The front door – a perfect showcase for any building
There are many types of front doors available on the market today. They differ in the material they are made of, the kind of filling, size or colour. It is worth remembering, however, that the front door should not only look good and blend in with the building’s facade but should, above all, ensure security, reduce heat loss and silence outside noise. When shopping for a front door, you should also pay attention to other details such as the frame, the inserts, the central locking system, the peephole, the handle and last but not least, the door sill. These elements are sometimes forgotten about, and if adequately selected can make using the front door easy and enjoyable.
VIKKING composite doors
Steel doors
Panel doors
PCV doors
Thermal insulation – thanks to it you will be able to enjoy the warmth of your home
When buying entrance doors, it is worth paying attention to their thermal insulation, which will allow you to achieve lower heat losses, and thus save on heating bills. According to the applicable regulations, the heat transfer coefficient U of external doors should not be higher than 1.3 W/(m² K). There are also entrance door models on the market with a heat transfer coefficient below 1.0 W/(m2.K).
The warmest are doors equipped with a thick layer of insulating material. It can be mineral wool or polyurethane foam. When it comes to thermal insulation properties, professional door installation is also of great importance.
Sound insulation – important when you want to take a break from the hustle and bustle of the street
Very often, the material in the entrance door that insulates heat also provides acoustic damping. The same as can be found in acoustically damped doors. So if you live on a busy street, or the door of your house or apartment overlooks a playground or park, it is worth buying door leaves with an Rw of 30-35 db, which will significantly reduce noise from the outside. Do not forget, however, that the main element protecting our apartment against noise are windows. So it is worth asking not only about the right selection of doors.
Resistance to external factors – will allow you to enjoy the product for a long time
When buying an entrance door, apart from thermal insulation factors, it is worth considering protection against weather conditions, such as rain, snow or wind. The basic parameter determining the tightness of the door is watertightness, which is defined by symbols from 1A to 9A. The higher the coefficient, the higher the tightness guarantee. However, this parameter should not be lower than 3-4 A.
Entrance doors should also be resistant to UV radiation and frost. If you decide to buy a product with low parameters, you can expect that the material from which the door will be made will start to deform and change color, or lose its protective properties.
Security – so you can sleep peacefully
When buying an entrance door, it is worth paying attention to the fact that they are not only aesthetic and functional, but also constitute an excellent barrier for unwanted guests. There are 6 classes of burglary resistance. The easiest is to force the door with the RC1 class, the most difficult – RC6. Doors to single-family houses usually have the RC2 or RC3 class.
Anti-burglary entrance doors are usually products reinforced with steel bars and sheet metal. They also have anti-burglary bolts placed in the sash, which, after closing the sash, slide into special holes in the frame. If we are aiming to buy an automatic sliding door, safety should be a priority when choosing a product. For a full sense of security when building a house or renovating it, it is worth using windows and burglary doors.
Size – will allow you to create a functional interior
When choosing the entrance door to your house, apartment or business premises, it is worth paying attention to their dimensions. The height and width are determined not only by aesthetic preferences, but also by the regulation of the Minister of Infrastructure of April 12, 2002 on the technical conditions to be met by buildings and the location of doors. Therefore, external doors cannot be narrower than 90 cm and lower than 200 cm. Thanks to such dimensions, they will be functional – we can easily carry furniture, luggage or use a pram through them.
By the width of the entrance door, there are markings N and E that are quite mysterious for some people. These are symbols indicating the product’s adaptation to non-standard door openings. They mean, respectively, part-size (80N – clear passage 765 mm) or full-size, in accordance with the European standard (900E – clear passage 901 mm). It is also worth emphasizing that it is possible to change the height of the door, however, the width is a non-modifiable feature.
How to open – you can gain more space in your home
Before you decide to buy a specific entrance door, think carefully whether it should open outwards or inwards. Both solutions have their advantages and disadvantages. If the door opens outwards, you can easily arrange your vestibule or hool, because you have more space in it. Entrance doors that open outwards are also pressed harder against the frame, thus ensuring greater tightness. However, if you do not have a proper roofing, then in winter, when it snows heavily, you may have a problem with opening them.
Entrance doors that open inwards have hinges placed on the inside, so it is more difficult to pry the sash open. So this solution is safer. This solution also does not interfere with the common space of a housing community when we are dealing with flats in a block or apartment.
It is also worth emphasizing that the rules regarding the direction of opening the entrance door to apartments in a block of flats are quite clearly defined. They should open inwards, not outwards. This is primarily for security reasons.