Front door - options that don’t involve a 16+ week wait?!

[NewHouseNewMe]

I’m looking to get a standard front door - 1930s type, nothing too special - but the sizes mean we need to order bespoke. I urgently need a front door within 6-8 weeks as the current one is broken.

I don’t love Solidor as the painted wood look is highly grained in the colour we want but even a simple one is £2,700 and has a 14 week wait. The Palladio provider has too many orders to allow me to look - they’re taking Christmas orders now!

I’ve tried 2 wooden door providers - one was £7.5K and the other £5.5! Both over 16 weeks.

Am I missing something? Do people really spend this type of £££ and get in queue?

Try a builder or window fitter not a door company

I think £2700 and a 14 week wait is pretty standard to be honest. Similar to sofas. Because they're made to order instead of being sold off the shelf.

Does that price include fitting? As a pp said, try a local window company

Our local window companies only sell Solidor or a uPVC version which looked fine but got bad online reviews.
Maybe such a wait is standard @DenholmElliot1
Does anyone have a recommendation for a window company in North London or Herts that doesn’t wooden windows and may do doors?
My own builder says he doesn’t fits front doors as he can’t provide the long-term guarantee that you get if you install using approved fitters.

Think you're just going to have to wait to be honest. Could you get someone out to do a repair just to make the current door safe in the meantime?

what are the dimensions of the door?

ordinary wooden doors are made in a large variety of sizes (actually in inches, such as 30, 32, 36 wide, but they are now listed in mm) and have been for well over a hundred years.

How old is your house?

If it is 1930's I bet I could find you an off-the-shelf door in ten minutes

regrettably it will not cost thousands of pounds

and you will need a competent local carpenter to fit it (not a builder or handyman or DIYer)

if you happen to dislike it you can use it until your composite one turns up.

what is wrong with the current door?

Try Doors & Doors in Finchley. I used them a few years ago. They were really helpful and knowledgeable.

I happen to live in a town where there is a local college for joiners, so there are lots around.

One made a simple door for me, it took him three evenings after work.

Funnily I have been in to see them. 16 weeks for a wood door. They did seem good! @MarthaJonesPhone

@PigletJohn I’ve been told that the height is non standard at 1955 and the width is 1015mm. Short and squat basically!

Maybe this is normal and my expectations were just wrong.

A 40-inch door. Uncommon, though I had a 48 in an Edwardian house. 32 is most common for a front door.

and 6ft 4 high.

1981mm is a common height, and you can usually trim about two inches off the height if necessary, so the height should be OK

but I admit the width is unusual

Is it a very grand house? Or did it once have a sidelight? which would be fairly easy to add to an off the shelf door to fit the opening. Or did it have double doors once?

you could ask a big maker like these if they can supply to order, maybe banks and hotels use them

though i'd ask around for a local joinery works.

wooden doors are only made out of planks of wood, and can be any size and shape you want.

fashionable suppliers have realised that most punters have no idea what a door should cost so will charge whatever you want to pay.

you don't live in a converted stable, do you?