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!

Traditional wooden front doors look fantastic on period houses like Edwardian, Georgian and Victorian properties as well as adding a touch of style to more modern homes.

However, if you are looking to buy a wooden front door, you may be surprised to learn that there are some drawbacks to all-wood front doors when compared to the more modern front doors.

Drawbacks to wooden front doors include:

• poor heat insulation compared with more modern front doors,
• a tendency to bend and warp more than doors strengthened with modern materials on the inside of the door (these are called composite front doors),
• a shorter lifespan compared with hardier composite doors as wooden front doors weather and rot over time, particularly in the a wet climate of the UK.

Modern composite doors offer a middle ground between uPVC doors and old style wooden front doors, combining high quality state of the art materials and attractive wood grain finishes to provide a door that excels in both function and look.

You can easily get the look and feel of a wooden front door that has all the benefits of uPVC front doors by choosing a composite front door.

Benefits of Composite Door with a ‘wood grain’ finish

• Composite front doors have attractive wood grain fronts, and with a huge range of varnishes from light wood to dark oak, you can have the look of a wooden front door with the security and function of a modern uPVC door.
• Composite front doors mimic the look of wooden front doors. The difference is minimal and with high quality wood grain, such as the grain used in our composite front doors, you won’t be able to tell the difference.
• Composite doors have up to six times the heat insulation properties of timber front doors.

The Composite Door Shop has an online door designer where you can design and order a front door to meet your exact requirements. The Composite Door Shop fits anywhere in mainland UK, so take a look at our front door options and buy a ‘wooden’ front door with all the benefits of a modern door.

This may seem like an odd question. Many people don’t get to choose whether their front door has a letterbox when they first move into their home – often the front door was chosen by the previous owners or by the construction company that built the property. When the time comes to replace your front door, you are suddenly faced with many options you had not previously given thought to. So why dedicate an entire post to this particular piece of front door hardware? The answer is simply because it does require at least a little thought to choose between a front door with a letterbox and one without. It is unwise to choose “yes” just because you’ve always had a letterbox on your front door in the past.

Pros of having a front door with a letterbox

1. Letters and other small items can be delivered directly into your home – more convenient than having to collect mail from another location.
2. Letters and other small items can be delivered directly into your home – anything delivered is more likely to be protected from the elements and potential damage or theft.

Cons of having a front door with a letterbox

1. Letterboxes reduce the thermal efficiency of the front door – draught-proofing devices can be used to help prevent cold spots, but it would still not be as efficient as having no letterbox.
2. Letterboxes create a vulnerable point in the front door that could be taken advantage of by criminals.

It is best to consider whether you are in a high-crime area or whether it would matter in your home, if your new front door did not have the best thermal efficiency available. If you opt for a front door without a letterbox, make sure there are alternatives for mail delivery if required, such as another door in the property with a letterbox or an external wall-mounted letterbox.

Design a front door with or without a letterbox online now to get a free quote