Entrance street doors: characteristics and operating features of doors for a private home

Entrance doors to a cottage, like apartment doors, serve as a boundary between the outside world and the interior space of the house. There are special requirements for their aesthetic and practical characteristics. The main feature of metal street entrance doors is that they are used in more severe conditions than the entrance door to an apartment located in the entrance. After all, it doesn’t rain, it doesn’t snow, it doesn’t heat up from the sun’s rays in the summer heat.

And a good street door, like a faithful guard, withstands the vagaries of nature and retains its impeccable appearance, remaining a reliable outpost for many years. In order to avoid mistakes in choosing outdoor metal doors, it is important to realize: not every entrance door can be used in the “building-street” mode.

The cost of a wrong choice

Owners who have not taken into account all the nuances of choosing the right metal doors for a cottage often encounter the following difficulties:

Fogging from inside.
Freezing and icing of individual sections of the door leaf and frame.
Deformation of the decorative panel due to exposure to moisture, which is easily absorbed.
Delamination.
Changing the original shade of the color of a decorative coating.

As a result, not only the appearance of the door suffers, but its functionality is also impaired. To avoid problems, you should carefully study all the parameters of the product when purchasing.

If we draw a parallel between outdoor insulated metal doors and a person’s outer clothing, we can say the following. When choosing a jacket for rainy weather, we prefer the item to be made of water-repellent fabric. And for its inner part (lining) this effect is not required, the fabric simply must be pleasant to the touch and practical to wear. As for the door, the influence of precipitation and other natural phenomena occurs both on the outside and on the inside. After all, for example, when opening a door to the street in frost, snow or rain, we also test the strength of the decorative panel installed on the inside of the door. Entrance doors freeze, are exposed to ultraviolet radiation and deteriorate. One of the common problems with outdoor doors is condensation.

Colors

The style and character of the room determines the color scheme of all furnishings in the rooms or building, this also applies to doors. Since plastic is easy to paint, the possibility of making doors of different colors will not raise any doubts.

Doors in this regard may have the following characteristics:

The glossy surface of the door can have the desired shade, it all depends on the desired effect.
A matte finish will add a resemblance to rubber and make the color softer and warmer.
The ability to add texture and any color can create the effect of wood, stone, metal or other material.

Where does condensation come from?

An accumulation of wet drops can be seen on the linings, handles, eyes and the inside of insulated street entrance doors. Why does this phenomenon occur? The steel from which doors are made has high thermal conductivity. It is almost three hundred times higher than the thermal conductivity of wood. When cooled, the metal becomes a conductor of cold. Frost appears. The main reasons for condensation on the door:

There is high humidity in the room.
There is too much difference in air temperature in the house and outside.

“Cold bridges” are formed by the door frame, stiffeners and other parts, despite the use of thermal insulation material. Condensation has a negative impact on the condition of the door, so it is worth taking care to prevent it.

Door locks: which model is better

Reliable locks provide about 70 percent resistance to burglary. Moreover, the maximum result is provided by different types of locking devices. Therefore, before purchasing a lock, a prudent owner should become familiar with each type of lock. Which is what we will do below in the text.

Now the mass consumer is offered four options for mechanisms:

lever lock with a “safe” T-shaped key,
a lock with a cylinder cylinder and a key plate with characteristic grinding on the edges,
cross-shaped lock with a bar key, the working part of which is designed to have a cross-shaped section,
a disk lock, the key of which has the shape of a semicircle with cut grooves.

The first pair provides maximum resistance to burglary: lever and cylindrical locks. The lever plates and spring-loaded pins of the cylindrical version require the highest level of skill from burglars. But it is very difficult to take these constipations by force. The bolts of modern locks rotate around an axis, making cutting difficult.

As a result, even an experienced attacker must know the design and methods of working with mechanisms of the first and second types, and universal specialists are very rare in any business. That is why it is necessary to install different locks on the door, and not two lever or cylindrical locks. Although, in terms of burglary resistance, the lever version provides maximum protection.

It is very important to choose a reliable lock

In addition, a good alternative to the cylindrical version is a disc lock. It provides good protection against picks. Therefore, the lever + disc lock pair is capable of detaining a highly qualified burglar. But there is no need to use cross-shaped locks in a private house. Even an inexperienced burglar can open such a lock.

