If you’re thinking about purchasing a new front door for your home, it’s important to choose the most energy efficient option for the layout of your home and your budget. With several types of front door now available, including traditional solid timber doors, composite doors, and UPVC, there are various benefits to consider in terms of thermal efficiency, installation costs, and overall durability when making your final decision.
Solid Timber Door
Solid traditional timber front doors have a timeless and elegant appeal and provide decent enough natural insulation. However, wooden doors do require regular maintenance to avoid warping and rotting, which can compromise their energy efficiency over time, as well as their appearance. The cost of installing a solid timber door varies depending on the type of wood you choose, but it’s usually more expensive than other materials due to the craftsmanship required to customise and install the door within its frame.
Timber Core Composite Door
Timber core composite doors combine the traditional appearance of a wooden front door with the durability, heat efficiency, and low maintenance requirements of more modern materials. Doors are called composite when they are constructed from several different materials, which are fused together to provide superior thermal performance characteristics. The core of a timber core composite door is made of solid or laminated wood, which delivers good insulation and strength. The timber core is then usually encapsulated within a synthetic material such as PVC or glass reinforced plastic (GRP). These outer layers protect the timber core from weathering and increase the door’s strength and security.
High Density Foam-Filled Composite Door
High density foam-filled composite doors provide exceptional thermal efficiency for the money, with the elegant aesthetics of a solid wooden door, and the best heat performance rating of any composite door. The door consists of a timber casing, surrounding a core of high-density polyurethane foam. The foam core provides excellent insulation, helping to keep heat inside your home and preventing cold air from coming in, and yielding immediately noticeable savings on your winter energy bills. We undertook an interesting thermal survey comparing the heat performance of an old timber door, a timber core composite door, and a foam filled composite door, and the foam filled composite door came up trumps in terms of how little heat escaped through the material.
A foam core composite door can also help insulate your home in the summer, keeping you cool and comfortable in hot weather. The foam core itself is usually housed within a fibreglass, steel, or PVC frame, which sustains the door’s rigidity and improves its resistance to physical damage and swelling in hot weather.
Composite doors are available to mimic the look of traditional wooden doors, or with a more modern aesthetic, depending on your style preferences. Get in touch to find out more.
UPVC Door
UPVC doors are a popular choice among homeowners due to their affordability, attractive appearance, and minimal maintenance requirements. Modern UPVC doors provide a good level of thermal efficiency, but they may not offer the same level of insulation as a timber or foam core composite door. However, their lower upfront cost makes them an attractive option for homeowners on a modest budget, and their thermal profile can be improved through draught proofing and professional fitting.
UPVC doors vary widely in terms of energy efficiency, with lower end models being less energy-efficient, so when purchasing a new front door, try to find out the door’s U-value, which is a measure of its heat loss. Well insulated, high quality UPVC doors have a lower U-value, indicating greater energy efficiency. We strongly recommend always purchasing a UPVC front door through an established doors and windows specialist, such as Harveys Windows – and investing in professional installation will improve the long-term thermal efficiency of your door.
Find Out More
At Harveys Windows, we offer a wide variety of high quality UPVC and composite doors, giving you exceptional durability, excellent weatherproofing, and strong thermal efficiency at a cost-effective price. For up-to-date prices or to find out more, please contact one of our team by calling 0116 497 1994.
