UKH

I need a front door.
All the salesmen say that UPVC doors are less good at insulating than composite doors, and that the latter are better than hardwood doors too; yet when asked for objective measurements I am told that Composite doors have to be less than or better than 1.8 transmittance values(won't try to type the units), but that UPVC doors/windows have transmittance values measured at 1.22(which is better). I suspect that there is a blind acceptance that composite doors are better at insulation without any proof.
Is there anyone in the industry who has some objective comparisons for the relative insulating properties of these different types of door?
Is it really worth spending more on the composite door as opposed to UPVC, and should I decide based upon appearance, in which case I should spend megabucks more on a solid wood door which will need more upkeep in 5 years time or less?

(Sorry for the boring topic for others)

In reply to veteye:

Hopefully this is pointing out the blindingly obvious but not all doors of a type are the same.

There is a methodology for calculating the thermal transmittance (u-value) and this data should be available on a door by door basis for that actual design.

In reply to veteye:


Just to clarify, lower U-values are better, higher R -values better.

You can get a minute rebate under the Green Deal, but you need proof of the U-value off the installer, which should be better than blind faith.

The financial savings of energy are tiny, less than a tenner a year, also the U-value includes the frame, so putting in a wood door in an existing frame is largely guess work, sealing the draughts probably better than anything else.

You can get wood U-values down to about 0.5 (Passivhaus), try the Wood Window Alliance, but often, because these have functionally identical frames, it can be difficult to tell whether it's wood or not. Be a shame to spend the money and have people think it was really realistic fake wood.

In reply to veteye:

The door is a small part of the insulating envelope of your house but a big part of your experience of the house. Given all properly fitted modern doors will seal well and thermal performance is similar I'd go for the nicest in your price bracket. Personally I can't stand plastic doors but there are some nice-ish ones out there and not everyone is the same type of snob as me

jk

In reply to veteye:

If you currently have a wooden door, my gut feeling is that you will see the largest % increase in insulation potential by switching to a upvc or composite doors that has a good door seal, no keyhole / letterbox which let's in drafts.

You can get wooden doors with good seals but there are more expensive and your door needs painting / staining etc but they do look good when painted with a high gloss.

We have just got a new front composite door (for how it looks) and a new upvc back door (functional white). Both the previous doors were wood with draft excluders etc but they are not a patch on the new door seals etc.

HTH Davey

In reply to jkarran:
"Given all properly fitted modern doors will seal well and thermal performance"

Whether or not the door is correctly fitted will have a bigger impact on the insulating properties of the door than the material of the door itself. Personally, if I was replacing my front door I'd get a good GRP door, they look as good as wood doors, you can get loads of colours rather than the white and terrible wood effect you can get for PVC, they are strong and secure with multi point locking (something you won't get on wood doors), they require little maintenance and provide better sound insulation than PVC. The only downside is the cost, unless you have an uncle who owns a windows and doors company like me

In reply to gethin_allen:

Is GRP the same as composite?
What does the acronym stand for?

In reply to winhill:

I'm replacing the full height windowed frame which is either side of the central door.So not just replacing the door itself.

In reply to veteye:

This is the last thing I expected to see on here. I run my own small business fitting doors and windows. There's various details you can add to a door to make it thermally efficient. I fit and supply Solidor composites as they are a fully engineered slab as opposed to foam filled rubbish. Triple glazed, low-e coated units with an argon filling takes the stats to the best on the market.
I'm happy to provide more info if anybody wants it. Oh, I'm also a climber and have always been on here for climbing reasons but couldn't resist putting my work head on and replying.

In reply to veteye:

Best thing we ever did was to replace our leaky old wood back door with a composite "cottage" style door with plank lines moulded in. We got a new frame fitted for it as well and the seal is near-perfect. It faces west so gets hit by all the weather and the hot summer sun yet the thermal performance is excellent and, more importantly, it's very stable, so since I painted it 10 years ago, no cracks have appeared.

As a secondary recommendation I painted it with a couple of coats of Little Greene's matt vinyl, which has not faded, cracked or peeled in all that time of weather. I am quite atonished at the quality of that paint.

In reply to veteye:



Grp is glass fibre reinforced plastic. So yes, composite of sorts.

In reply to veteye:



It's Glass Reinforced Polymer

In reply to olddirtydoggy:

One company is selling Rockdoors(the ultimate range) which are 50mm wide, whilst another is selling a non-specific product that is 40mm wide. Neither has offered a triple glazing, but the glass units are Argon filled.
By comparison the UPVC units are 28mm thick. Yet anything would be an improvement on my old wooden door.

Somebody else mentioned not having a letter box to keep draughts out. So then what? Do you have a box on the wall?
Alternatively I wonder about having an internal box behind the flap?

Do I also gather that wood appearance doors do not look so good?

In reply to veteye:

Rockdoors are a fine quality product. I personally supply and fit Solidor but they would be my second choice if Solidor packed up. Triple glazing is a bit of a turkey unless the spacers are larger than about 16mm per cavilty. Argon filled double glazing will not be much colder in a door. The letter box will be the thermal weak point but as long as the box is a premium product like Fab and Fix or the deluxe Mila then again the difference isn't huge. A wall box would be thermally the best option but then you'd have to let all the warm air out of your house to collect the post.
Not sure what you mean about wood appearance doors as composites generally have a woodgrain texture to them.

In reply to olddirtydoggy:

They have options like light oak and rosewood.

In reply to veteye:

Personally I think the light oak looks like a Chinese takeaway and rosewood looks dated. Black is the popular choice but it's all getting a bit boring fitting black composite after black composite. The blue looks fantastic with some styles of doors.
Solidor's website has a door designer where you can pick style, colour and all the trimmings to see what the finished thing will look like. If you were more local I'd help you out more.

In reply to olddirtydoggy:

I suppose we all wonder about aiming for the cosy rustic pub door(?)

By the time I decide about it the only cold spell of winter will be over!

The house is 1960's brick. I must admit that I like the black, but I wondered about the Anthracite Grey, or is that too dull and boring?
(Sapphire blue does not look like Sapphire)

In reply to veteye:
I'd go composite (indeed, I did) because (a) it looks better, and (b) it is more secure than uPVC, on which kicking in the bottom panel is really not that difficult, as well as white uPVC doors looking really tatty after a few years.

In reply to veteye:

Anthrasite grey can look good if you're going with a contemporary style. Here's one we did a while back.
http://i.imgur.com/K2rpMXL.jpg

In reply to olddirtydoggy:

The door looks tidy, pitty whoever put the numbers up didn't have a spirit level.

In reply to veteye:

The door looks good but the house looks like it needs a step!

In reply to Neil Williams:


GRP goes tatty too - if you don't polish it the surface starts to go chalky. A quick walk round any marina will show you that!