Composite Door Shop Blog

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.

There is no such thing as a wooden composite door. Composite door constructions include many different materials but, due to the instability of wood, it is never used for the ‘skin’ of the door. The best skin used in composite doors is GRP (glass reinforced plastic, also known more commonly as fibreglass). This material is made up of plastic that has been reinforced with glass fibres, making it light but tough and durable. It is more stable than the alternative uPVC skin and looks far nicer.
Although wooden composite doors do not exist, the GRP composite doors are designed to mimic wood. The front door skin is grained so that the appearance looks as realistic as possible. Using fibreglass instead of wood also has the benefit of easier maintenance – the skin does not fade or rot with the constant weathering, so it never needs sanding and painting or varnishing to keep it looking smart. The rich colours last for the lifespan of the front door, and if it ever begins to look dull, all it needs is a wipe with a damp cloth to revive it.
The choice of colours available allows you to choose between varnish-style wooden doors in dark wood or light oak, or a range of colours that mimic painted doors. With the range of frames available, including those with a grain appearance, you are certain to find a combination that suits your home.
So why choose a composite door that imitates a wooden door over a real wooden door? Asides from the easy care aspects mentioned earlier, the doors are also well designed to function at a high level, excelling at security and thermal protection. Wooden doors may gradually wear down over time but composite doors do not rot or wear out like other front doors.

Quote and buy wood-style composite doors online