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’?

Entering a house from the outside

A front door doesn't lead into a porch. If it’s a front door it leads into a lobby ( or the whole house if there’s no lobby )

A porch door leads into a porch and doesnt have to have or need the same security as a front door which leads into the rest of the house

Yes so it’s a lobby!

But both my doors have locks.

The house i grew up in, the "front door" was the door from outside to the porch. You couldn't open it from outside without a key. It was the secure barrier from the outside.

The door from the porch into the lounge was an unlockable interior door. I dont remember what we called it though, im not sure we referred to it.

Maybe what we called a porch wasn't technically a porch?

And I agree with the PP, porch no longer looks or sounds like a real word.

We call the one from hallway to porch the front door and the one from porch to garden the porch door.

our front door is very heavy solid wood and kept locked. The porch door is old, knackered pvc and we keep it unlocked so parcels etc can be left in the porch.

I guess if the doors were the other way around with the big heavy one leading from porch to garden then I might possibly refer to them the other way around? But it feels wrong!

In the pic you posted
behind that front door is a lobby ( assuming there’s a door there as I. couldn’t find a plan )

I love this thread 🤣

I don’t 🤣🤣
I’m going to have a cup of tea and remain thankful this was never in any of my exams
😆😆

Yes. There’s a “small space” then the hall door, which leads into the hall. I’m in Scotland and there are thousands of houses like this. Mainly built around 1890 - 1900.

🤣🤣

So
I just asked dh (we are both Architects so it’s the test of the day)

‘When is a porch not a porch’

he said
when it’s a Lamborghini 🤣

A beautiful building period
My parents had very similar

alas I have no lobby or a Porsche

I think of a lobby as bigger and suitable for a hotel. Like a foyer. And I have just asked Gemini (sorry) if a vestibule was the same as a lobby and it agrees with me 😀

Vestibule users - stay strong 💪

When is a lobby a foyer

when Architects want to raise the building price 😁

We say front door for the door that leads from the drive into the porch. Porch door for the door that leads from the porch into the main house.

If I’m entering the house I’d go with your way but if I’m leaving the house I’d go with your DD.

I agree with your daughter. Your front door is the door that’s at the front of your house.

A few years ago, we had our windows replaced and the double glazing company also provided a new front door as part of this service. The door they measured and replaced was of course the door leading from outside into the porch, not the inner porch door.

I think this is what I’m leaning towards now…

I’m even more confused and uncertain than I was when I started this thread. There’s so many intricacies I never thought to consider.

And yes, the word porch is looking and sounding very strange to me now!

I'm with you, OP.
We have a small side extension with a loo and 2 through doors (the back lobby) one to the front, one to the garden and a front door with an open porch.
So we have a front door, a front back door and a back back door. DH and I laugh every time we have to refer to any of them.

🤣

Maybe it depends if you're going in or out 🤔

It makes no bloody difference if you’re going in or out, the front of your house remains the front of your house. The front door remains the door at the front of your house.

It’s not necessarily just the door at the front of the house though.
Hence the thread

Just to be contrary. I call my hall door my “middle” door. So we have a front door, a back door and the one in question is my middle door.

The answer is simple. The front door is whichever door you lock at night. The porch door, whether it is the outer or inner door, is the door left unlocked.