Composite Door Shop Blog

How to measure and fit a front door

Although The Composite Door Shop offers a full UK front door installation service, we know that sometimes a competent DIYer might find it quicker to measure their own front door for a fitting.

Measuring a front door requires care and attention, as the wrong measurements can lead to your door fitting incorrectly, meaning that your new front door will be less secure and difficult to use.

When measuring for a new front door, the areas you need to measure are the width, height and diagonals. Be sure to include the complete door, frame and cill in these measurements.

Measure the width of the front door at 3 points, the top, middle and bottom. Take the smallest measurement of each and deduct 10mm.

To measure the height, measure at left, centre and right and again take the smallest measurement and deduct 10mm.

For the diagonals, measure from top left corner to bottom right corner and vice versa, to ensure that the opening is square (less than 5mm difference in both measurements).

When measuring for a new front door:

- Use a new, metric tape measure
- Don’t use a linen or paper dressmakers tape measure
- Ensure enough clearance around the edge for the door to open properly

We provide detailed instructions on how to correctly measure a front door, including a free downloadable front door Measuring Guide PDF.

You can also see our online measuring guide for more help.

If you are selling your home, you will know how vital it is for your house to make the right first impression. It is well known that we make swift judgements on those all important first moments and potential buyers can know within several seconds whether a home is right for them.

All those hours keeping your home spotless in preparation for house viewings may be wasted if the first impression of your home is not right. A new front door can make the difference between a positive or negative first impression, so investing in a quality composite front door to improve the look of your home is a great idea if you wish to attract viewers and sell your home quickly.

Ensure good ‘kerb appeal’ with a new composite front door

Kerb appeal is the term for the attractiveness of a house exterior, often marred by such things as rubbish in the garden, peeling paintwork or a grotty front door. If your existing front door is old or unsightly it will significantly decrease the kerb appeal of your property, so install an attractive new composite front door to improve the exterior of your house before you put your property on the market.

Choose an appropriate composite front door for your house

It’s important for your house to complement the surrounding properties, and this includes your front door. Avoid choosing a front door that doesn’t fit in with the neighbourhood. Heavy victorian style composite front doors look odd on a new build home, and more modern composite front doors can look misplaced on a period style property.

The Composite Door Shop

With 14 basic door designs to choose from and with an automatic 10 year guarantee, the composite door shop can help you every step of the way when buying a new front door.

If you are selling your house and want to improve the kerb appeal of your home with a new composite door, visit our online front door designer to create a new front door that fits your unique requirements exactly.

• Does your front door stick or have a ‘knack’ to opening it?
• Does your front door make your hallway or front room feel dingy or cramped?
• Does your home have a bad first impression because of an old or poorly made front door?
• Have you been meaning to upgrade your front door locks to improve the security of your home?

These are just some of the many reasons why you may consider buying a new front door.

Buying a new front door
An old front door can look dated and give a negative impression of your home simply by deteriorating with age. A new front door can completely renew the look of a property and revive your house – that’s why it’s often a good move to buy a new front door to improve the all important ‘kerb appeal’ of your house, before putting your property on the market. Buying a new front door is also something to consider if you have just bought a new house. Often, older front doors no longer provide the security and function of modern or composite front doors, so it’s worth going the extra for a high quality new front door.

Front Door Security
A new front door is integral to updating the security of your property so you will not want to compromise on a well designed, secure front door. The front door is often the first target for criminals looking for weakness so to make sure your home is well guarded, opt for a modern front door with the latest security features.

Buying a new front door may seem like a daunting task, however here at The Composite Door Shop we have made buying a new front door easy, helping you to choose the right new front door for you.

By using our unique online front door designer, you can build a front door that meets all your individual requirements today. Whether you are looking to buy a new front door to increase security of your home, or are looking for a new front door to improve the look of your house, visit the composite door today to buy a new front 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

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.