- Timber / wood
- Solid wood
- Aluminium
- Composite
- uPVC
As opposed to style, choosing the material of your front door can be more about your personal taste.
Having said that, each material will come with its own characteristics, with individual drawbacks and benefits.
For instance:
Timber looks great on modern houses, but can look out of place on some traditional style homes.
Solid wood styles can work great on both contemporary and traditional houses.
Aluminium again tends to work best in a modern setting.
Composite will work in both traditional and modern style houses.
uPVC also works well in both Traditional and modern styles.
Our advice is to think about the options and colours and finishes you may want.
Some options may only be available to certain materials.
For instance, if you are concerned about security and are interested in Keyless entry options, Aluminium would be the best choice.
Colours & finishes
Solid doors can be painted almost any colour to suit the design of your home.
Timber doors are also available in a variety of colours, finishes and types of wood. Cedar can be finished in Honey, ash, crimson and brown.
Aluminium can be customised with standard RAL colours or a special RAL colour in gloss or matt versions.
Our Spitfire S-500 Series have a baked-on powder coated paint finish which guarantees colour durability, weather resistance and low maintenance.
uPVC doors will for the most part only be available in white, and offer limited options.
They will however be least expensive option for those working to a tight budget.
Front Door Options
Happily, many options are available to door shoppers these days.
Most manufacturers will offer the following options:
- Handles (Horizontal or vertical bars)
- Glass / lights (side and top lights usually refer to the glass panels at the top or either side of the door. This largely depends on the space you have available at the front of your house.)
- Locks - Keyless entry (more on this later), German engineered precision locking systems are available on most high end Aluminium and Timber doors.
- Crystals - For a more ostentatious look, Swarovski Crystals are a great choice.
- Automatic opening options
Choosing front door options is often the fun part of the door buying process for many customers.
Have fun but keep your budget in mind.
Environment
The environment is an important consideration. Insulating your home has never been more important.
Don't let your front door be the weakest link when insulating your home.
Modern doors can beat or rival the insulation capabilities of cavity walls.
There is also Passive House standards to consider, but more on that here.
The S-400 Series from Spitfire doors has U value of 0.77 W/m²K!
But what is a U value when its at home?
Read on...
Understanding U values
U-values are a measurement of a materials effectiveness as an insulator. The lower the U-value is, the better it's insulating properties. For example, a cavity wall has a U-value of 1.6 W/m²
When choosing your door, insulation should be an important factor if you are looking to save money on heating bills (who isn't?)
U-values are scarcely mentioned by fibreglass and uPVC Composite Door manufacturers due to their construction. Most Timber doors offer very poor insulation and wooden doors struggle to attain any U-value.
Look for a value below 1.0 or less and you will be on your way to a warm home at night.
Security
Most contemporary front doors will offer security of differing levels. A high value home will certainly benefit from additional security.
Some doors are guaranteed to be virtually burglar proof.
A good way to tell if a door is secure is to look for Document Q compliance.
What is Document Q?
Document Q is now part of Building Regulations and sets out standards for doors and windows in all NEW residences.
More from YALE about Document Q compliance
Door Technology
You can upgrade the anti-burglary security on aluminium doors in a number of ways:
- Automatic lock with fingerprint recognition
- Keypad entry
- Bluetooth entry (from your mobile phone)
You can also add LED lighting to aid night time entry.
This can also look very stylish.
Front Door Maintenance
Looking after your front door is absolutely key to retaining its effectiveness in all aspects of its use.
Some simple rules we advise you to follow are below:
- Doors should always be opened and closed in accordance with operating instructions.
- The best method of cleaning aluminium doors is by regular washing using a solution of warm water and mild detergent. All surfaces should be cleaned using a soft cloth or sponge, using nothing harsher than natural bristle brushes.
- Stubborn marks on powder coatings can be removed with methylated spirits.
Guarantees
Most doors suppliers and manufacturers offer guarantees of some kind.
For example, Spitfire Doors offer a full marine guarantee.
Check with your supplier for details before purchase.
What is a marine guarantee?
A marine guarantee relates to products in locations close to the sea.
Salt is not friendly to doors and most companies avoid offering a warranty against it.
Look out for this particularly if you live on or near the coast.
European testing
IFT Rosenheim is the leading European test institute and is located in Germany.
It is recognised as the standard across continental Europe.
What does it involve?
Basically, in a laboratory the door is exposed to varies extremes of weather (wind and rain) and attempted intrusion. In the UK we do the same at BSI, and we test to the level stipulated in the UK Document Q (which is equivalent to the Rosenheim in Europe). All doors now fitted into a new build have to conform to Document Q.
Price
Prices for front doors will vary depending on the material and specification you need.
Typically you can expect to pay around:
£1.5k for a composite door.
£3-5k for a traditional wooden door.
£3-6k plus for a quality aluminium door.
