Composite Door Shop Blog

Just like a suit from a bespoke tailor, made to measure front doors from The Composite Door Shop are not manufactured until every dimension has been thoroughly checked. Our front doors are designed to fit first time and be comfortable for the rest of their lives. In addition, the door is made to survive everyday wear and tear, staying durable and attractive for at least 10 years (see our guarantee).

Front doors made to measure

The composite front door process goes like this: normally within 48 hours of your order being place, one of our surveyors will contact you to arrange a home visit at your convenience. The surveyors will check and double check all of your door dimensions, discuss options and answer any questions you may have. Our made to measure checking process also includes a confirmation order for you to approve to make sure we have everything absolutely correct – then (and only then) do we approve your door for manufacture.

Online door designer

You know your home best, and we pass the majority of the design process over to you with our online door designer.

We have a huge range of options for your new front door including:

• eight frame styles in a choice of three colours,
• a door range of twenty styles in a choice of seven wood grained finishes,
• over forty glazing options,
• accessories in a choice of gold, chrome or black.

Quality composite doors at a fantastic price

All of our doors are composite doors, factory manufactured to stringent quality control standards and are made up of:

• a reinforced PVCu frame,
• a solid thermally insulated polyurethane foam core slab,
• a 2mm thick and durable GRP skin to prevent warping, twisting or bowing,
• a thickness of 44mm that creates a strong, secure door.

In order to ensure that our statements about door strength are up to date and correct, we submit them to independent testing authorities to ensure we are providing the product you wish to purchase. All Composite Door Shop doors are tested and accredited to relevant standards, “Secured by Design” and “PAS 23 & 24”.

Easy installation service

We know how stressful front door installation can be so we have pledged to make the process as fast and convenient as possible for our customers. Aiming to offer a full bespoke service from the design to installation, we have partnered with a highly regarded installation company who operate nationwide.

As well as being authorised service providers to the insurance market, our installation team has the depots, network and administrative capacity to fully support our service and ensure that you get the bespoke front doors made to measure, supply and installation service that you deserve!

Offering a huge range of front doors with both traditional and modern designs, the Composite Door Shop have got it covered when it comes to choosing the right style of door for your house.

Apart from our Georgian and Victorian style designs (once considered ‘modern’ themselves!) we also offer cutting edge ‘match board’ pattern doors for the most contemporary of homes, complete with state of the art keyless locking systems – it really doesn’t get more modern than that!

Contemporary door designs

We offer an extensive range of twenty door styles, all of which fit perfectly into the front doors modern design category, depending on your individual tastes and how the rest of your home is styled.

Five particular styles lend themselves very well to modern homes. These are vertical grooved match board door with irregular pattern glazing and contemporary accessories and are provided with a choice of five timber grained colours in addition to five glazed panel options.

Explore our online door designer and you will find the following modern door styles:

• the Cottage door with a choice of diamond glazing or solid door front,
• the Totteridge door with four centre square glazed windows,
• the Balham door with two half circle glazed panels set at eye level,
• the Strand door with three square glazed panels set to the right or
• the Southall with twin side glazed panels.

Contemporary hardware to match

It takes more than just the door style to create a modern look for a front door and so for every product in our range you can choose from 42 glass patterns and a huge selection of contemporary door hardware, including handles, letter plates, door knockers, door numbers and spy-holes in a choice of chrome, gold or black.

Modern construction as well as design

Of course, modern design applies to construction as well as aesthetic and our doors also excel in that department.

Made from tough, durable materials to stringent quality controlled criteria, our products are factory manufactured to create beautiful composite front doors that boast:

• a reinforced hardwood frame,
• a solid thermally insulated slab of polyurethane foam core,
• a 2mm thick, durable GRP through coloured skin to prevent warping, twisting or bowing,
• a thickness of 44mm, resulting in creates a strong, secure door.

Strength and durability comes from modern design

The 44mm thickness is a very important aspect to our composite doors, as it enables our composite doors to match the strength and durability of any competing timber door.

But don’t take our word for it, we have sought independent testing by third parties to accredit our doors as both Secured by Design and PAS 23 & 24 for your peace of mind.

For more information on modern or traditional composite front doors, simply browse our easy to use website or give us a call today on 0800 1123230

Wooden doors are traditional and attractive however they do have several major drawbacks that customers are often not aware of, making them inferior to the more modern composite doors now offered across the UK. Composite front doors offer a wood-look finish whilst being built from modern materials that offer the same performance as the more cheap uPVC front door.

Due to the nature of the material, wood can be quite a poor substance to make a front door from. Traditional wooden front doors warp, bend and shift, reacting to all weather conditions, particularly water and heat. This creates many problems for the front door.

How wood reacts to our climate

With the climate we experience here in UK, a wooden front door is actually a recipe for disaster, especially if you are looking for a long lasting front door. Warping in the heat or buckling under cold, not to mention how wood swells with exposure to rain, leads to a greatly reduced performance of the wooden front door, as well as a very short lifespan. Ill-fitting doors can also make your home far less secure, so choosing a wooden front door over a modern composite front door could potentially leave your home open to crime and burglary.

