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First impressions really count. And what could be more impressive than making a grand entrance with a stunning front door?
Today’s contemporary and traditional front doors are just as impressive on the inside as they are outside, our high quality front doors offer exceptional thermal efficiency, enhanced security and a minimum 10 year guarantee for added peace of mind.
Available in aluminium, wood or composite materials with a range of glazing options alongside the colour of your choice, Vufold’s external front doors are the perfect choice for every home!
If your front door lock has been damaged or is suffering from age, it may need to be replaced with one of these more secure front door locks:
For more information, see our guide to making your front door more secure.
Draught-proofing your front doors is known to be easy and doesn’t require a large amount of knowledge or expertise which can help save you money. You can tackle this initially by ensuring your doors are professionally installed, or by adding either a door sweep, keyhole cover, draught excluder or letterbox draught excluder depending on where the draught is occurring. You can read our guide on how to draught proof your front door for more details.
There are many factors to consider when choosing the right door for your home, for more details see our helpful advice on choosing between wooden front doors or composite front doors.
If you are thinking about replacing your entrance door and your existing door corresponds with the standard UK door sizes, then this should not be difficult. Our guide to understanding front door sizes will provide you with the details you need on standard door frame widths, heights and what to do if your door does not adhere to these standards.
Comparing new door prices can be difficult at there are lots of different factors to consider.
• Door or door and frame
• Supply only or fitted
• Glazing options
• Security of the new door
• Guarantee length
• Energy efficiency
Current 2024 prices for a supply only door and frame (980mm x 2090mm), un-glazed,PAS 24 security tested with a 10 year guarantee are:
Material | Prices From |
UPVC door cost | £520 |
Wooden door cost | £650 |
Composite door cost | £1000 |
Aluminium door cost | £1300 |
When starting your search for a new entrance door its important to know what you want – design budget, security and thermal performance will all help determine the best choice for you.
Wooden Doors
An excellent choice for ether period or modern properties, wood is an excellent natural insulator and is strong and durable. Today’s factory finished engineered timber doors are aesthetically pleasing and maintenance is minimal. Hardwood doors can be stained or painted in any colour and a huge range of designs exist to choose from.
Wood is a sustainable material and has a low carbon footprint when compared with some of the other front door materials. When buying a timber door it is important to choose one that is FSC Certified as this ensures the wood comes from certified forests that meet the required social and environmental standards.
UPVC Doors
The main plus point for plastic doors is the budget and availability, they are the most cost-effective material to choose for your new front door. They do come in a wide range of designs and colours but aesthetically can be clunky and look cheap.
Upvc doors can also be adversely affected by climatic changes. This expansion and contraction can cause operational issues. Historically Upvc was always considered to be non-recyclable however this is not actually true and the material can be recycled up to 10 times.
Aluminium Doors
A great choice for modern homes, aluminium doors are very low maintenance and the powder coated finish is available in any RAL colour. Aluminium is a naturally strong material making front doors very secure, by adding a foam insulating core they are also highly thermally efficient. Budget wise they sit at the higher end in terms of cost.
100% recyclable and actually considered to be a green metal aluminium can be recycled infinitely with no loss in its properties.
Composite Doors
One of the most popular materials for a new front door is composite – usually made using softwood and foam in the core with GRP skins on the inside and out then fitted in a upvc or aluminium frame. Readily available in a wide range of colours and designs they can be an ideal choice for any home. They don’t excel in any area but offer good security, thermal efficiency and guarantees at a reasonable cost.
Currently composite doors are not easily recyclable but the industry is working hard to improve that.
Front doors can come in a wide range RAL colours some of the most popular in 2023 are: anthracite grey, oak, chartwell green, duck egg blue, agate grey, poppy red and black.
With such a vast range of new door colours available it can be difficult to decide on what’s right for you. Below are some simple rules to follow that can help:
1. Pick a door colour that suits the exterior render/brick colour of the house.
2. Choose a front door colour in keeping with the age and style of your property.
3. When selling your house stick with the classic’s black, red, dark green or blue.
4. Dual colour doors enable you to match the exterior and interior of you home.
If your choosing between a composite or aluminium front door it can be difficult, both materials come in a huge range of designs and finishes’ to suit all types of home.
While aluminium doors are initially more expensive than their composite counterparts the actual cost when spread over the lifetime of the product can be a different proposition.
COMPOSITE FRONT DOOR | ALUMINIUM FRONT DOOR | |
SECURITY | Very secure | Extremely secure |
FINISH GUARANTEE | 10 years | 20 years |
MAINTENANCE | Low maintenance | Very low maintenance |
LIFESPAN | Last for 20 years | Last for 40 years |
THERMAL EFFICIENCY | Reasonably efficiency | Very good efficiency |
STRENGTH | Strong | Very strong |
Aluminium doors typically come with much longer guarantees, are more thermally efficient and require less maintenance than composite doors making them a better long term investment than composite doors.
You can find out more about the differences in our guide Aluminium Vs Composite.
Below you will find a basic guide on how to measure your structural opening and calculate your door outer frame height and width 'manufactured to size'.
Height Collect 3 measurements from inside the structural opening reveal by measuring from top to bottom, at the left and right vertical sides, and centre. Once you have collected all 3 measurements, deduct 10mm from the smallest measurement. This will be the outer frame height ‘manufactured to’ size. Example: Left = 2090mm, centre = 2095mm and right = 2098mm. 2090mm is the smallest measurement. Deduct 10mm, and the recommended manufactured to size for the outer frame height is 2080mm. |
Width Collect 3 measurements from inside the structural opening reveal by measuring from left to right, at the top, centre, and bottom. Once you have collected all 3 measurements, deduct 10mm from the smallest measurement. This will be the outer frame width ‘manufactured to’ size. Example: Top = 1090mm, centre = 1095mm and right = 1098mm. 1090mm is the smallest measurement. Deduct 10mm and the recommended manufactured to size for the outer frame width is 1080mm. |
Find out what other things you may need to consider in our full guide How to measure up for your new front door.