Decide carefully what your needs are and budget accordingly.
How to measure for your new front door
We have put together this handy guide to measuring for your front door.
https://www.spitfiredoors.co.uk/faq-items/how-to-survey-and-measure/
Choosing a front door supplier
Look for an established company with a real world presence or showroom. If you are spending a lot of money on the front door of your dreams you'll want customer service to match. There are many suppliers out there so there is plenty of choice.
Choice is good.
But beware of internet only suppliers, or suppliers who are difficult to get hold of on the phone.
Call or even better, visit the dealer and they'll talk you through the buying process.
We hope this guide has been useful.
We are always on hand to offer expert advice when choosing your door.
Call us now on: 01625 412 570
Or email: sales@spitfiredoors.co.uk
We'll be happy to help.
Spitfire at Build-IT Live Manchester
The Spitfire team showcased all 3 door Series at Build-IT Live last weekend, working in collaboration with 2 Design Partners, Haus Glass and Northwich Glass. Seen here are Hefin and Craig, delighted to be pictured with our S-400 Series door in Crimson.
SPITFIRE: ALL GUNS BLAZING AT THE FIT SHOW
From having doubts about the value of trade shows, after exhibiting at the FIT Show KAT’s Chairman David Richards is now a committed believer.
So much so, he successfully launched his upmarket door firm Spitfire Doors there and is coming back for more.
David Richard’s sojourn to Switzerland in the late ‘90s was life changing in more ways than the KAT founder had originally intended.
Certainly, it gave him and his family an opportunity to experience working and living in central Europe but involvement in the high end luxury watch industry gave David an insight into the mentality of the wealthy that perhaps could not be appreciated as a mere consumer.
After returning to the UK in 2012 and with KAT now achieving its ambitious goals under a team guided by Chris Powell, David’s thoughts turned once again to the luxury market but instead of exclusive timepieces he began to consider what wealthy British homeowners did when they wanted to replace the front doors of their expensive homes.
Surely a composite would not be good enough for them?
David’s conclusion was that indeed they were not, but furthermore the options open to them were limited and certainly when compared to the range of products enjoyed by wealthy homeowners in mainland Europe.
The doors manufactured by Inotherm, market leaders in Germany, Austria and Switzerland may be considered ‘high theatre’ by comparison with anything offered in the broader UK market and David decided that these would provide Britain’s wealthy with something that would whet their appetites.
After spending much of 2015 persuading Inotherm that the UK would be a vibrant market for their products and furthermore of course, that he and his team would be the right people to handle them, David brought the first products into the UK in September 2015, with a view to a full launch at the FIT Show 7 months later.
Engineering specification for Inotherm’s products is mightily impressive: 3mm thick Schüco door sash sections and 3mm thick aluminium skins inside and outside sandwich a dense polyurethane foam core which combine to offer class-leading energy efficiency with a U Value of just 0.67 W/m2K.
A range of more than 600 designs is available in an almost limitless range of RAL Colours and 20 wood-effects, with widths up to 1.25 metres wide and a massive 2.7 metres high, with configurations that will deal easily with the Grand Entrance of any luxury home.
None of which fully tells the tale. Few of these doors will ever be installed in their standard specification and indeed to do so would deny users the element of theatre that should accompany every entry fitted with an Inotherm door from Spitfire.
With a specification list that might shame Rolls Royce, every door may be installed with fingerprint recognition or smart spyhole technology; and whilst UK hardware manufacturers are struggling to persuade homeowners of the benefits of electronic locking, Spitfire doors are available with automatic opening…press the button and the door swings majestically open as one approaches.
The RAL colours and surface detailing brought by wood-effects and textured surface finishes may not be enough for many owners of large and imposing luxury homes. Fear not: a range of spectacular triple glazed glass options are available but the choice of genuine Swarovski crystals and integrated LED lighting will just be too much for many to resist, bringing new meaning to the expression ‘making an entrance’.
Of course, Spitfire Doors command a premium. Five ranges are available, from S-100 to S-500, with installed prices starting from circa £2,000 up to £10,000. These prices do not present a barrier to sales in Europe where in excess of 5,000 of what we would consider high-end aluminium residential entrance doors are installed every week.
David says his goals are modest: “We are selling 10 doors a week on average and this will grow we believe to between 20 to 30 a week by mid-2017. Our top three ranges are the ‘Bentley’s of residential entrance doors and we will therefore use marketing methods that are more akin to luxury goods than doors, to reach our customers.”
This includes exhibiting at such exotic venues as the Salon Privé Concours d’Elegance, the champagne-fuelled hypercar festival for which entrance tickets alone can be £300 and more. David believes that once visitors have spent a few hundred thousand supplementing their motor collections, his doors will catch the attention of people whose main driver is to have ‘something different’ for their homes. And £8-10,000 will be mere change to someone that has just purchased a Lamborghini, a typical Spitfire purchaser.
