The 8 Different Types of Doors For Your Home

Learn about the different types of doors to upgrade your home’s look. From modern to traditional, find the perfect door for any design!

8 Types of Doors in the UK

Doors, there’s so many styles of them around today that you’d be hard-pressed to name them all, never mind be aware of how each of them functions or know what they offer stylistically.

We have a vast swell of door knowledge, accrued from specialising in replacement doors for 40 years, making us extremely well-qualified to go through some of the types of doors you can currently buy.

It’s timely to speak about doors as October is National Home Security Month, so join us on a written discovery of what doors are best suited to your home, their best features and which complement traditional properties and modern homes.

A short description of all the door types described in this article

Flush

Mostly employed as an internal door, they have an understated, minimalist design, apt for new builds.

Glazed

Refers to any glass-panelled door, including an entrance door, in tune with no end of home living areas and habitats.

French

A double door (inward or outward opening) with extended glass panels, seen as most suited to classical residences.

Patio

Work via a sliding mechanism, with one panel overlapping the other when opened, perfect wherever.

Panel

Boast a series of square or rectangular decorative panels, or mix of both, befitting homes of all eras.

Stable

Split into top and bottom portions that can be independently opened, regularly found in rural-based dwellings.

Fire

Protecting against the spread of fire and a route of escape when it breaks out, required by law in domestic properties of three-storeys and higher.

Bi-Fold

Think of a bi-folding door like an accordion, its multiple panels folding into themselves, popularly chosen for contemporary applications.

Flush Door

Discerning a flush door from the myriads of different types of doors is easy to detect as its face sits completely flush against the door frame, rather than protruding out from it.

Its uncomplex design holds the attention of those who favour simple, plain lines to over-elaborate detailing and this modest appearance fosters a simplistic aesthetic.

Excelling in performance, a flush door’s acoustic performance is often impressive, great then for areas like home offices to deaden external noise and disruption.

Flush doors’ most complementary settings are modern homes and contemporary apartments.

Flush Door
Panel Door

Panel Door

You can probably work out yourself that panel doors possess framed panels, from one upwards, and these panels will generally be raised, flat or recessed.

Most are constructed from solid wood, engineered wood or composite materials and you come across them a lot in bedrooms and bathrooms, as well as sometimes being employed as entranceways.

Hardy and weighty, panel doors insulate exceptionally well and can provide a good degree of soundproofing.

Internal and external applications involving panel doors can integrate neatly into virtually any home design.

Glazed Door

Similarly, glazed doors won’t need much introduction as they are what they suggest, featuring glass panels set within a frame.

They encourage light flow into living spaces, giving rooms a feeling of openness and cheerfully airy ambience.

When you have a view from home that you want to maximise, a glazed door is a fine selection of external opening so you can fully absorb it.

Enjoy amplified light gain and visibility with glazed doors in traditional properties and a contemporary style property, they’re that versatile.

Glazed Door
Stable Door

Stable Door

A stable door is a door of two halves, each of which can be opened and closed separately, so you could entice air indoors by opening the top half whilst keeping the bottom half closed to stop young children or pets running out.

Whether built from timber or exhibiting a wood-like colour effect, stable doors instil that little bit of rustic charm and are commonly selected as back entryways.

Of the types of doors you can pick, we’d say they are the best replacement door option for cottages and countryside retreats.

French Door

Behold the undoubted elegance of the French door, with its beautifully prolonged glass panels that span almost the entire height of the double doors.

Configured to provide an inward or outward opening, the passageway it generates can be generously large when you’re inclined to exchange indoor living for outdoor life, transitioning from your living room to a patio.

Uplift the dash of sophistication it injects by requesting the glazed inserts display a decorative pattern or elegant bars.

A traditional or modern type of property, French doors are in keeping with either.

French Door
Fire Door

Fire Door

Fire doors are largely fitted between two sections of a building, in corridors and stairwells. In the event of a fire, they will stop it from spreading.

Steel and some specially treated woods are popularly chosen materials for the manufacturing of a fire door, and all fire doors are issued with a fire rating to indicate the level of fire protection they’re designed to supply.

Townhouses and homes with an affixed garage are best suited to fire doors, but certainly not limited to them as a safety precaution.

Patio Door

A form of glass sliding door containing lengthy glazed panels, the patio door is a favoured gateway into gardens and source of light capture into homes.

