French door: PVC or wood? Does PVC devalue a house?

[ParentOfOne]

We need to replace a French door, which leads from the living room to an external corridor / passage, which then leads to the back garden.

Would you spend about £2k more for a wooden door, or would you save that money and go for a PVC door?

I don't like PVC front doors, but I don't mind French doors and windows. So the question is not about aesthetics for us, but about whether / how much it would affect the perception of potential buyers. We are always told that PVC negatively affects the perception of many buyers; we don't plan on selling anytime soon, but you never know.

We never access the garden from there; we use the corridor for storage (BBQ, bicycles, etc) and we only open that door when we have to get the bikes.

The windows in the living room are made of wood, but the windows and French doors in the kitchen are PVC.

Thoughts?

I suppose it depends what type of house.

Personally, having had both types of double glazing, I would be put off by wooden. I had to spend hours stripping, sanding and re staining those frames. Never again! I certainly wouldn’t want to pay £££ to someone else to maintain them. PVC is pretty maintenance free.

I'd also be put off by having to maintain wood.

Wouldn’t occur to me that UPVC doors would devalue a house, then again I don’t live in a particularly posh area.

Agree with previous posters, couldn’t be bothered maintaining wood.

Probably depends. I wouldn't buy a house with them but that is because I would generally not buy a house where PVC would be suitable.

We live in a converted Mill and looked at lots of steadings, etc. In my opinion PVC would ruin lovely stone buildings like that.

We will replace our existing house windows with wood, though 100% take the point about maintenance. For that reason we are putting alu clad on our extension. Timber inside, aluminium outside.

The cost difference is brutal... but was one of the few things I have refused to compromise on.

On a 4 bed 1970s semi like mine UPVC is probably better. On a nicer house wood might be expected.

I have a victorian semi. Paid the extra for wooden doors and windows as the houses in our street with UPVC just look really tacky and jarring.

I think UPVC on a non period property is totally fine and looks quite nice. My DM has a 30s semi and her white UPVC looks quite nice and wholly preferable to the aluminium it had when she bought it.

It must depend om the type of house. Every house I've ever bought, UPVC is a low maintenance selling point.

@PlantyPotts

I'd also be put off by having to maintain wood.

And so would I.

It's a Victorian mid-terrace house.
The front door and the windows overlooking the main road are all wood.
The windows overlooking the back garden, so not visible from the main road, are PVC on the first floor and wood in the loft.

The French doors from the kitchen to the back garden are PVC.

To the people who prefer wood : would you prefer it even for a French door that is not visible from the main road, just because it looks nicer? Have you not had bad experiences with wood? How do you deal with maintenance?

To the people who prefer PVC : would you prefer it even in a Victorian house? Isn't PVC easier to break in, considering this will be on the ground floor (even if accessible only from the back garden)?

You can get away with it if its just the patio doors at the back of the house imo.

Whereabouts are you?
In London/SE wood seems to be de rigueur for Victorian terraces, but the rest of the country - esp further north - is more pragmatic.
I’m in Lancs and pretty much every terrace has uPVC windows here (we have a composite front door, & uPVC French windows at the back)

Some typical examples

I don't like UPVC. We are currently replacing our French windows with double glazed wood. Costing a fortune compared to UPVC but the latter would make our house look cheap.

I don't like UPVC, especially on older/period properties. I'd rather maintain wood. We have timber windows and french doors and get them repainted every few years.

I would prefer

1. double glazed sash (or copy of original)
2. original windows
3. UPVC

In reality, if there are houses to choose from, I wouldn’t buy One with UPVC..

However, I’m quite old ☺️ And remember when UPVC windows were pretty grim, So this flavours my views

If the windows and door at the back are already UPVC, then it will look really odd to have timber doors.

Round the back, wouldn’t care if it was upvc. If they are well fitted and not really cheap ones.

UPVC doesn't have to be white and cheap looking. The house next door to me has just had their windows and doors replaced with expensive looking grey UPVC, and I think it looks really nice.

I spent one summer repainting all the Georgian windows and doors of our 3 bedroom house, and swore that I would never want to do that again. Then last year painted the front and back door and door frames of the ouse we are in now. The next ones will be UPVC all the way.

We recently replaced three big windows on our small Edwardian house as they were drafty. An estate agent said it wouldn't make any difference to the price. We went for wooden double glazing and we're happy we did. However, we're not sure if we are now going to move in the next year or so, if so that's £4K wasted. But... I wouldn't buy a period house with upvc so it may potentially put some buyers off.

"I wouldn't buy a period house with upvc so it may potentially put some buyers off."
Anywhere, or only if overlooking the main road? ie would PVC on a back window or door, not visible from the road, put you off, too?

Yes anywhere. If I did buy it I'd be factoring in replacing the upvc although probably wouldn't get round to doing it for years! That's just me though!

Personally I loathe UPVC and would budget to remove and replace with an alternative ASAP no matter what type of house! So yes as a buyer I would be put off

@GiantKitten

Some typical examples

To me they all look dreadful, particularly when they haven't even put in the correct type of window for the age of the house.

If I was buying a house I would work out if I could afford to replace the UPVC too, it would be a must do change. it would definitely put me off on all houses but especially on a period property.