Of course, Blenheim Palace, venue for Salon Privé, will be preceded by a further appearance for Spitfire Doors at the FIT Show, taking place for the first time at the National Exhibition Centre.
The FIT Show may be slightly more prosaic than Salon Privé (though it was graced by a Lamborghini supercar last time out) but that is where David decided he would launch Spitfire and that is what he achieved, with spectacular results:
“After Glassex I was sceptical of shows but I took KAT to the first FIT Show in 2013 to give it a chance,” explained David. “It was a very pleasant surprise and the level of enthusiasm was very high; it worked!”
Missing the following year, David brought KAT back to the 2016 event and also decided to launch Spitfire there with a separate stand. “It was incredible,” enthused David. “We took 179 good quality leads there and have appointed 10 high-end dealers – we call them ‘Design Partners’ - displaying the higher priced S-500 Series and 36 others partners now promoting our Spitfire trade door ranges. All took doors for their showrooms and paid to do so. I have never known a take-up like it,” exclaimed David, a seasoned veteran of trade shows for the window and door industry. “They all see an exciting future for aluminium products.”
“We validated our enquiries for Design Partners according to strict criteria: two fitting teams minimum, owner managed and willing to make a commitment to us by buying their showroom displays from us. These people are not just ticking a box, they are showing commitment and the meetings we have had since confirm that.”
With 10 showroom installations already completed by November 2016, the Design Partners are now installing Inotherm’s Door Designer programme onto their websites, with a retail package that includes point of sale and, as would be expected, an upmarket retail brochure.
Spitfire is returning to the FIT Show in May when the event sets up at the NEC for the first time: “We still have a few areas in which we wish to appoint Design Partners,” explains David. “I launched Spitfire Doors at the FIT Show and it was way more positive than I could possibly have hoped for. Now I want to fill in the few gaps we have and the move to the NEC should be very good for just that,” he concluded.
Spitfire’s S-500 range confirmed as Europe’s Number One
Another reason to be the proud exclusive supplier of our S-500 Series in UK and Ireland. Our manufacturing partner, Inotherm, has just been identified as the market leader for aluminium entrance doors in western Europe.
Inotherm was recently confirmed as the clear number one in the residential door sector by a leading European market research consultancy.
In our 12 months as Inotherm’s exclusive sales agent in the UK and Ireland, we have not come across a single other product that matches the state-of-the-art S-500 for style, engineering, advanced technology, security and durability.
David Richards, chairman, Spitfire Doors, said: “This is quite an accolade for our manufacturing partner, yet based on the superior quality and innovative features, it does not surprise me."
“Our door systems are attracting new Design Partners all the time to satisfy demand from consumers. Enquiries are also growing from luxury residential developers.”
Well done Inotherm!
Read more about the S-500 Series here or call 01625 412570.
Spitfire aluminium entrance doors at Construction Week 2016
Spitfire aluminium entrance doors make a grand entrance
Follow up from last month’s UK Construction Week Build Show suggests Spitfire Doors made a grand entrance with our premier S-500 Series of aluminium entrance doors, with extremely positive interest generated among high-end property developers and trade customers alike.
This show did not disappoint, with more than 30,000 visitors attending from the building and construction industry.
Along with catching up with a variety of our exclusive Design Partners and forging new and valuable contacts, we showcased new technologies from across the range such as:
- Fingerprint/biometric entry
- Automatic key-fob opening and built in LEDs
Plus, we witnessed some of the latest innovations in construction.
Here’s a short interview with our Sales Director, Michelle, giving a little more insight into fingerprint recognition entrance technology.
Six compelling reasons why you should buy an aluminium front door
- Aluminium doors are inherently strong and stable and because they have innate design integrity they are very secure and will resist forced entry far better than uPVC, fibreglass composite or wooden doors.
- Almost any door design aesthetic can be produced from aluminium door skins. Computer controlled machinery can create curves, squares or complex shapes to match your desired look.
- Aluminium door skins are perfect for applying textured and wood-effect finishes to. These high quality treatments are ingrained within the door skin and are very hard-wearing and refined.
- Colour preferences are easily catered for in an aluminium entrance door so you can let your imagination run wild. Modern automated paint processes allow you to select just about any internal and external colour combination and the result achieved by uniting aluminium with modern paints is so durable that you can be assured your door will look good for over 20 years, without any significant loss of hue. Composite, uPVC and most Timber doors should not be produced in dark colours like anthracite grey or black as they will distort badly, which is highly unlikely with well-designed and constructed aluminium doors.
- The latest architectural trend is for homes with big glazed openings and facades. This inevitably means that sizeable front and back doors are required. Because aluminium profiles are slim but very strong, aluminium doors can be made much wider and taller than most other materials and can encompass triple glazed glass units. An aluminium entrance door can typically be manufactured around 30% bigger than a composite door.
