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!

If you live in a coastal area, choosing a new front door involves the consideration of several more factors than it would if you lived inland. If you have noticed that your existing front door is looking a little worse for wear and you live in a coastal area, it’s definitely time to invest in a new one.

Coastal areas are a whole different ball game when it comes to front door weathering, due to the increased likelihood of strong eroding winds and the impact of the salty air which sweeps round the UK coast. Wooden front doors bear the brunt of coastal erosion, compromising the safety of your home and shortening the life of the front door.

Wooden front doors look attractive, however they can be severely affected by the salty elements of weather in coastal regions. Wooden front doors often warp, split and swell in coastal conditions, meaning that your home is more vulnerable to crime and burglary.

Benefits of Composite Doors

So you now know to steer clear of wooden front doors if you are concerned about coastal weathering, but what other options are there?

Composite front doors, made with high quality, weather resistant materials and with a wood look finish are the best bet for a long lasting front door in coastal regions.

Made from tough materials, the finish on composite front doors are designed to look like wood, but perform like uPVC, delivering a front door that is impervious to the erosion experienced by many on the coast.

Combat coastal erosion with a composite front door, choose from many different designs and finishes to complement your home.

As with everything aesthetic, front door styles come in and out of fashion.

Some styles are classic, remaining stylish throughout the eras. These are often plain styles with simple design elements, resulting in a front door that is timeless and elegant. Both period properties and modern homes benefit from a classic front door style because they are so versatile.

Owners of period properties may prefer to have a front door based on the design elements of the era of their home. Georgian houses would be best suited by a front door that has a square, divided window, for example. Putting a modern front door design in a period property usually does not work – the two different design eras clash to create a disastrous effect.

Modern front door styles are best left to new-build houses. The door can either be matched to the style of the home or, if the style of the home is quite plain, more intricate styles of front door can be used to create a stylish focal point for the building. Some modern front doors date quite quickly, although nowadays it is usually due to the technology as opposed to the design. Already, PVC doors from the last decade are discolouring and appearing flimsy in comparison to their newer counterparts. For this reason, it is important to choose a front door wisely – not just the style, but the technology too. It is no good getting a door that is timeless in style if it is going to discolour or wear out within 5 years.

Across our website, and probably on other composite door websites, a composite door designer is mentioned. This designer is an online system that hosts all the options available for our composite doors. Because we make each door to order, we have found this the easiest way to operate.

The door designer allows you to go through each option available, and as you choose, not only do you see a digital image of how your front door would look, but you get to see the cost of the door as you add and remove options. Each option has an ‘i’ button next to it. When clicked, this button pops up a box containing our glossary, which has a greater level of detail about the selected option, helping to clarify if you are unsure. When all steps are complete, you have the option to order your composite door straight away, or to save your quote for a later date.

This revolutionary ordering system means that you can browse at your leisure and get a quote without having to hand your details over. Although most quoting systems that take your details to process your quote state that they are ‘no obligation’ quotes, there is still an aspect of hard selling when your quote is given to you. With our system, you can shop day or night, without the pressure of a sales person being involved and without having to wait for a quote to be processed for you.

When you have ordered your new front door, you get a confirmation email straight away, and when we have processed your order, you receive another email with the date of delivery of your door. If you are opting to have the door installed by us, we come and do a survey on your existing door prior to ordering, to ensure the right size and type of door is ordered. On the installation day, we install your front door and take away all rubbish, including the old front door, leaving you with nothing to worry about and a new, fully-guaranteed composite door.

Replacing a front door yourself is not as hard or as complicated as you may think. As long as you know what you are doing, have made the right preparations and have thoroughly checked each stage of the process, it can be a very simple task.

It is best to choose your new front door first, but do not buy it straight away. This is because front door companies do tend to operate in slightly different ways – if you know who you are buying the door from, you can read and follow their guidelines and save yourself from potentially having to gather different measurements than those you originally had.

Once you have found a replacement front door that you like, shop around to make sure the company is reputable and that you are getting a good quality product, at a good price. Once you’ve found the best deal, take the measurements for your new front door, as advised by the chosen supplier. Most of the time, this involves measuring at 3 points of the outer frame for each the length and the width of the doorway, as well as taking measurements diagonally across the front door, to make sure it is square. The supplier may also ask you at this point to check other details of your existing front door – such as information about the threshold, or about the brick wall the frame will be fitted to. In some cases, especially in houses with cavity walls, the plaster line and the brickwork are not equal. If this is the case, you will need to order add-ons for your door frame, which will help prevent the front door from fouling.