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’?

OP has a door at the front of her house and then an inner door leading from her porch to her entrance hall. The former is her front door. It might even have a number on and everything.

I have a back porch off my kitchen.

I call the kitchen door that leads to the back porch (or from the porch to the kitchen) 'the kitchen door'. I also call it 'the back door'.

I call the door that leads from the back porch to the outside (or from the outside into the porch) 'the porch door'.

So I think I'm using the same terms as you.

There's a difference between the doors, namely that the kitchen/ back door can be securely locked while the porch door could be forced open quite easily (no key, just a latch).

The front door is the one with the lock on it. If you have a porch and the door you lock is the internal one, you have a porch.

If you happen to switch the doors over so the one you lock is on the outside, it is still a bloody porch.

Both of mine can be locked.

Also, bypassing the lobby/ vestibule/ foyer debate entirely, my back porch is called a three season porch in the local vernacular, and many older residential buildings here have them. They can be comfortably used in Spring, Summer, and Autumn to sit in. I use mine as a a cold storage room in winter, especially for festive meal leftovers.
Way back before air conditioning, most homes here had an upstairs sleeping porch too. Families would decamp there on very hot nights to try to get a little breeze.

I would just start saying “I’m going out the house” 😂😂

That doesn’t make it the front door though
It makes it a porch door leading to the front door if you rtt
You can put a door number or whatever you like on your porch door, doesnt make it a front door though

Whereas I can understand her logic, she is wrong and you are right.

The 'front door' is the door to your house. this is the case whether you have a porch or not. It doesn't change. If you (or the original builder, or a previous occupant) add a porch, then it has it's own door to get into the proch, but this doesn't get you into the house - you need to go through the front door to be in the house.

Now this would have been a useful thread to have a poll on.

Now this would have been a useful thread to have a poll on.

It would’ve been useful. But seeing as I’m unable to accurately locate my front door, setting up a poll is definitely beyond me!

Both my front door and porch door (however you define them) have a lock.

Porch door is inside the house/hallway, front door is on the street.

🤣

i have read the thread and yes it does. I have exactly the same set up as OP in my own house. Both doors have locks btw.

In our family home the front door led from outside into the porch, the door leading from the porch to the living room (ultra-mod for its day; no hallway) was the inner front door.

This makes sense for your setup and OP is correct about hers. The front door is the main, heavy duty door into the hall or living space . Normally it's inside the porch but not in your case. In fact some might call your porch a hall.