- Aluminium is one of the most environmentally friendly building materials available and this valuable commodity can be re-used many times over. Thus, what was once a front door could one day be part of an aircraft wing or a laptop computer.
DGB (doubleglazingblogger.com) visits Spitfire Doors
We recently launched our range of premium European aluminium composite doors at FIT Show 2016 and were visited by doubleglazingblogger.com. We are delighted that they have taken the time to tell their readers a little about their first impressions of Spitfire Doors.
Are these the best aluminium doors in the UK?
You have to say they have a good shout at that title, if there ever was one. They have true 21st century technology built in. Thermal values are already beyond what Passivhaus requires them to be. They’re all visually stunning and the sheer size of the range available means that all tastes are catered for.
I can see Spitfire Doors doing very well over time, and should shake things up as they go along.
doubleglazingblogger.com
We would like to thank doubleglazingblogger.com and everyone who visited us a FIT Show 2016.
You can read the full article here
Spitfire Doors at Grand Designs Live 2016
Looking for a secure, stunning-looking aluminium entrance door for your property? Come and see Spitfire Doors at Grand Designs Live from 30 April to 8 May.
Grand Designs Live London
You'll find us in the Grand Build Hall on Stand B860.
Spitfire Doors offers the most comprehensive range of aluminium doors in Europe. Every one of our doors is a fusion of security and style. Engineered from aluminium with options including fingerprint recognition entry, multipoint "bank-vault" type locks, combined with premium hardware.
We can supply doors up to 1.25m wide or 2.7m high and with over 600 door styles to choose from, including doors with side lights, double doors and French doors, there's a Spitfire Door to suit every property type.
Bespoke Design Service
We also offer a bespoke design service with contemporary or traditional door styles which means we can make a door, sidelights or panels to your precise specification.
Innovative Security Features
During the week our expert team will be on hand to demonstrate the innovative security features built into our doors, including fingerprint recognition and smart spy holes.
If you're looking for a perfect entrance door, you'll find it at Spitfire Doors.
Contact our team today: sales@spitfiredoors.co.uk or call us on 01625 412570.
We're exhibiting at FIT Show 2016
[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent="yes" overflow="visible"][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type="1_1" background_position="left top" background_color="" border_size="" border_color="" border_style="solid" spacing="yes" background_image="" background_repeat="no-repeat" padding="" margin_top="0px" margin_bottom="0px" class="" id="" animation_type="" animation_speed="0.3" animation_direction="left" hide_on_mobile="no" center_content="no" min_height="none"][fusion_text]We're set to launch our range of premium European aluminium composite entrance doors on stand 157 at this year's FIT Show. Our displays will showcase Comet and Inotherm aluminium door sets.
Carefully sourced from select partners in Europe, Spitfire aluminium doors come in frame depths of 70mm and 90mm in our Comet range, and 105mm for the European market leader Inotherm.
Inotherm doors are made using exclusive Schüco profiles and offer some great security and aesthetic features such as bank-vault locking systems, premium hardware, built-in LEDs and even Swarovski® crystal door handles - these doors have been designed with the aspirational homeowner in mind.
David Richards, chairman of Spitfire Doors commented: ‘Aluminium composite entrance doors will be the next big thing for the home improvement market in the UK. Consumers are increasingly turning to aluminium and with u values of 0.7, premium hardware and incredible attention to design and production detail, we believe we have something quite exceptional as we look for more Design Partners in the UK.’
Look out for stand 157 at the FIT Show or for further information visit www.spitfiredoors.co.uk, e-mail sales@spitfiredoors.co.uk or call the sales office on 01625 412570.[/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
Coming soon - our aluminium raised and fielded door
Coming soon – an industry first - hand-made Raised and Fielded panels crafted from aluminium and fitted to the face of a full aluminium door sash by Spitfire Doors.
These convex panels look fabulous and replicate timber period doors exactly. The panels feature a center portion thicker than the outside edges, so they project above the surrounding frame.
These panels are usually only fitted to the outside of the door but can be fitted inside too. The panels are first welded together, then sanded to give a precision finish, then powder coated in the colour of your choice.
or telephone:
01625 412570
See our COMET door collection
Doors in our Comet collection have a 70mm sash and frame depth and is effectively a slimmer version of our Galaxy range. This is still a truly luxury door and you can be extremely flexible with size, style and design which is why it’s one of our best sellers.
In this range we offer exactly the same door designs as those in our Galaxy range, including the 10 point lock, colours and finishes.
The collection includes contemporary, designer and traditional door styles and a matchless combination of high security, low thermal values, excellent weathering and designer door furniture. Plus, we can supply oversized doors, prevalent in Victorian period properties in London and Dublin and now specified for high-end, contemporary new builds.