Sliding Door Front Entrance?

vr6lad

I'm on the lookout for a property and tonight, came across a lovely little refurbished 1st floor flat. The building itself is a Victorian terraced house
(very much like an old coastguards cottage) which has been converted into an upstairs and downstairs flat.

The property has a main communal front door which leads into a small hallway. At the end of the hallway is the private entrance to the ground floor flat. Just to the right of this is a sliding door. This is the main entrance to the 1st floor flat (once you slide the door open, you are greeted immediately with stairs leading to the landing upstairs).

I've never come across this before. I doubt there would be enough space to replace it with a 'normal' front door. Even if it would fit, I'm sure there might be problems in the event of blocking downstairs access if there were to be a fire.

Question is: would there be implications for getting a mortgage/ insurance? Is there any way of making a sliding door more secure? (or an alternative with the restricted hallway space?)

harrys_dad

Most insurance policies require additional locks on sliding doors that go vertically into the ceiling or similar.

vr6lad

harrys_dad wrote: »

Most insurance policies require additional locks on sliding doors that go vertically into the ceiling or similar.

Thanks - from what I remember the door only had one lock. Is it possible to retrofit........or would a whole new door/ assembly be required? Guessing it might be expensive?

tim123456789

If it's a solid wooden door then you can fit as many locks (in)to it as you like.

If it's a hollow wooden door then whether you can fit extra locks depends upon how wide the sold part around the edges is. Usually the top/bottom isn't as wide as the sides because they don't expect anyone to fit locks/hinges here. Though you shouldn't have a hollow door as a "front" door, they are dead easy for someone to break down.

It it's plastic then (realistically) you're stuck with what it came with