New front door… where to begin?

[thewarden]

We need a new front door. I have no idea where to even begin with looking, a google search and it’s pretty overwhelming.

Any advice/tips?

Bump

If it's UPVC, contact a local window and door company or two for quotes to supply and fit. Avoid the national giants, they over charge.

If it's wood, look online at the likes of B&Q and so on, pick a design you like, contact a local carpenter or two for quotes to fit.

If you need a bespoke door made from wood, look for a specialist company.

Composite is the main front door choice these days. Find a couple of local companies and get quotes. Don’t go for the really fashionable ones with the letter box at the bottom unless you really hate your postman.

How much are new doors these days? I need a new one as well

I have just had a Solidor fitted by a local company, it's bloody lovely.

I'm very happy, £1700 or so.

What kinda house is it ? My fav is a wooden door with stained glass

Love that colour, @DisforDarkChocolate ! 👌

It's Pottery Blue, it's so nice.

Avoid the main national chains. They all use the same smoke and mirrors pricing tactics, fake discounts and pressure selling techniques. Find a decent recommended local company.

Endurance doors have a great online designer. You can then ask them to find a local companies who will quote for the work or you can take your design to a UPVC company and they may work with a different company. I had a huge endurance door with two sidelights and top light with twilight stained glass and a bee knocker and I love it. It was £2400. Out quotes varied up to 3500 for the same thing.

Best thing we did was having a stable door type as a front door so that the dogs can't rush out if the front door is opened!

We do have a very long drive so the dogs are secure in the grounds but the door is brilliant.

Practically speaking, are there any covenants that limit colours or styles? If not, composite doors are popular, we had a solidor and absolutely lived it. About to get front and back door replaced at the new house. Try to find a local company, our last one did doors and windows and the company we are using this time is just doors. Has anyone near your had their replaced recently? You could ask them? Or just pay attention to doors as you walk around to help give you an idea of what you like and don’t like.

Where abouts are you? Maybe someone can recommend a company.

I'm having a pale pink front door very soon. Composite. I'm paying £1550 fitted. Ballpark for UPVC was around £950.

also echoing the local company- Avoid safestyle / Everest and use a local installer.

I am also interested in this. We currently have a wooden door, I am not keen on UPVC.
Also need to replace doors in the house which are peeling badly. I think they are hollow with some cheap wood laminate thing. I am clueless about how to go about replacing them.

Lovely colour. Was that inc fitting?

What’s the best way to find local fitters? Do they generally supply as well?

@thewarden I planned a door on the Solidor online planner requested a quote, a local supplier emailed in a couple of days. The price included fitting.

Is there a door you’ve seen locally you really like ?
If so, why not ask the owners who supplied it and were they happy with the service and price ?

For that one. Have a look at what style of wooden door you like internally. I've got some solid oak ones, but whatever you like works and then ask on FB for recommendation for a joiner. That's who will hang internal doors for you. It's different to who does external UPVC or composite door fitting for you.
I've just had a quote for some to be hung (in the East Midlands). He says he can hang approx 5 internal doors in a day, with a day rate of £300

As pp have said look for local small family firms that have been going for decades. By local, you could be talking 30 miles depending on where you live.

yellow pages is a good place to start ( yell dot co dot uk ) bearing in mind the company might concentrate on double glazing products more than doors.

You may also want or need to replace surrounding side windows.

Does your house alarm have a sensor built into the existing door. Our old wooden door did and we were told we can’t drill holes into the upvc composite door / frame to accommodate the sensor. Don’t know if that’s true or the chap who installed the new frame and door just didn’t want the hassle/warranty worry.

Once you’ve been in touch with a company , ideally visited them to see what your gut reaction / instincts tell you about the firm, they’ll send someone out to discuss options, measure up, ask about payment - the best firms want a small deposit and payment when the door has been installed and you’re happy.

There might be a second visit before installation which is an exact technical measure and double check you are happy to proceed.

Bear in mind with upvc you can have the outside frame/door colour different to the inside, usually at an extra cost.

edited to add, we went from old draughty wooden door with glazing like the arch window in Play School plus a half height side glazing to a upvc foam filled door with small glazing in 3 vertical panes in the door, plus full height side glazing.
£1800 3 years ago. Live in North Wales.

Thanks that’s helpful. I would like solid oak doors but spoke to a joiner a while back and he wasn’t much use at suggesting where to get them. Apparently they are a strange size . How much are the doors costing?

Internal doors?

Door Station, UK Oak Doors, Howden etc

You measure your existing door and order something that's a touch larger (unless you need truly bespoke) as the carpenter will cut to fit.

You'll also want new door frames as they'll again fit them at the same time as the door, and potentially new archetrave, handles and hinges but that's about all the supplies costs there.

After that it's labour and any painting you want.

I agree. Local supplier are better.
Like a pp we went onto Solidors website and found a fitter.