Has anyone got any solutions to this porch double door problem?

[TitsCrossed]

We live in a mid Victorian semi which we are renovating slowly but surely. It is a conservation area.

Currently we have the lovely original wider than standard front door, then a stone step down into the small porch (we keep the folded prams in it), then a double door to the outside (same overall width as the front door). The double door is rotten, ugly and pisses us off every single day. The porch door is spilt down the middle so when one half is open it is too narrow to negotiate getting in the house herding toddler and carrying shopping etc without getting a bit stuck. To open both doors is a 2 handed faff (worse because the bolts are painted and often stick).

The outer double door is not original, there wouldn't have been a door there at all. We do need to keep a door, however.

Has anyone got a double door that doesn't piss them off? We would have to get it made in wood (non standard size) in a design to satisfy the conservation lot. I would like to be able to easily open both doors one handed while juggling dc etc. Or should we split the door to a different ratio? Worried that might look a bit odd though.

Any advice gratefully received!

instead of a double door could you have one full-size door with a glazed panel alongside (or 2 narrower panels, one each side?)

Is there space for a full-width single door to open into the porch?

(I am v of your porch!)

If it's going to be made to measure you could look at finding a reclaimed door

like \link{http://www.thestainedglassdoorscompany.com/categories/victorian-front-doors\these}?

Then having panels made to match

\link{http://www.thestainedglassdoorscompany.com/products/old-victorian-front-door-vr031\I don't suppose you live at no 32?}

It might be a squeeze to close a normal sized door behind us while standing in the porch. We keep the front door closed as an air lock to stop the nutter cats from running out onto the main road.

I like the idea of glazed panels though. Might go and measure it again.

(The porch is pretty much one of the main reasons we bought the house! )

I have that kind of mad cat too. We have an internal vestibule which is luckily long enough to cope (as long as the floor isn't full of eg shopping bags. We're long done with buggies )

How about having the porch door opening out? I know that's not standard but, for instance, French windows can be made to open outwards so I don't see why a front door couldn't. I think weather-proofing is more complicated but possible. (Presumably in a conservation area uPVC is out of the question? I like it - the less maintenance the better for me!)

Have you spoken to a joiner? Or a window/door fitting company?

Not enough room to have a standard size door opening in if I want to continue to keep storing prams there (and I do!). UPVC is out. I have images of me knocking out the postman out of door were to open outwards! Having good weather/draft proofing is essential given that the inner door had a titchy rebate and gaps round it.

We did talk to a local joiner a couple of years ago. We had an internal door made to match the originals and he quoted £1000+ for the porch door (not incl stained glass). That was for a single door but I really don't think it's practical for a single.

I would go for a double door opening out.

we have a similar porch, ours had a single door and glass down each side of the door. we had the porch rebuilt and were going to put double doors on it but decided against it and left the doors off - its much better and gives us loads more space. we were quoted £1600+VAT for doors made in oak however that included safety glass.

I'd put in a single, outwards opening door with glazed panels (etched or stained glass) - then you won't knock out the postman as you'd see him before you open.

Alternatively - get rid of the porch door altogether and instead create an internal porch, ie put in a new internal doorway several feet into the hallway, behind the original victorian front door. You would lose hallway length, but on the plus side, you'd get back your lovely original front door as the front door of the house and it would all look much more in keeping with the conservation area.

Alternatively - keep the cats in the kitchen and keep kitchen door shut...

I can't think of a non annoying double door solution sorry.

We put a pushchair cupboard in the hall. We have a 1930s semi, with a pair of narrow double doors into the house and a manky UPVC porch with large double doors. I've got a couple of 50cm wide Pax wardrobes with baskets in the bottom for shoes/hats/gloves/scarves and then a shelf for standing the pushchair on, then more shelves above. We have two because we have two pushchairs in rotation, but when we get down to one, I'll just put a rail in there for coats. We used to keep pushchairs in the porch, but it drove me actually batty. If we had the money, I'd rip off the UPVC porch, and go for a nice half brick built one, with a single outwards opening door. Our double doors never get opened fully either, not since the days of the double pushchair!

Outward opening door sounds like your best option.

Or is it possible to fit a bi-fold door? I have seen these internally but perhaps external bi-fold doors are available too.

Thanks all. If double doors, inward opening is fine. Bifold door is interesting (and sounds expensive!). I suppose that no one had invented a neat lock/catch system for double doors making them secure but easy to open? That would be ideal.

I think I was wrong in saying porch, it isn't stuck on the front of the house but flush. The original front door is a little way into the hallway. I know it had minton tiles and brick walls originally looking at next door. Unfortunately the floor tiles are long gone and it was plastered by previous owners.

I'm going to give more thought to an outward opening door, but because there is a step outside I worry that people might fall off it trying to avoid the opening door!

Nice idea minipie I would do that but the original front door would be quite vulnerable being the outer door as it has a huge etched (thin) glass panel with more delicate glass panels either side.

We've got a similar door - but the previous owners have had toughened clear glass added in front of the decorative glass - you could do that? (no idea of cost though)

Nah, unfortunately not minipie, the frame does not allow secondary glazing- to narrow.

I'm going to investigate double door mechanisms.

What they've done on ours is take the stained glass out, put that in a new frame and then put the toughened glass into the door where the stained glass used to be. then the stained glass in the new frame is screwed onto the back of the door, behind the toughened glass. Anyway you may not want to do that of course but just to give you the option!

Cheers minipie, I appreciate it