Incorporating locking systems that adhere to British Security Standards, its unobtrusive sightlines ensure there is minimal impediment of external views when kept closed.

We’d say that any home possessing some outdoor space would be an ideal location to include patio doors so that a property, new or old, could be opened on a fine day.

Patio Door on Conservatory
Bi-Fold Door

Bi-Fold Door

Bi-folds can cover a wide distance and give you a sizable opening to profit from when entertaining guests in the garden or wishing to attract abundant ventilation and light.

A wealth of potential configurations lends itself to ample avenues of personalisation, from specifying how many door sections the bi-fold encompasses to what size they measure.

Blending functionality and style, it only takes the gentlest of pushes to manoeuvre a bi-fold open, responding in a concertina-type fashion.

You find them within many open-plan layouts at modern properties if you are curious to know if they’re right for the style of your house.

Importance of Right Door Material

Besides obviously wanting a door at a reasonable price that’s a cost-effective choice and also a low maintenance door, selecting the correct material is of shared importance.

It will dictate all elements of performance – thermal efficiency, resilience, security, upkeep, style, lifespan etc.

Have that at the forefront of your mind at whatever point you come to analyse the types of doors on sale.

 
UPVC
Composite
Aluminium
Timber
Price
UPVC
Composite
Aluminium
Timber
Security
UPVC
Composite
Aluminium
Timber
Lifecycle
UPVC
Composite
Aluminium
Timber

Door Materials

UPVC

UPVC is a frequently used material for front doors and rear doors, an abbreviation of Unplasticised Polyvinyl Chloride.

There are untold benefits to UPVC, with it being capable of resisting weathering, corrosion and rotting, as well as delivering superb thermal performance and an element of soundproofing.

With no likelihood of warping or fading occurring during the lifecycle of a UPVC door, it makes maintenance an untroublesome task and avoids you having to top up its colour every few years.

Whilst it perhaps doesn’t have the elegance of timber or aluminium, UPVC is the most affordable version of the types of doors currently available.

UPVC Door
Composite Door

Composite

Glass-reinforced plastic is one of a series of materials incorporated into a composite door frame, fused together with UPVC, timber and a foam filling.

This multi-layered construction makes a composite door remarkably tough and therefore an astute choice for a front door to protect an entrance area around the clock.

The external glass-reinforced plastic skin is weather-repellent, preventing the emergence of unsightly cracking or any distortion of the frame.

You could easily mistake a composite-built door for traditional timber front doors as the two are very alike in appearance, but it’s far more secure and low-maintenance than an old wooden door.

Aluminium

What astounds you about aluminium is just how lightweight it is, unexpected for a material that’s improbably robust. As revealing is aluminium’s flexibility, enabling it to be fashioned into no end of shapes.

Aluminium doors are typified by their sleek look and slim design, so the glazed section can be particularly broad in comparison to doors crafted from alternate materials.

We have uncovered that infusing colour into aluminium is best accomplished with a multi-stage powder-coating process.

When thoroughly cared for, it’s not unknown for the lifespan of aluminium to stretch to 40 years or more.

Aluminium Door
Century Timer Door

Timber

Responsibly sourced timber is eco-friendly, thanks to being both renewable and sustainable, and exudes immense warmth and character.

Low-level timber is prone to decaying, rotting etc., as a consequence of weathering, making maintenance hard work, but the best timbers are better equipped to confront conditions, reducing preservation requirements.

Timber’s versatility also unlocks a passage to personalisation and permits the crafting of doors into abundant shapes and sizes for the type of property they will reside at.

On top of the alluring charisma of timber doors, they have good strength and durability and are suited to properties needing a timeless injection of beauty.

Which type of door is ideal for my home?

Hopefully, we’ve made you more alert to the types of replacement doors for a home and successfully demystified the choice for a front door you have if you want one to bolster style and security.

To finish up, we’ll list a few different property types and summarise the best door options for each:

Detached

Composite or timber doors have the designer appeal to raise the kerb appeal of bigger dwellings.

Terraced

UPVC doors and composite doors rank neck and neck for inclusion at terraced abodes, each easy to care for.

New Build

An aluminium door’s ultra-sleek appearance will marry wonderfully with contemporary residential buildings.

Semi-Detached

With its equal symmetry in security and resilience, a composite door befits a home that shares a common wall.

Period

Timber doors have the authentic character to uphold the traditional aesthetics of Georgian and Victorian-era houses.

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