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How to maintain your energy-efficient windows and doors

Pine windows and doors

When to check the pine windows and doors?
When it comes to pine windows and doors, it's a good idea to be proactive with maintenance.
Check the surface regularly, especially on the sides of the house that are exposed to sunlight, as the sun's rays are particularly hard on the paint.
When to paint the pine windows and doors?
The humidity in the wood should not be too high. In addition, it is best when the temperature is between 10-20 degrees and you are not painting in direct sunlight. Don't start painting before the dew has disappeared and don't start so late that the dew returns before the paint is completely dry.
Weather-wise, late summer is often a good time to paint.
How to paint pine windows and doors?
It's best to paint before the paint starts to crack or peel, as all you need to do is clean. before painting on top. Once the paint has started to crack, we recommend sanding and priming before repainting.
It is recommended to give the woodwork two thin coats of paint rather than one thick coat. Let the paint dry for 24 hours between coats, remembering not to close the windows until the paint is dry.
A good tip is to take off the window frames and remove as many fittings as possible to speed up the painting process and make it possible to paint underneath the fittings.
It is important that you do not paint sealing strips, fittings and warranty and production labelling.

Alu-clad windows and doors

How to maintain alu-clad windows and doors?
When it comes to alu-clad windows and doors, maintenance is minimal.
Simply wash the frame and sash a couple of times a year as needed. Use pH neutral soap and lukewarm water.

Which material should you choose?

Start with what matters most to you and the material follows, rather than the other way round.

Pine is painted or stained at our factory and can be repainted in any colour years later. It is the material for a period property, and the one to specify if your house is listed or in a conservation area, where a plastic or composite door is often refused. It asks for recoating when the surface starts to dull, sooner on a south-facing elevation.
Alu-clad pine is a pine door with a powder-coated aluminium skin on the outside face. Timber indoors, aluminium against the weather, and the outside maintenance drops from repainting to washing.
uPVC is the lowest maintenance of the three and the most straightforward. A wipe with a damp cloth is the whole routine, and it never needs painting.

If you are being told that a composite door is the only sensible choice, that advice is written for a standard-sized opening on a house with no planning constraints. It is often right. It is not right for a listed building, a conservation area, or an opening that is not a standard size.

Front doors for listed buildings and conservation areas

If your house is listed, replacing the front door needs listed building consent, and going ahead without it is an offence. In a conservation area the rules are lighter but your council can still specify the material and the design.

In both cases the answer is usually painted timber, and usually a design that matches what was there. That is why the general advice you will read elsewhere, that a composite door is the best choice for most homes, does not apply to you: composite is frequently refused on both.

What helps a conservation officer say yes is a door that copies the original. Panel count, panel proportions, glazing bars and paint colour matter more than any performance figure. Every layout here is made to your measurements, so the door can match the opening and the pattern rather than approximate them.

Talk to your conservation officer before you order, and take a photograph of the existing door with you.

Should the door open inwards or outwards?

You choose when you order, and it cannot be changed afterwards.

Inward is the British norm. It is more welcoming to step through, it keeps the leaf out of the weather when open, and the hinges sit inside where nothing can reach them. The cost is floor space: a leaf swinging in needs clear hallway, and a hall table or a radiator behind the door will get in the way.
Outward frees the hallway completely, which is the reason to choose it when the space behind the door is tight. Two things to plan for. The leaf swings into whatever is in front of the door, so check a porch, a step, a path or a boundary. And the hinges sit on the outside, so specify hinge bolts.

If the door opens onto a public footway, check with your local authority first.

Glazing, panels and glazing bars

The layout is what people actually notice from the street, and it is where the range is deepest.

Panes, or lights.From a single pane to twelve. A light means a pane of glass, so a nine light door has nine panes. More glass means more daylight in a hall that usually has none.
Panels. From one raised panel to twelve. Solid, traditional, and the choice that matches most period frontages. A four panel and a six panel door read very differently on the same house.
Both. Panels below, glass above. Daylight at head height where it travels furthest into the hall, and a solid lower half that takes the boots, the bikes and the dog.
Glazing bars and mullions. Glazing bars divide the glass into smaller panes visually without dividing the sealed unit, so you keep the insulation. A mullion is a structural upright that separates two panes properly, and it gives a heavier, more defined division than a bar does. Both are available, and on a period door the choice between them changes the character more than the number of panes.

If you are matching an existing door, count the panels and the panes on the old one and start there. Copying what was there is nearly always the right answer on an older house.

What size is a standard front door?

There is no single standard, which is the reason so many replacement doors need the frame changed too.

British door widths are still quoted in feet and inches by most of the trade. The common ones are 2'3", 2'6", 2'9" and 3'0", which are 686, 762, 838 and 914 mm. Heights are usually 6'6" or 78 inches, which is 1981 mm.