Composite front door materials

Investing in a composite front door is a great idea because composite doors combine the look of a traditional wooden front door, often using specialised fibreglass moulds that create a finish almost indistinguishable from real wood, with hardy materials designed to withstand almost any effects from weathering. You can get the attractive appearance of a wooden front door whilst also benefiting from the increased security and performance of a uPVC front door.

Better front door insulation

Composite front doors from the Composite Door Shop also insulate your home far better than a traditional wooden front door, due to the thermally insulating polyurethane foam filling. This makes your home more energy efficient and lets you save money on energy bills, very important in these lean economic times.

Composite doors set the standard for the rest of the door industry, so it is worth learning a few facts about composite doors.

As a relatively new product, there are a couple of misconceptions around composite front doors, the first one being the name. The word ‘composite’ refers to the varied materials that make up the front door and many people still spell this word incorrectly.

Common misspellings of the ‘composite’ keywords when searching for composite front doors include:

• compasit doors
• compasite doors
• composit doors
• compersit doors
• compersite doors
• compisit doors

Incorrectly spelling the keywords when searching for a new front door can cause many problems; the search results will be filled with websites with spelling errors, which can be a strong indicator of an unprofessional supplier.

The second common composite door misconception is that all composite doors are made from the same materials. There are actually a few different materials that can make up a composite door, all of which result in a strong, secure door that is more resistant to weather and constant use than wooden or uPVC doors, whilst maintaining the attractive appearance of a wooden door. However, as with any product, there are varying degrees of quality and price.

The Composite Door Shop supply only the highest quality composite doors. These are made using a fibre glass skin that is incredibly strong and long-lasting. Cheap composite doors tend to be made using a uPVC skin. These uPVC composite doors can still be better than non-composite doors, but they are not quite as attractive, strong or long-lasting as fibreglass doors.
The Composite Door Shop fibre glass doors are filled with a special thermally insulating polyurthane foam, which is injected into the core of the door. This ensures there are no draughty spots and that the composite door offers the very best in thermal insulation. Cheaper composite doors are filled with polystyrene, which works well, but can have its disadvantages. Good thermal insulation of your front door saves you money on heating bills and makes your house more eco friendly.

If you are looking to buy a composite front door, The Composite Door Shop supply and fit composite front doors all over mainland UK.

Are you thinking of buying a new front door but haven’t quite made up your mind yet? Choosing a new front door is a big purchase and, because front doors are a highly exposed area of your house, it can be difficult to know what to go for if you do decide to invest in one.

There are several pros and cons to think about when considering investing in a new front door:

Pros of buying a new front door

Improved security
If your current front door has no security features it may worth upgrading ASAP. All Composite Door Shop front doors have security options including spyholes, chains and locks, giving your home the best chance against crime and burglary.

Greater kerb appeal
If you are thinking of selling your house it’s worthwhile taking time to considering what changes can make a big big impression on a potential buyer. A front door is one of the first things to make an impression and it’s important to get it right if you are planning on selling your house in a

Longer lasting front door
If your existing front door is looking a little old and tatty, don’t be surprised. Many front doors built before the last few years have not been built to last. However, modern composite front doors are built of quality materials that are better designed to withstand weather and use over time. Invest in a new front door from the Composite Door Shop and you will be buying a product that look good and perform well many years down the line.

Cons of buying a new front door

Expense
There is no sense in buying a cheap front door as the materials used will not withstand use and will begin to look old quite quickly. You might need to save up to buy a new front door, however the investment is usually worth it for the benefits of a new front door to your home and security.

Trouble finding the right door for you
Choosing the right front door can be the trickiest part of buying a new front door, so why not design your own? At the Composite Door Shop we have an online door designer where you can choose from many different styles and hardware options to make getting the perfect front door for you easier than ever.

Unforeseeable problems are often unavoidable by their nature. Even products which pass quality control tests and seem to be perfect at the beginning can suddenly have an unusual fault develop. When natural materials, such as wood, are used in the manufacture of products, weaknesses can hide within the wood’s grain that, when worked over time, can become more and more of an issue.
Because nobody can predict these faults, it is important to have a good guarantee to ensure that if any faults become obvious after continuous use, you are covered.

That is why with our composite doors you get a comprehensive 10 year guarantee. If you have had a bad experience in the past when working with a small company that has provided a guarantee and later gone under, you don’t need to worry as our guarantee is insurance-backed. This means that in the unlikely event that our company stops operating before your guarantee has finished, you are still fully covered.

As long as your new composite door is treated within the guidelines for use (i.e. is not regularly subjected to an unacceptable amount of force or other wearing usage that is not expected of a domestic front door or back door), you will be covered for damage to the functionality or any severe deterioration of the appearance of the front door that is not within the acceptable range. Slight fading is expected over many years of exposure to the elements but it should not detract from the aesthetics of your front door.

Design, price and order your guaranteed composite door now