Front Door: wood versus pvc

I no reason why not to paint over your teak door. In order to paint a teak door make sure to first prime it with an aluminium wood primer which holds the oils in the wood (which make it a hardwood) thus allowing the paint to stick properly onto the door.

If everyone had the same taste in life would'nt it be a very boring place to live. Where I work 95% of everything we sell is Iroko and I would say at least 80% of it gets painted if not more.

There are some beautiful colours about now and alot of people are going for a dark rich colour for outside and painting the inside of a solid entrance unit and door the same colour as the hall ie orchid white, magnolia etc so that you are not looking at a big dark block of colour inside as everybody is consious of natural light. I saw the most beautiful colour a few weeks ago and it was between a dark purple and a black - it really caught my eye!

Some people paint the door a couple of times a year with the seasons!

Not every house suits a brown door i.e. red brick needs a black door.
 
Just out of curiosity. It has been established that iroko is classified
as suitable for external joinery whereas mahogany and mahogany
variety timber has been de-listed.

How does this apply to timber windows ? I remember chatting to
a relative who is an old-school carpenter and he said the only
timber he would recommend for windows in this climate is teak
(and I assume I can substitute iroko in this case). Are there
grains of truth in his assertion ? What's the story with these
nordic pine windows , etc one sees marketed these days ?
I'm guessing they are pressure treated.

Sorry - I don't want to go off topic from doors to windows but
my question is really one to establish (from a non-building laypersons
perspective) which timber products are really suited to the
Irish climate ....
 
Hi IPXL,

Your relative/friend is correct in what information that he passed to you.

Yes, all of these pine windows etc are pressure treated (or should be) and would have a life span of 10 to 15 years depending on the amount of maintenance that they received during their lifetime.

On the continent most windows open in and are of softwood, but in extreme weather conditions they use external shutters both for protection and for security. In the sun you will notice the doors usually have a curtain hung over them - even here years ago you would see that and still today on the odd house.

Hopefully someone else will give their views on this topic as we all need to be informed correctly.
 
You'll probably find that mahogany is de-listed as true mahogany is now pretty scarce. Most purported mahogany on sale here is actually relatives such as sapele. Timbers such as honduras mahogany are now almost extinct.
 
ipxl said:
I remember chatting to
a relative who is an old-school carpenter and he said the only
timber he would recommend for windows in this climate is teak
Click to expand...

I having restored old pine sliding sash windows that are 260 years old.
These windows are the same type that would be taken out by 'old school' carpenters to be replaced with uPVC or "Teak".

I think your relative could use some education on the subject.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
S.L.F. your are so lucky to still have the original windows and to have restored them to their original glory.

The Pine of years ago (as you mentioned 260yrs) was something else and was classed as a hardwood and highly durable for joinery , unfortunately the Pine of today is a much different species altogether and is a softwood and is classified as non-durable for joinery.
 
I can't understand why people are so worried about ' maintenance '. We have to maintain lawns and gardens too but nobody wants plastic flowers!

The irony of all this, is that a neglected wooden sash window or door, does not look anything so depressing as a neglected PVC version of same.

Have a look at a few derelict houses around - the wooden windows seem to still speak of the house when it was in it's glory. The PVC ones just look sorrowful.

( Not much help to anyone, I know, but this struck me once )
 
NHG said:
S.L.F. your are so lucky to still have the original windows and to have restored them to their original glory.
Click to expand...

Haven't done it yet too busy with everybody else's!

Unfortunately mt windows are not sash windows but they are 60 years old and that means the wood will be super.

Next door got her windows out and has put white uPVC in, yuck!!!
 
Have also seen the light and will be going for a wooden front door with bevelled and lead glass sidelights and fanlight. It's from Samson and will cost a whopping 2K but there you go... I'd love timber windows also but can't afford them so have opted for a black wood-grain pvc. Hopefully it'll all look well once the house goes up.

Anyone else gone for black windows and timber door? Would love to hear if looks well etc.
 
sorry if i'm hijacking thread but found it really interesting. i have a wooden door (iroko) that is fairly exposed like some other posters. the draught excluders look really good. approximately how much are they?

one other issue i have is the potential for the door to be blown inwards when you are opening it. we haven't moved in yet but i could imagine that on a windy day with hands full of shopping it might be difficult to keep hold of it and stop it slamming inwards. are there any hinges or brackets available that would fit onto the door to solve this problem?

ps to the op - i would definately choose the wooden door over pvc :)
 
Hi

Does anyone know if articdoors are still operating the website doesn't work and the number sounds disconnected. Are there alternative companies selling the same door referred to here.

thanks,

R.
 
I got a new door installed last year. Wooden door got warped from being exposed to the elements of the Irish west coast.

The new door seems to have similar features of articdoors..... triple lock, sturdy, wood effect, strong etc. It actually looks better than the original door. I bought it from Ard Ri in Galway. They were a bit slow to install it and there were a few teething problems which were all sorted after 5 or 6 phone calls.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top