Composite Door Shop Blog

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.

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.

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