Your opening is unlikely to be exactly any of them, particularly on a house built before the war. That is what made-to-measure is for: the door is built to the hole rather than the hole adjusted to the door.
Measure the opening in three places for width and three for height, and work from the smallest reading of each.

How do you stop a front door being cold?

A cold hallway is usually the gap around the door rather than the door itself. Before you replace anything, hold the back of your hand around the closed door at the hinge side, the lock side, the head and the threshold. Where you feel air moving is where the heat is going.

A perished seal is the commonest cause and the cheapest fix. Seals harden and split after ten to fifteen years, and replacing one costs a few pounds and takes ten minutes.

A door that has dropped on its hinges compresses the seal on one side and leaves it slack on the other.

That is an adjustment rather than a replacement. Our page on fixing and maintaining a front door covers both.

When the door itself is the problem, it is usually single glazing in the panel or a solid door with no insulating core. Every door we make has an insulated construction and double glazing as standard, with triple glazing available across the range. The threshold is worth checking separately. An old timber threshold that has worn hollow lets air under the door regardless of how good the seal above it is.

What about composite doors?

A composite door has a solid core, usually timber or foam, wrapped in a glass-reinforced plastic skin. It needs no painting, it comes in a fixed range of styles and colours, and most UK guides will tell you it is the best all-round choice. For a standard-sized opening on a house with no planning constraints, that advice is sound.
We do not make composite doors, so if that is what you have settled on, we are not your supplier and we would rather say so now.

Two situations where composite is the wrong answer and ours is the right one. A listed building or a conservation area, where composite is frequently refused and painted timber is what the conservation officer expects. And an opening that is not a standard size, where a stock composite door means packing out the reveal and re-plastering to make the hole fit the door.

At SparWindows you’ll find a wide range of low priced front doors, regardless of whether you’re looking for a front door with glass, a front door in uPVC, a double door or a single door.

We always have special offers on our front doors and you are assured a safe online shopping experience when using our website! Our website is SSL-encrypted and all payments run through an encrypted payment server.

If you wish to install windows that will align with or simply fit with your front door, a side-hung casement window is often the preferred choice. Instead of one of our low priced front doors, you can also choose to install a panelled door or a front door with sidelights.

FAQ

What material is best for a front door?
There is no single best material, and the honest answer depends on the constraint you cannot change. If your house is listed or in a conservation area, painted timber, because composite and uPVC are frequently refused. If your opening is not a standard size, made to measure in any material. If you never want to paint anything again, uPVC or alu-clad. Start with the constraint, not the material.
Can I get a front door made to my exact size?
Yes, and it is how we make almost everything. Every made-to-measure door here is built to the dimensions you enter rather than trimmed down from a standard size. British door widths are still quoted as 2'3", 2'6", 2'9" and 3'0", and an opening in an older house is rarely exactly any of them. Measure the opening in three places and work from the smallest.
Do I need planning permission to replace my front door?
Usually not, but there are two exceptions that matter. A listed building needs listed building consent before the door is replaced. A house in a conservation area may be subject to conditions on material and design. Separately, replacing an external door is notifiable under Building Regulations, which is a different process from planning. Check both with your council before ordering.
What is the difference between a glazing bar and a mullion?
A glazing bar divides the glass visually. It is applied to the sealed unit, so the door still has one insulated pane behind a grid of bars. A mullion is a structural upright that separates two genuinely separate panes. A bar looks lighter and finer, a mullion looks heavier and more defined. On a period door the choice changes the character more than the number of panes does.
What does a light mean on a door?
A light is a pane of glass. A nine light front door has nine panes, whether they are separated by glazing bars or by mullions. You will also see it spelled lite, which is the American form of the same word. Panels are the solid raised sections, counted separately, so a two panel four light door has two solid panels and four panes.
Do you fit the doors you sell?
No. We supply, and you or your joiner fit. Installation guides are on the site. One consequence is worth planning for: replacing an external door is notifiable under Building Regulations, and where a FENSA or Certass registered installer would self-certify, a self-fitted door has to be notified to your local authority Building Control instead. Start that before the door arrives.

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Affordable front doors for UK homes – uPVC, Alu-Clad & Pine

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We're here to help you

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How to maintain your energy-efficient windows and doors

When to check the pine windows and doors?

When to paint the pine windows and doors?

How to paint pine windows and doors?

How to maintain alu-clad windows and doors?

Which material should you choose?

Front doors for listed buildings and conservation areas

Should the door open inwards or outwards?

Glazing, panels and glazing bars

What size is a standard front door?

How do you stop a front door being cold?

What about composite doors?

FAQ

What material is best for a front door?

Can I get a front door made to my exact size?

Do I need planning permission to replace my front door?

What is the difference between a glazing bar and a mullion?

What does a light mean on a door?

Do you fit the doors you sell?

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