How to Choose a Composite Door

Almost everyone starts with colour. It is the enjoyable part and it is where every brochure begins. But the decisions that determine whether you are still happy with the door in fifteen years are the ones underneath, and they are far harder to change afterwards.

Work through construction, security and threshold first. Then spend as long as you like on the colour.

A composite door is a glass-reinforced plastic skin over a core, wrapped in a reinforced frame. What sits in the middle varies a great deal between products at similar prices.

This is covered in detail in our guide to composite door security, but the short version belongs here because it is a specification decision rather than an afterthought.

Thresholds come in standard, low and level. A standard threshold is the most weather-tight; a low threshold is much easier to cross and looks neater.

This is the detail people most often wish they had thought about. If anyone in the household uses a wheelchair or a walking frame, pushes a pram, or is likely to in the next decade, specify low. On an exposed front elevation facing driving rain, weigh that against the weather performance and talk it through at the survey.

The door should look as though it belongs to the house. A few reliable rules:

Now the fun part, with two practical warnings.

First, judge the colour against your actual brickwork or stone, outdoors, in daylight — not on a screen and not under showroom lighting. Reds and greens in particular shift a great deal against warm stone versus red brick. Ask for a sample if you are undecided.

Second, remember the door is seen from the street alongside the windows, the garage door and the frame. A colour that works in isolation can fight with everything around it. Anthracite grey, black, Chartwell green, racing green, blue, oak and cream are all popular for good reason; the question is which one your elevation wants.

Dual colour is available — a strong colour outside, white or light oak inside — and is worth considering if the hallway is dark.

Glazing has more effect on the feel of a hallway than anything else on the order, because most front halls have no other source of natural light.

Handles, letterplates, knockers, numerals, spy holes and hinges should all be in one finish and, ideally, one family. Chrome, satin chrome, black, brushed gold and graphite all look right on the correct door and wrong on the others.

A few practical points: a door-mounted letterplate versus a separate post box is worth deciding early, since it changes the door design; a lever handle and a pull handle behave quite differently in daily use; and a TS008-rated letterplate resists key fishing.

Inward or outward, hinged left or right. This sounds trivial and it is the single most common source of order regret, because it is decided quickly and cannot be changed afterwards without a new frame.

Think about where the door lands when it is fully open, what it hits, whether it blocks a hallway or a radiator, and how you carry shopping through it. Stand in the doorway and mime it before you sign.

If you are comparing quotes, these five questions separate them far more effectively than the price does: what is the core made of; what is the cylinder rating; what are the locking points, by type; is the glass laminated or toughened; and is the whole door set PAS 24 certified.

Our composite doors are supplied as complete door sets with a solid core, a hooked multipoint lock, a TS007 3-star cylinder, laminated glazing and internal beads, and carry our 20-year guarantee.