Despite the humble door having been around for almost as long as civilisation itself, traditional options often have their limitations. Many styles of solid wooden doors are eye-catchingly beautiful, but can often provide poor insulation, require regular maintenance or simply be too costly to produce and install. More recently, uPVC doors became popular as a modern alternative. A low cost of production, good weather resistant qualities and little requirement for maintenance all make uPVC appealing. However, they are often unattractive and, with again only one material, design variations are limited.
Composite doors blend the best qualities of both materials to produce doors that combine the best of their aesthetic, insulation and security features. A typical composite door will have a uPVC plastic frame which many doormakers will reinforce with steel or aluminium rods, improving security while retaining a strong weatherproof link between the door and walls.
The doors themselves may still be built around a wooden core, giving them the strength, stiffness and the weighty feel that a good door should have. This is built up with laminates treated for high weather resistance surfaces. Glass Reinforced Polymer (GRP) is one of the most interesting modern choices – this material is especially durable and has a better visual appeal than uPVC.
During construction, a composite door will have many layers of structural, insulation and security features built into it. High grade foam may be used, for example, to give a door a particularly high insulation value. A common way of constructing high-insulation composite doors is to produce a rigid frame, inject it with a high value insulant – polyurethane foam is a good choice – and then to apply the external surface.
Security features are also built into composite doors from the core outwards. Carbon fibre has picked up popularity as a low-profile threshold choice, as has aluminium. Hinges, locks and additional security features can be installed in such a way that they are difficult or impossible to break into in the same way that a standard wooden door could be.
Finally, the exterior design and surface of a composite door depends entirely on the preferences and requirements of the buyer. Windows, panels, veneer styles and other design options are extremely flexible in a way that they would not be in either traditional wooden or uPVC doors. It is for this reason that they are growing in popularity both with homeowners and construction companies. conservatory roofs swansea
