New Front Door

[Deleted User]

We are thinking of buying a new uPVC front door. Bf is an experienced enough DIY-er to put this in himself but we dont know where to buy one from.

Of course if we went to places like Everestt, Davies and Tate etc etc they would charge us for fitting.

Who do we contact go buy a door from the manufacturer, assuming its a standard door size?

All ideas gratefully recevied.

Thank you.

thehairybuilder

Bailley ,
If there is not an actual manufacturer to be found then absolutely ANY decent builders merchants will sort you out with a UPVC doorset . If there aren`t any independant merchants around your way then try your local Travis Perkins or Jewsons or similar. Depending on where you are I`d expect to pay around about £600 for a decent doorset.
Good luck !

chalky_bertie

We required a new door the other yaer and looked around for ages. Did not bother with Everest etc as they seem to charge the earth. Went to local installer / manufacturer for quote and they cam to measure and fit. Took about 3 weeks for it to be made and worked a treat. Make sure it has got the locks on it that the insurance companies ask for when buying home insurance. We paid just over £500.

santana-mx3

We had a new uPVC door fitted last year. It looks reasonably good - far better than my old rotting wooden door though not as good as a nice new wooden door - but I would never get another one. The reason is the locking mechanisms.

With the uPVC doors, it's either hard or impossible to add a nightlatch (ie. the Yale cylinder locks) or even a chain because of all the levers along the locking edge of the door.

With the wooden doors you can have your mortice lock for locking overnight/when you go out, and a separate cylinder latch. I find that far more flexible in terms of the various different degrees of manual/automatic (on closing) locking. It also means for example if you ever need to lend the key to anyone, you can leave your mortice lock unlocked and lend them your cylinder lock key (and you can change the cylinder later if you need to for a very low cost). Or you could lock your mortice lock while they still had the cylinder lock key.

I would definitely go back to wooden doors in future (despite the maintenance) but still use uPVC for windows.

Chabsy

Hi there, ok you have more than 1 choice you can either go for a:

upvc front door with a panel insert (more common and they look tacky) you should be able to get this for £450-500 ish depending on the panel

a basic glass top and bottom with a midrail, you can have a flat or moulded panel at the bottom instead of glass if you wish (they look ok ish on the right house but can look a bit cheap and nasty) price about £350-400

or a composite door these have a upvc frame and a timber looking door "slab" these are upvc coverered doors with wood and foam inside, they look good and are available in different colours, they should'nt swell or shrink, the downside is price £700-900 but worth it if you plan to stay in the house or want kerbside appeal.

Jewson do made to measure doors and windows but if you need any fitting advice i doubt they'll be of any use.

The best bet is try a company called Window Fitters Mate, just google them

Or most smaller local companies will do supply only

robowen

I had a composite door in white.

Looks the dogs !

However, as its a south (is that right ?)facing door and gets the sun for most of the day, we find that it creaks a lot as it warms up and then again at night as it cools down.

I'm a light sleeper and I think someone has tried the door handle when in fact its the door creaking as it cools.

Wood for me next time !! As mentioned, better choice in security.

rob

newfunk

From my experience, dont use Jewsons, it costs money just to think about a trip there, they are so expensive....there are as everyone says, plenty of good places to get a UPVC door.....is there a specific reason you want UPVC,a s a properly made wooden door, with mortice and tenon scribed joint, with decent poly glue, and a good quality hardwood, would look far better...just my opinion