Which is the porch door? Which is the front door??

[UpperLowerMiddleClass]

This is quite possibly the most pointless thread ever, but bear with me.

I live in a typical 3 bed semi detached house with a porch. I’ve always used the phrase ‘porch door’ to describe the door leading from the front garden into the porch. And the phrase ‘front door’ to describe the door leading from the porch into the hallway.

But according to my teenage daughter I am wrong! In her view the porch door is the one leading from the hallway into the porch, and the front door is the one leading from the porch into the front garden

To be fair, I can see her logic. Plus it makes sense that the front door is at the very front of the house.

So, have I been mistaken for 45 years? Which is the ‘porch door’ and which is the ‘front door’?

Front door is door to outside. Porch door is door from hallway to porch.

UNLESS you have a later add-on porch and your original front door. In which case it’s the other way round.

To all intents and purposes it is technically a porch. But it has always had the front door on the outside of it. Same goes for all the other houses of the same design in the street. The inner door has always been an internal door and the one to the outside has the locks.

Think of the house as being a rectangle, with this as a smaller rectangle attached on the front, with one side wall adjoining an identical porch structure next door.

As people have said it depends on function. We have a storm door and front door. The storm doors can be left open, but the front door wouldn’t be, and it our arrangement we would never lock the storm door and have the front door open. So if you were to lock only one - which would it be?

We have a vestibule.
We have a front door and a vestibular door 🤣

If the external upper wall lines through with the external grd fl wall containing a door, that is the front door
If there is another door inside of that then that space between the two doors is a lobby not a porch

If the external upper wall is set back from the external grd floor wall containing a door with another door inside lining through with the external upper floor walls then thats a porch at the ground floor.

The door lining through with the external upper floor walls is the front door.

It doesn’t matter if a porch has been added on or was built at the same time as the whole building

Which is a posh word for a lobby
😆
please let’s not start with more confusion

Oh I like this. Not only does it support my view, it makes me sound clever and philosophical.

The first door is unlocked if someone’s in the house, but locked if everyone’s out.

I’m glad to see you treating the question with the respect it deserves.

The porch isn’t integral to the house, but more of an add-on I’d say. The house is brick but the porch is more ‘plasticky’ looking.

Didn't understand a word of that. Maybe I call my lobby a porch?

That's fair, but I enjoy saying it was the word "vestibular". It puts a smile on my face. Such a sing song word 😂

You are correct

If we had no porch, then we'd only have an internal door between our lounge and the outside. Our porch is like a hall, double-glazed & carpeted, and with the main double-glazed front door to the outside. And yes, everyone round here calls them a porch. So there.

Is it an added on porch, a bit like a mini conservatory? Or was it built into the house from the start? That would make a difference to me.
Edit to say you answered this. In that case Im with you, its a porch door and a front door as you walk into the house.

This is like my house. The front door leads into a porch. The porch has a door that leads into the house.

https://media.rightmove.co.uk/property-photo/7eaf6d599/89500065/7eaf6d59928ced93626d0cc4f55fecb1.jpeg

I agree with this (but call it a vestibule). If the space is in front of the front door, it is a porch. If the space is behind the front door, it's a vestibule.

Is that door original? There are houses near me that have a porch without a door in front of the house. Lots of people get a door and windows fitted to fill the gap and create an internal porch.

It's not the original door as the house was built in 1898. But it's a new door which replaced the original door in the exact place the original door was in. Behind the door is a space, for say, shoes, post etc then there's another door that leads into the house.

Oh, interesting. A plot twist.

If the door that opens onto the garden is the secure, locked one and you have an internal door between the ‘porch’ and the house, then it’s not a porch it a hallway.

A porch doesn’t always even have a door.

You’re right and she’s wrong!

😂

I would say your daughter is right. The front door is the door between the garden and whatever part of the house you enter first.

Some properties are built with the front door recessed from the rest of the building
( Lots of Victorian houses were built like this)

If a door is then added in front of the front door you’ve created a lobby
( In your image if there are doors behind those front doors then the space between is a lobby )

In the image below the house on the right have created a lobby

although to be fair lobbies are usually bigger…another plot twist 🤣🤣

Nope thats not like this unless every single person in the street added a front door to create a lobby.

This is how they were built.

Missing the point entirely but isn’t “porch” a weird word when you read it a lot!!

You’re right OP but as it’s a teen I’d probably concede for a quiet life 🤣