Has your front door gone wrong?

[PigletJohn]

Bit mean of me to ask. All will become clear. I am not going to try to sell you a door though!

Question 1:
Has your front door ever gone wrong?

Question 2
What is/was it made of?

Question 3
About how old?

me first
(in 3 houses)

1 no, no, no

1. wood, wood, wood

1. 50 years, 108 years, 12 years.

Hah! I sense a trick...

1. Front door when we moved here was wrong when we arrived. I don't know that it went wrong... Maybe it was wrong when it was installed.
2. Wood. Part glazed.
3. 20-30 years.

No, I don't think my front door has ever gone wrong!
1st, victorian wood, prob original from c. 1850
2nd, modern panelled wood (proper wood)
3rd, 70s Steel with double glazed window in upper half (maybe not steel, maybe aluminium... how would I know?)

1. Yes it bloody has. One day, shortly after we moved in to this house DH tried to come home but the door would not open. I was in the house with the DC. The door was not locked. I couldn't open it from the inside. He had to go through the neighbour's house and climb over the fence to get to our back door (fun) and then call a locksmith. The locksmith had to replace the lock, but the door is still funny. It catches on the floor and is tricky to lock and unlock.

1. UPVC. It is quite possibly the ugliest uPVC door in existence, as well as being crap. It's is indescribably and embarrassingly ugly. And it has a really big, brass lion head knocker on it. I am very keen to replace it (with a repro of the original door) but DH is reluctant, for no explicable reason.

1. I'm not sure, but I fear that it is not all that old. It's so hideous that I suspect the (utterly taste devoid) previous owners replaced a lovely, original 1930s wooden door with it.

No, it's a door. How can a door go wrong? Occasionally the house-door interface is suboptimal, though.

Wood, Victorian.

Actually, having said that...

We don't actually use it as a door, because it has the original lock and the enormous iron key, and the key is too large to sensibly carry around with you.

Oh, Grendel's mum. There is so much that can go wrong with a door. You don't realise until you move into a house with a crap door.

I'm depressed about my front door. Victorian house built 1880. Original door replaced in 60s I think. After moving in we had this replaced with a copy of the original (wood 4 panelled door with lovely moulding) made by someone who turned out to be rubbish. It looks quite nice but doesn't fit. Huge gaps, swells and contracts at various points in various seasons so impossible for locks to work consistently.

I feel it might need a new frame and maybe a new door too but as nothing is straight in the entire house, this would need someone good who would presumably charge a lot.

As we have problems with almost every other door in the house I think it might be easier to just move to a new house?

Then you'd just be moving into unknown door territory though.

1. Yes - too heavy for hinges so dropped
2. Wood
3. 10-15 years

thanks, it's all interesting, and one or two surprises for me as well.

Keep 'em coming

Old door:

1. Yes
2. Wood
3. 9 years

New door:

1. No
2. Composite
3. 5 years

no
wood
8 years

Front door:

Yes, doesn't bloody slam shut, it catches enough to make it secure, but still wobbles
PVC
About 10 years old (it pre-dates me and I hate it)

Backdoor:
Never (although you can see daylight top and bottom)
Wood, with ironwork studs hammered through it
About 400 years.
I love it. Its gorgeous and solid and wonderful, and the key is about a foot long.

1. No
2. Wood (soft wood if we are being specific)
3. 7 years

Come on Piglet- spill!

1 yes
2 aluminum and plastic
3 more than 10 years

(so no wood to warp)

1 yes
2 aluminum and plastic UPVC i mean
3 more than 10 years

1st house no problems, wood/tiny bit of glazing front door about 20yrs old.
2nd house terrible problems, cheap wood door put in wrong sized frame by numpty developer = visit by police thinking we were being burgled, nah just crap door that opened itself when locked lasted 6mths, 2nd door - wood replica of the original doors in the street no problems with door, problems with paint still going though 9yrs+
3rd house - The biggest Victorian wooden door I've seen, it's fab but we need to get the main lock sorted as only the Yale has a key, so we keep it bolted and generally use the back. I'd say it's approx 150yrs and very solid, wish someone hadn't lost the key approx 50yrs ago though!

Yes - multi point locking system sometimes misbehaves
Upvc
Don't know for sure but prob15 years ish.

Yes - regularly used to get locked in and having to shout at passerbys to take my key through the letter box and open my door from outside. Theyfunny at all especially close to school run time!

Wood

less than 2 years (prior door was our burglar's xmas present come early. It was still useable until it was kicked in by police...don't ask)

1. Yes
2. Wood - it has gone stiff to open but seems to have shrunk at the bottom.
3. Probably about 75 years old maybe older?

Yes
Vile plastic one here when bought house.Sticks and has to be shoved to open it.
No idea-20 years?

Dream of the day I see it tossed onto a skip and replaced with a wooden one

Yes, it's twisted or warped or something. Doesn't seal all the way round to the frame.
Nasty cheap white PVC, not glazed.
Previous owners, maybe 15-20 years?

I want a hardwood half-glazed door with a hardwood frame. And I want it before this winter.

Yes
Wood
25 years

Why?