External door

Hi,

we have a front door (wooden and drafty), which is on the inside of an arched porch area. Not sure that makes sense...but we want to get an external door fitted at the front of the archway. 2 reasons...to stop the awful draughts (we face sw) and also there is a bedroom above that arched porch area and apparently adding a door does wonders for the temp in that room.

We are getting various quotes for this door, and they are coming in from 1850-2400, so I am wondering what criteria should we be looking at in order to choose a supplier.

All suggestions welcomed..thanks

I seen a wooden door in a rented house, few yrs old. They sealed the whole area of slats top and bottom with silicone and then then tacked tongue and groove boards over that. Hugely helped, unfort door on exterior of main wall.

Have you enough room for the door to open in or must it open outwards?

The door will open outward.

Personally a neighbour has a porch with a front door that opens outwards and its a real pain when you ring the bell and the door lunges out towards you as they open it, alright now as Im aware of it....

several of my neighbours have these porch doors too, and though I am interested in the lost heat aspect, the doors look like they have been put on backwards. Surely there must be a better way to do it?

Another neighbour recently moved the front door out to the porch (so the bit that was the porch is now in the hall) but that was expensive (€3K+) and then the hall has to be redecorated.

I want to have 2 doors, it is the ultimate way to avoid draughts, and keep all heat in. It will need to open out but I'm not so concerned with inconviniencing callers.

What I really want to know is when I have 5 different quotes, what should I be looking for to choose between them? Materials etc...

We're doing the same job and those figures seem cheaper than the quote that we've gotten. If you wouldn't mind PM'ing your supplier, that'd be kind.

In terms of your question you have to be clear what you want, so that you can compare like with like. We want a wooden frame and door, we want to be able to pick out our own handle, lock and postbox finish. As we'll have two doors too, we're ok with double glazing. Warranty period is also an issue.

Oh the lead time between ordering and installation is important too.

I recently purchased a new front door & went for a uPVC double glazed 'French' door. Supplier is a large and well known 'Provincial' group - not allowed name them sorry.

Price was more than 50% cheaper than some of the mad quotes I was getting elsewhere, supplied and fitted on the dot, matched my existing windows perfectly & overall very happy with it.

Would you consider getting a sliding door rather than opening outwards?