Will composite doors save me cash this winter?

[TheOldWomanWhoLivedInAShoe1]

Just bought a house and I have had to do serious work to it. It is Victorian and a bit draughty.

Thinking of buying a composite door. Of couse it is not cheap and I am a single mum shouldering all costs myself.

Will a composite front door really make a difference to heat loss this winter? Is it likely to save money?

Most heat is lost through walls and roof. Are these well insulated? You’d be better off spending the money on that and fitting draft excluders to your door.

I have talked myself into “needing” this and it might be totally unjustifiable

I was researching an article about this just this week. Experts reckon draft excluders on the door could save £55 a year but the effects of a new door will be minimal. Get the loft and walls insulated!

I thought most heat was lost through windows?

Improving insulation will save some money on heating bills but nowhere near the cost of installation. Especially if you are losing heat elsewhere anyway. Better off with thermal curtains or similar across the existing door and seal up any other drafts with cheap rubber strips etc.
Loft insulation (if not already up to modern standards (min 270mm of mineralwool) is a better investment.

I'm in a Victorian drafty house. I have a composite front door. I also have a curtain to pull across and a draft excluder along the bottom (a long sausage one).

Windows are worth spending money on. Mine are sash and can be drafty. I have a wool carpet throughout which has also helped. I have insulation in the loft.

@fjording nope. Roof and walls. Even a quick google search will tell you that.

Should add - we just bought a drafty victorian property too and the first thing I did was insulate the loft. Easy DIY job, only cost a couple of hundred quid and can feel the difference already!
The front door will be an expensive drop in the ocean.

it depends on what your door’s like atm. If it’s solid, with insulated frame and letterbox etc I’d keep it as is rather than fork out £1000 for a new once.

or just replace frame and letterbox insulations, add a door brush insulator at the bottom and a draft excluder.

you could always put up a door curtain to cut down on drafts. I think the ones which cover the door and frame, and another 30cm at the top and sides works best.

if it only has single glazed panels in, the you could maybe get that replaced with a new double or triple glazed one.

My house was built with a flimsy wooden door that shrank in the cold and was ridiculously drafty. I got a new composite door and it made a massive difference +
I feel a lot safer. New door has great locking system which means no one could break in.

Composite doors are more about security than insulation. If heat retention is the primary concern the money might be better spent elsewhere, unless you're particularly concerned about the energy cost of burglars leaving your front door open.

It also depends on the quality of the door.
Some are bloody awful.

We've got a (top of the range A-rated) Rockdoor and the draught it lets in at the hinges is amazing. I've stuck some self adhesive insulation strip on them to reduce it. it's been adjusted, but it makes no difference

We looked at Solidor, but decided that if you can "pop" the glass out |(they're a cassette, so can be changed) they're not particularly secure IYSWIM.

Personally, in a Victorian house, I'd look at refurbing what you have. Maybe (if you have a good joiner) spend some time/attention on the frame. Get a good, heavy curtain behind it and a "sausage" for overnight.

We got one and it's made bugger all difference but we had a upvc one before. If you've got an old wooden door that's ill fitted it will probably be better than that.

The material the door is made of will only make a very marginal difference. Drafts from a badly fitting door will make some difference. Stopping up those gaps, or as others have said, a curtain, would be a better, smaller investment than a new door

@JustGotToKeepOnKeepingOn

My house was built with a flimsy wooden door that shrank in the cold and was ridiculously drafty. I got a new composite door and it made a massive difference +
I feel a lot safer. New door has great locking system which means no one could break in.

^^^
THIS
You could see day light through the side of the door. The wind whistled through.
New double glazed door made a huge difference.

Mind you walls and loft was very well insulated.

But I wasn’t the material of the door that made the difference, it was the better fit in the frame. For £1000 the op could achieve much better results with loft insulation and £20 on draft excluding at the door.

How come our house is still bloody cold even after having both roof and walls insulated then? I'm at a loss with what to do next!

I think it depends on your house. I have a Victorian house, and the walls cannot be insulated, as in they have no cavity to fill. The loft has some insulation, but probably not the required amount. Double glazing for some Victorian houses can cause damp, as they need to breathe. Windows or vents need to be open.
I bought a new composite door for the front, and it’s wonderful, no drafts, which has really made a difference to the porch and hall. The old one was wood, shrank in summer, swelled in winter, and was a bugger to open.
I’d look at house house and have a think before you spend any decent money.

We had a new composite door fitted about 5 years ago (a rock door) which has made some difference to the hall. But the front of our house is very exposed as we’re on the corner of a steep hill.

under floor insulation has made loads of difference. As has filling the gaps at the side of the windows with foam filler. I drilled some holes into the top and side of the window to check if there was a cavity. There were huge cavities round the tops and sides of all the windows. I’ve now filled them all (prob used 3 cans per window).

but you also need some ventilation, but your choice, not gaps round door frames etc!

Get a thick curtain from somewhere and cover it for the winter.

I have a composite door and it's fine - it comes with a fitted brush draught excluder on the letter box opening (and multi point locking) but it is the fit of the door that is important for draught exclusion.

If you find a slight draught anywhere between the frame and the closed door you can fit a self adhesive strip of insulation which is cheap to buy and easy to do.

A portiere - door curtain with a special portiere curtain rod that enables you to open the door with the curtain in place - would be cheaper than a new door. You could make your own curtain out of a remnant or even an old blanket, rug or similar.

Here is an illustration of a portiere or door curtain and how it works.
www.changingcurtains.co.uk/curtains/Portiere%20Rods%20and%20Door%20Curtains.htm

I am not advertising or recommending a particular curtain company - this just came up in the search.

The door is early 70s with big holes in the side and you can see bits of daylight. The loft is insulated to the recommended level. There is no cavity wall insulation because there is no cavity. The windows are double glazed but still draughty!

I had a door like this and got sticky backed draught excluder stuff (a thin reel) and lined the entire doorframe with it a couple of times. Right inside the frame where the door will sit. Made a huge difference and cost a few quid on Amazon. Maybe worth trying before forking out for a new door?

Massive difference here but ours was wood and you could actually see through it and we had filled it and resealed it multiple timea over the years!! 😂 We had already had everything else done by that point in terms of walls, loft, windows, etc.

No! Save yourself a fortune. Buy a draught excluder and door curtain, keep the original door and put the £££££ towards your fuel bill.