Replacement Front Doors heat and noise insulation

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carmel65

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I am looking to replace our existing front doors.
We have an old solid wood front door with a single glazed side panel. This is set into the house.
There is a porch that we enclosed with a sliding aluminium door and fixed panel, double glazed but very old.
We have a noisy road nearby. The current situation is acceptable in terms of noise insulation, but I definitely don’t want to hear any more noise.

We have a quote of approximately 10K to replace both with Aluclad triple glazed units.

My question is do we need to replace both? Do we need to have triple glazing on both?

Other houses on the estate have removed the outer porch doors, if we did this, would we notice an increase in road noise? The units are similarly priced, so we save approximately €5k by only getting one set of doors.

any help much appreciated,
 
Do you want to keep both sets of doors?

you could consider replacing the outer door with a double/triple glazed opening door, remove the inner door and effectively make your entry way larger.
if you don't want to do that and want to keep both doors, I'd suggest replacing the outer door first and see how that goes.
 
carmel65 said:
Other houses on the estate have removed the outer porch doors, if we did this, would we notice an increase in road noise?
Click to expand...
You'll know what kind of effect the current doors are having on noise by standing inside at a busy time with the inner door closed while someone opens the outer door.

The main advantage of having a porch with a two door arrangement is heat retention. Being able to answer the door or leave without losing lots of warm air from a large entrance is great on cold winters days.
 
Leo said:
You'll know what kind of effect the current doors are having on noise by standing inside at a busy time with the inner door closed while someone opens the outer door.

The main advantage of having a porch with a two door arrangement is heat retention. Being able to answer the door or leave without losing lots of warm air from a large entrance is great on cold winters days.
Click to expand...
Agree with keeping the outer door and the air-lock that it creates. I also like it from a security point of view; with the outer door locked, you can check out any callers without giving them access.
 
Leo said:
The main advantage of having a porch with a two door arrangement is heat retention. Being able to answer the door or leave without losing lots of warm air from a large entrance is great on cold winters days.
Click to expand...

I also prefer having the two doors for security as it means I can open one door and vet who is there before opening the second door. Our neighbours did away with the small porch area and only have the outer door. They regret it now because they are quite elderly and would prefer to be able to see who is there first.

The porch is also a handy spot for wet umbrellas or shoes.
 
100% agree with the posters above, keep the porch, for reasons mentioned !

I'd make improvements to the porch first, and expect you'll get a notable benefit, both in terms of noise reduction, and great retention.

Depending on its design, it may be worth replacing all glass with double, or possibly even triple glazing. It may also be worth exploring the possibility of insulating the brickwork etc.

You can charge the actual hall for, at a later date, if you still want to....
 
The noise question:
It makes no sense to me to replace both the porch and the front door with TG to reduce street noise. If you sit in a modern car with doors and windows closed you will hear very little noise yet the glazing is single glazed. This is because the cabin in very well air sealed. To reduce the street noise coming into the house you need to ensure the air tightness is sorted and this does not just pertain to the porch / front door. So no need for
TG on both.
The heat retention question:
Decide where your thermal envelope is (i.e. the separation between heated and unheated space); is it at the front door or the porch? Where ever it is this is what gets the TG units.
 
I’d only got triple glazed on a very noisy main road.
You will pay a premium form triple glazed though.
Double glazed in the minimum nowadays.
 
Thank you all for your advice. It has really helped me to work through my own thoughts on this and lots of sensible suggestions as to how to assess the situation. The temptation was to not replace both sets of doors. But having an enclosed porch has been very practical and works well for us and we don’t need the extra space inside.

We had an airtightness test done, (following lots of great advice from people on this site).
It was very insightful. We had been thinking of replacing our windows, but now we have had seals replaced and hinges etc fixed, the difference has been amazing and the reduction in noise has been noticeable also. So your point Micks’r about the importance of airtightness on noise reduction is well taken.

Another item it highlighted was the front doors. So our main priority here is heat retention. I just wanted to make sure that in the process of changing the current setup I don’t loose the noise reduction we currently have.

It is often very hard to know how best to approach these changes. It is very easy to find windows and doors companies who will replace what you have. But is much harder to find a company who will approach the solution from the position of overall heat retention/airtightness. Any recommendations as to companies who take this approach would be most welcome.
 
Micks'r said:
Decide where your thermal envelope is (i.e. the separation between heated and unheated space); is it at the front door or the porch? Where ever it is this is what gets the TG units.
Click to expand...
That's a very good point! No point combining a triple glazed unit on a poorly insulated porch with a single or double glazed unit on the inside door. Much better the other way around.
 
carmel65 said:
Thank you all for your advice. It has really helped me to work through my own thoughts on this and lots of sensible suggestions as to how to assess the situation. The temptation was to not replace both sets of doors. But having an enclosed porch has been very practical and works well for us and we don’t need the extra space inside.

We had an airtightness test done, (following lots of great advice from people on this site).
It was very insightful. We had been thinking of replacing our windows, but now we have had seals replaced and hinges etc fixed, the difference has been amazing and the reduction in noise has been noticeable also. So your point Micks’r about the importance of airtightness on noise reduction is well taken.

Another item it highlighted was the front doors. So our main priority here is heat retention. I just wanted to make sure that in the process of changing the current setup I don’t loose the noise reduction we currently have.

It is often very hard to know how best to approach these changes. It is very easy to find windows and doors companies who will replace what you have. But is much harder to find a company who will approach the solution from the position of overall heat retention/airtightness. Any recommendations as to companies who take this approach would be most welcome.
Click to expand...

Can I ask who did the airtightness test? Was it expensive?
 
carmel65 said:
But is much harder to find a company who will approach the solution from the position of overall heat retention/airtightness. Any recommendations as to companies who take this approach would be most welcome.
Click to expand...

Probably best to confirm which part of the country you are looking for recommendations for?
 
carmel65 said:
. We had been thinking of replacing our windows, but now we have had seals replaced and hinges etc fixed, the difference has been amazing and the reduction in noise has been noticeable also.
Click to expand...
Was this by a glazier or a handyman or something in between ? I'd like someone to do this and I'm in Dublin City.
 
Leo said:
You'll know what kind of effect the current doors are having on noise by standing inside at a busy time with the inner door closed while someone opens the outer door.

The main advantage of having a porch with a two door arrangement is heat retention. Being able to answer the door or leave without losing lots of warm air from a large entrance is great on cold winters days.
Click to expand...
There’s also the added benefit of security.
Answering (opening the inner door) the door while knowing the outer porch door is locked is great piece of mind.
My wife found this great piece of mind on nights when I was on call.
 
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Any recommendations as to companies who take this approach would be most welcome.
I am based off the M50 in Dublin
 
TRS30 said:
Thanks, who does it thought? Does this cost include any work required or just to do the assessment?
Click to expand...
That would be just for the assessment.
Once you receive the report you can get quotes for whatever upgrades that would be needed.
 
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