Wooden front door

[Thingsthatgo]

We are slowly doing up our house, mostly DIY on a tight budget. Luckily my DH is pretty handy.
Our front door is very ugly plastic, and I would love a wooden front door but we cannot afford to buy one of those lovely fancy bespoke ones. I really don't want composite.
My first choice would be to find a secondhand wooden door, but they are few and far between. I'm not looking at the veneered ones in wickes. Are they awful? They are very affordable. Will they look terrible and warp badly?
Please tell me they are fabulous and are straightforward to fit. I would be so happy to get rid of my ugly front door.

Go on FB marketplace & have a look at 2nd hand ones, sorry don't know anything about the ones at Wickes

@Nextdoor55 yeah, I've been looking for months. There are hardly any that come up for sale. Plenty of secondhand plastic ones.

We bought this style from B&Q seven years ago and got a local joiner to fit it (we needed a new frame as well since the old one had rotted away) and add the letterbox etc. The joiner was impressed with the quality, but not impressed ith how heavy it was, oops. Came up lovely when I gave it a coat of top quality varnish. No regrets.

https://www.diy.com/departments/geom-4-panel-diamond-bevel-glazed-wooden-white-oak-veneer-external-front-door-h-1981mm-w-762mm/964550_BQ.prd

I bought a wooden door from an online joinery, it was a couple of hundred (but was about 10 years ago) it still looks great. I fitted it myself and I am a middle aged woman with basic carpentry skills, so I am sure you other half could, it took me a day, the most difficult part were the locks tbh as it was a stable door as well. I am thinking you might need a new frame if you have upvc atm?

@Pixiedust1234 thank you for your reply. No warping or gapping at all?

@Danceswithweasels yes, we will need a new frame too. Did you buy a solid hardwood door or a veneered one?
If you can remember where you bought it from, I'd be very grateful.

loads on ebay
or reclamation yards

I bought a solid hardwood double glazed front door from an online supplier and had a joiner fit it for me. It ended up costing around £1000 all including door, door furniture, locks, paint and labour. He fitted draughtproofing - set into all the edges of the door. It's great.

We inherited a nice wooden door with the house, I've already had to re oil it twice which is a massive pain in the bum as it takes 12h to dry enough to close, so you have to wait for a really warm day, oil it first thing in the morning and then you can't leave the house as it is propped open all day. Then you are pissing about trying to screw the lock and letterbox back onto it at 10pm in the pitch dark. I think some modern UPVC doors are meant to look very swish - I wish I had one!!

No, no problems at all. Very solid door.

I love the look of wooden doors compared to these "modern" ones. I like being able to add a door chain, extra bolt up top and having a mortice as well as a yale lock. I would really detest having a door handle on my front door and having to lock it every time, I love the versatility of yales.

@LibertyLover oooh. I hadn't thought of reclamation yards. That's a great shout, thank you.

Our wooden door has warped & swollen, been shaven down a lot over the years. Unuseable at times, but maybe finally settled now.

Have a look at Arc Reclamation: https://www.arcreclamation.com/
I have previously used them- I had an unusually sized front door and they found something the right sort of size, trimmed it so that it would fit exactly, glazed it, and delivered it as I live some way away. It was really lovely and so much cheaper than a new one.

I’ve lived with wooden front doors for the past 15 years - conservation area, no option to change. Aesthetically pleasing but practically annoying with things like seasonal swelling and also less secure than a multipoint locking door

We replaced a back door with a composite door a few years ago and that’s been a dream. A wide range of colours and finishes available so that would be my choice.

Could you paint the door instead? Our local pub painted their horrible white plastic windows with special paint and now they look like wood. Maybe worth a try first if you're on a budget.

OP, on a sunny day, how many hours is the door likely to be in the sun?

@tanstaafl good question! Not many because the house faces west. The front door is also west facing, but on a porch which is attached to the north side of the house and set back from the front, so in the shade of the house.

@Wildwood6 thank you! That looks great. Thank you for the recommendation.

We had one when we first moved in and hated it - looked nice but kept swelling.nightmare in winter. We are by the coast if that makes a difference though. Switched to composite- I know you're not keen but I think ours looks nice!

The two local places that dipped doors also had huge stocks of old doors to choose from. But I gave up on wood at the house I've just sold as the front was west facing and copped for all the weather which destroyed them. The houses across the road had no problem. I stumped up for a composite in the end, which looked great but was expensive.
If it has to be wood make sure it's hardwood, give it all the TLC it needs and ensure it is sealed really well - once water gets into the joints it will warp.
And I agree UPVC doors rarely look good.

Mine is set back under an open north facing porch. It doesn't swell but is protected from rain and sun. I have painted it well on all sides including the bottom so no bare wood anywhere. I personally think a proper wood front door just looks so much nicer than any other option. Also it was considerably cheaper - I was quoted £8000 for a composite door 😱

Try Geleta doors

https://www.geleta-doors.co.uk/external-doors/external-doors/external-doors/external-hardwood-doors

Loads of friends have used them. Good quality and very reasonable price.

There are loads of good ones that people get rid of just because they fancy a new grey composite one. Have a word with the local installers and ask what they do with the old ones - ask if they'll look out for one for you.

I have just changed wooden front and back door stable to composite. I have a strong preference for real wood and have used reclamation yards in the past but the continual upkeep for a substandard outcome with continual seasonal swell and shrinkage and issues with being watertight, condensation and damp in the end were not worth aesthetic value. Functionally speaking you can't beat modern composite doors. I also have a front door without a handle.

This is what is used to look like