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No matter how attached you are to your entrance door, there comes a time when it must eventually be replaced, either due to technical reasons or simply because it’s no longer looking its best.

Once you have decided to replace your front door, it’s time to do some research as there are thousands of different front doors to choose from. In order to find the right one for your home, here are the things you should consider when buying a new front door.

Material

The most popular building materials for front doors are timber, plastic and steel. While all of these materials offer different benefits, they also have their drawbacks.

Timber doors are favoured for their luxurious look and sturdy feel. However, they are costly and high-maintenance due to the organic nature of the material and how it is affected by different seasons.

At the other end of the price range, you have plastic doors – often known as PVCu doors – which present the most affordable entrance door option but are prone to discolouration over time, along with warping if they don’t have a solid core.

Steel front doors offer a comfortable middle ground as they are cheaper than timber doors and far sturdier than standard plastic doors. You can also expect a high level of insulation and break-in resistance by investing in a steel door with the correct design and profile.

Insulation

Proper insulation is a key consideration when buying a new front door, beaten only safety and when it comes to the features most of us look for when considering our options. Windows and doors are the most common areas for homes to leak heat, increasing energy costs in the process, so it’s important that you choose ones that are sufficiently insulated.

While many of us rely on the construction material of an entrance door as a sign of its insulating properties, this isn’t always an accurate reflection of how energy efficient it will be. Instead, you will need to look at the thermal efficiency rating of a door to find out how effective it will be at minimising any heat loss.

Security

When choosing a new front door, security should be one of your top priorities, more specifically, ensuring that you choose a door that will offer you an adequate level of protection against attempted break-ins.

Since 2015, Approved Document Q has been the standard pertaining to the protection of entry points to a dwelling. This addition to the British Building Regulations details the reasonable security standards that should be met by all doors and windows in new builds. Under the new standards, doors and windows should, through their design and the use of additional hardware, be able to withstand a physical attack by someone looking to gain entry into the building. In order to buy an entrance door which meets this requirement, look for models that meet British Standards PAS 24:2012 or similar standards with a comparable level of security performance.     

Style

Although it’s not the most important thing to consider, it would be naive to assume that many of us don’t take style and appearance in mind when purchasing a new front door. An entrance door will not only need to appeal to your own tastes but also fit in with the overall aesthetic of your exterior.

While there are many different styles of doors on the market, you can make your decision far easier by thinking of potential entrance doors in terms of either classic or contemporary designs. Naturally, if you own an older home then a front door in a classic style will be the most appropriate choice, while contemporary doors will look at home installed in new builds.   

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