An effective solution is to separate the layers

Entrance doors with a thermal break prevent the inside from freezing due to the fact that the metal installed on it does not come into contact with the street side. Metal doors with thermal break help prevent 3 problems:

1. Freezing.

2. Blowing.

3. Icing.

This is achieved due to the fact that the outer and inner parts of the entrance street doors with a thermal break do not touch each other. A special layer with low thermal conductivity is installed between two layers of metal, so materials with high thermal conductivity do not transfer their temperatures to each other. The formation of “cold bridges” is excluded.

How to solve this problem?

There are several proven ways to combat door freezing, let’s take a look at them.

Step 1. Check the insulation

The fight against this problem should always begin with checking the insulation material. After all, the door, as a rule, freezes either due to low-quality insulation, or due to its complete absence. These could be, for example, cheap Chinese-made doors, which are often sold without insulation, which leads to a problem.

Step 2. Checking the interior finish

After insulation, the interior finish of the metal door is checked. As a rule, MDF with a thickness of 6 mm to 10 mm is used for finishing. But experts assure that the optimal thickness of MDF is 16-22 mm (more is possible), only in this case can one count on good results.

Step 3. Lutka

Also, attention should be paid to the loot - it should be protected by slopes from the interior. With all these tips, you can deal with a frozen front door!

Step 4. Another door - is it worth it?

Installing a second additional door is another way to solve the problem. What is typical is that this additional door can be made of different materials. This method, by the way, is considered one of the most effective. It has successfully passed the test of time, and the apartment will be much warmer.

As for residents of private houses, they can opt for the construction of a small heated dressing room, which will also help to forget about freezing of the front door forever.

So as not to spoil the beauty

Doors that separate the room from the street can be divided into the following types:

For technical purposes (door to a storage room, barn or basement).
Entrance door groups (a comprehensive design solution that is used to design entrances to shopping and office centers and administrative buildings).
Doors at the entrance to a cottage, house, entrance.

The price for high-quality metal entrance insulated street doors with interesting design solutions is, of course, an order of magnitude higher than the cost of technical doors. Therefore, it is important for owners to keep the product in its original form so that it can serve reliably for many years. When buying entrance doors with a thermal break for a country house, entrance, office or other street doors, it is important to take measures to protect the external coating:

Install a canopy that will protect the doors from rain, snow and hail. It will also prevent the negative effects of ultraviolet radiation on sunny days. If there is a second floor balcony directly above the door, consider that the problem is solved. It or other architectural forms can serve as a natural barrier for protection. The main thing is not to allow the door to suffer from weather conditions.
Order a special weather-resistant door treatment, which is successfully used. This is the application of anti-corrosion primer or the double painting method.
When installing outdoor metal doors with a thermal break, as well as doors without this function, it is better to choose a panel treated with a special protective varnish.

The Guardian catalog has many interesting options for decorative panels that have undergone weather-resistant treatment. For example:

From ship plywood: Italy, Aquitaine.
From MDF: Mistral, Premier, Provence – painted; Vega, Italy, Legend - veneered; Maya 02, Mistral – laminated.
Made of plastic: Vega, 16 FP.
From the array: Senator, Verona.

When choosing a polymer powder coating, pay attention to the information specified in the catalog. Not all options can be used for double painting. And 28 (light February) and 29 (red anthracite) are not used for street doors. Black and brown moire are not used for interior decoration. Silk coatings are not used for certain types of door blocks (DS 1, DS 6, DS 10).

Balcony

The balcony door is an important part of the room and interior. Characterized by the lightest weight

A profile similar to a window profile is used. Keep in mind that the handles for opening and closing the door are located only on the side of the room.

Pros:

long service life;
many options for color, design, texture, etc.
ease of use;
look good with plastic windows;
many opening and closing functions, there are modes for ventilation, windows and many others;
increases the degree of natural sanctification;
retains heat.

Minuses:

Opens only indoors. This will have to be taken into account when arranging furniture.

Professional advice

Technologists strongly recommend not installing doors with untreated decorative panels:

In areas where the air temperature may fall below 10 ºC degrees Celsius and rise above 60 ºC with a relative humidity above 60%.
In places where the sun's rays fall freely.
Near heat sources.

