New Front Door for Period House ~ Recommendations

[Lychees]

Hello,

I live in London in an Edwardian terrace with a hideous 70's front door [zero kerb appeal] so we have decided to replace it with a wooden door in keeping with the period. It will need to be supplied and fitted with a sidelight as our door opening is wider than a standard front door. Can anyone recommend any good door companies who could do this, please?

Many thanks.

some names on this thread (off a different forum)

We live in exactly that type of house and are looking at this company which seems to be a lot more reasonable than The London Door Co.

We got our period Edwardian door which was a non standard size + toplight made by a local joiner to match others in the street - it was much cheaper than the made to measure door companies, is exactly what we wanted and he has ended up doing other work for us. Most joiners will be able to show you examples of their work and references so you can check if they're up to the job.

how wide is the opening? you can buy readimade doors up to 36" which is quite common for a larger Victorian or Edwardian house.

If a 48" gap or more, it was probably intended for double doors, and may have had a glazed obscure door inside the porch or passage.

have a look on ebay - there are dealers in old doors on there, with all sorts of random sizes

(not cheap though, so having one made might turn out to be your best bet)

We're looking at Big Old Doors www.bigolddoors.co.uk/
They look stunning

We used the London Door Co on St Johns Hill SW11. Not cheap but they did a great job, very professional & good attention to detail.

Agree on local joiners being cheaper than London Door Company, who are good but v expensive. We had a quote (nine years ago!) from them for over £3k for a replica late Victorian front door. Nearly fainted. Parkgate Joinery in Hampton Hill made and installed a perfect copy of next door's with all the metal hardware ( locks, letterbox etc) for less than a third of that. I'm sure any good joinery firm could do the same.

it would be really nice to know what size she needs, but perhaps we're not going to find out

Our door came from The London Door company.

The door looks good and the company are very polite, helpful and efficient....right up until they get your money - after that they don't give a shit.

Ventrolla do doors now. I had them do my windows a while back - they're not fantastically cheap, but they did a very good job, and the company was a dream to deal with.

I used a joiner from the find a trade website who got everything g for us from howdens and did it all in one day. Cost of door, locks, furniture plus labour 700.

Thanks, ladies. The opening is actually about 65". It is not the original opening as other houses on our street have a standard-ish door with a window to the side. Our opening was expanded at some point and it makes the hallway very bright and light which is great. Saw the London Door Co but considering the prices perhaps I will look into local joiners as I was hoping to pay around £2k.

65" is very big. Would you not accept a door plus sidelight?

We have an edwardian house as well and we used www.cotswood-doors.co.uk based in Southgate.
They were really good.
They sorted out the glass and design that we wanted as well.

We used to live in an Edwardian house that had a modern front door. I bought one from a salvage yard for an absolute bargain as a present for my mum, they had a lot of interesting ones and I found one that was just a little bit too long and my dad cut it down to fit.

65" is huge, what about a standard door with two sidelights?

I'd second Cotswood Doors - I got a lovely wooden and glazed door for an Edwardian terrace a few years ago.

Another one for getting a joiner to make one. Ours is a narrow Edwardian door with a pattern common only to this set of terraces and we couldn't get one in salvage. Door companies were charging an arm & a leg our joiner did a fantastic job for a quarter of the price (he only did an undercoat tho so still had to decorate it ourselves) and it matches the originals in the street

If you'll need to replace the frame then you'll need to fit a door with a u value under 1.8 which will limit your choices..worth checking with building control before you fall in love with the perfect door and find out you cant fit it,

NB sorry this is a REALLY old thread (sorry)

I know it's an old thread but I've kept that link kingmillmum. I'm looking for a solid door and a stained glass fanlight. :)