Composite front door: south-facing house

jenny-wren

We are planning to replace our uPVC front door with a composite door. The door will be in a white uPVC frame with glass panels on each side.

The trouble is, the house is south-facing. I would love a black door but I'm worried that it may fade, shift or warp.

Does anyone have experience, good or bad, of fitting a black composite door to a south-facing house?

The doors we have been looking at are made by Apeer.

kkgree1

The front of our house faces south. We're about to replace the existing navy blue composite door with a white upvc one. We've had no end of problems with it since we moved here two years ago. It's most obvious in the summer when it severely warps, so much so last summer we couldn't lock it several times from the outside and had to lock it from the inside and go out the back door!

The company we use say it's only just lasted 10 years (they fitted it for the previous owners) and it's a known problem with dark composite doors that face south. Ideally we wanted a coloured front door again but we've gone for white with lots of glass to try and avoid similar issues.

Furts

A neighbours dark blue composite door faces south. It has been replaced, and IIRR, replaced again. This is what was known as a Carolina pattern - when doors were made of hardwood (6 panel door with a small semi circle of glass in lieu of the top two panels)

My home does not have black for the reasons you are concerned about.

If we were to consider good practice, no black door of any construction should be used in this location unless fully protected by a porch. Plus, the porch should be a proper 1930s walk in porch - not the subsequent and modern bolt on porches

missprice

I have a dark brown south facing composite door, and aside from the first 2 summers when it stuck when warm, I have had no problems with fading or sticking or warping. (it took 2 summers to fix properly cos if it was left open out of the sun a few mins it cooled enough to close and I was not too bothered)


it is now iirc 7 years old.
and just to add the West facing door same make /model/colour/ fitted same time etc is faded but has never stuck or warped

jenny-wren

It looks like installing a black door would be asking for trouble!

I'd still like to get a composite door rather than a uPVC door. As white would appear be the most sensible option for a south facing house, can anyone tell me if it would be more difficult to keep clean than a uPVC door? The house is on a well used road and we notice that we get some traffic dirt inside when the windows are open.

Thanks.

Furts

jenny-wren wrote: »

It looks like installing a black door would be asking for trouble!

I'd still like to get a composite door rather than a uPVC door. As white would appear be the most sensible option for a south facing house, can anyone tell me if it would be more difficult to keep clean than a uPVC door? The house is on a well used road and we notice that we get some traffic dirt inside when the windows are open.

Thanks.

The composite doors have a wood grain finish. These will hold dirt more than pvcu - which is smooth.

al69

A compostie door wont cause as many problems as a upvc doors in a darker colour.Upvc in woodgrain or dark colours can expand as much as 15% in the heat.If you were to get locked out on a hot sunny day the first thing to try is to get a bucket of cold water from a neighbour if you can and throw it over the door.This will make it cool and contract.
The door would need adjusting afterwards to prevent it happening again.

Im fitting a black composite door to my house and its south facing, not concerned at all. i used to be a locksmith and the guy fitting it is my brother in law so lots of experience between us if we thought it would be a problem.