What is better as a front door?

Question

a UPVC door or a traditional wooden one?
We need a new front door but we're not 100% sure what the best option is of the two choices. I know the wooden one would cost us about £350 fully fitted but not sure of prices for UPVC.....

Answer 1

My biggest objection to uPVC: it will still be sitting in landfill in 10,000 years and is ugly to boot - go for the wooden one.

There are other advantages too. You can paint it if you decide you don't like the colour, wooden doors from sustainably managed woodland are the more eco-friendly option and if you live in a conservation area you may find that you're not allowed to install uPVC anyway - the planning officers in our area don't like them one bit.

We recently installed a FSC hard wood door with five-point locking and double-glazed windows and we're really chuffed with it - lots of people have complimented us on it and I'm really glad that we didn't go for uPVC.

Choose wood - you know you want to!

Answer 2

Go with a hard wood front door the UPVC will cost between £500 and £800 and looks cheap. The hardwood is more secure, the latest craze amongst the thieving scumbags is to use a small blow torch to melt a hole through the door in seconds reach in and unlock the door or burn a hole out of the door big enough to climb through. You can also have two hardwood doors to the price of one UPVC

Answer 3

upvc is normally more expensive than wooden. Probably about double the price of a wooden door.
The main advantages of UPVC doors are that they are more secure (deadlocks etc built in) and they are utterly weatherproof so there is no worry about the expansion and contraction problems you get with wood.

UPVC doors come with their frame attached so fitting them is a more involved process as you need to rip out the old door frame and bolt in the new one. On the upside though, that's all you need to do, there's no additional planing or messing about.

Answer 4

UPVC for sure... our windows and doors are all wooden and we are looking to replace them this year, because with the adverse weather we have up here they swell and shrink constantly which is not good! UPVC will set you back slightly more but it's definitely worth it in the long run... Good Luck!

Answer 5

UPVC doors are availible ready hung and glazed, and with a locking system and letter plate already done. You could fit it yourself quite easily.

But UPVC installation has to be done by a FENSA registered company (officially). A wooden door is more labour intensive to fit, for a carpenter it's around 4 hours work, to hang a door and fit the furniture to it.

UPVC is better, hardwood might be more appealing depending on your taste.

Answer 6

HI-, First i would like to say that i am a retired joiner & i never charged more than £110 for a front door, that was my total charge for door + fitting, A joiner i new was chargeing £350 to £400 to fit a door & i think it is down right robery to charge that, Back to your door It is better to fit a UPVC door it will last longer & is lower on maintenance so you may as well pay that little bit extra & have piece of mind,D.F;

Answer 7

A UPVC WHATCH OUT BUT A CHEAPER LOT OF DOORS COMPANY'S DO SELL THEM CHEAPER BUT THE WHITE GOES YELLOW IN THE SUN. THERE IS NO WAY YOU WILL GET ONE FOR 500 POUNDS FITTED AND ALL. GET A PVC COMPANY TO SENT YOU OUT THERE CATALOGUES AND PRICE LIST. www.doorstore.co.uk www.windows2000.co.uk

Answer 8

you would probably pay £600 fully fitted, a bigger outlay 1st but then you wont need to get a painter in, that will cost about £120 per 5 years, so its your call, i would have the upvc

Answer 9

UPVC is more secure try BQ they have a big selection in there larger stores

Answer 10

All depends on personal preference, no matter what you choose it should be fitted by a professional and have a 5-point locking system. A good compromise would be a wood effect UPC door.