If you ignore the advice given, this is fraught with unpleasant consequences: the wood may dry out, the color may fade, the plastic will peel off, the film may swell. Take care of your metal insulated street entrance doors if you undertake repair and construction work that is accompanied by dust and increased humidity. Such a “shake-up” will not be useful even for the highest quality and most expensive product.

Glazing options

Double-glazed windows differ in thickness, number of glasses, chamber sizes and additional properties.

Single chamber

It consists of two sheets of glass (0.4 cm thick each), between which an air chamber (1.6 cm) is formed. It is lightweight and has high light transmittance. A good option is finishing 140 with stained glass “Mask”.

Double chamber

It consists of three glasses (each 0.4 cm thick), between which there is a free space of 1 cm. Installation is possible for finishes: 115, 118, 120, 123, 124, 127 (except for double-glazed windows with stained glass), 150, 151, 161 , 162. Sandblasted - finish 160.

Double-chamber triplex glass can be used for the front door of a store, as well as for a shop window. Its peculiarity is that the glass is connected with a film, which provides reliable protection from splinters. An accidental kick from a soccer ball to such an iron door with a window is not dangerous. If the glass is hit hard with a stone or stick, then the maximum that can happen is the appearance of a crack, which will not affect the heat and sound insulation properties. Having punched a hole in triplex glass, it will not be so easy to enter the room.

The peculiarity of a double-chamber bronze double-glazed window is that a special coloring composition and metal oxide are added to the molten glass mass.

Three-chamber

The design has a total thickness of 6 cm, which includes 4 glasses and, accordingly, 3 air chambers between them. Installed for finishes 166, 172, Fortuna.

If the doors are without thermal break

If you do not plan to buy entrance doors with a thermal break, then take care of your own comfort and durability of the product in the following ways:

Order door frame insulation.
Avoid the door peephole. It would be better if the door was solid so as not to cause icing.
To avoid freezing of the vertical crossbar rods to the box, choose locks without a vertical drive.
Create a vestibule (it should be sealed and not heated).

Non-standard size of window opening in the house

Modern technologies and the preferences of owners make it possible to create house designs that use windows of non-standard shapes. Windows in a cottage, the sizes of which depend on the characteristics of the structure, can be triangular, trapezoidal, semicircular, round or arched. Such products give the house individuality, but their layout and installation have their own nuances.

From us - a guarantee, from you - implementation of recommendations

Over the many years of existence on the market, Guardian products have gained a solid reputation. Manufacturers are confident in the quality of the product, therefore they provide an official guarantee for purchased insulated entrance doors with a thermal break and other types of products. Basically, it ranges from one and a half to three years for the coating, up to five years for the metal structure of the door block, and from one to five years for locks, fittings and components.

Not only buyers, but also manufacturers are interested in ensuring that products serve for many years without complaints. But if the door damage occurred due to failure to follow the manufacturer's recommendations, the warranty will be void. In particular, claims will not be accepted if a steel door block was installed for use in the “building-street” mode without pre-treatment for weather resistance.

Advantages and disadvantages

Before you try to install a new door in your house, you should decide what the old one is not like: if the product is wooden, then the lower the building, the more the door swells from moisture in the autumn-spring period.
It needs to be varnished or painted regularly. In northern latitudes in winter it can easily freeze. Soviet apartment doors generally do not stand up to any criticism: if you do not insulate the door along the contour, then drafts from the entrance will constantly flow through the apartment, and the reliability of fiberboard and chipboard is low. Metal doors attracted city residents as reliable, although expensive. However, in country houses such a door freezes, and one morning you may simply find yourself imprisoned in your own home. Those who have used a plastic door can note the following points as advantages:

Aesthetic appeal due to different designs and color variety.
Excellent sound insulation: air chambers block most extraneous sounds.
High-quality products are made from high-strength materials. Metal-plastic, stiffening ribs in the door leaf, increased door thickness make you feel safe. Additional provision with anti-burglary fittings and shockproof packages indicates a high level of burglary resistance.
PVC door blocks are much lighter than metal or wooden ones, that is, they are easier to install.
High-quality products retain heat well. The more layers of insulation in the structure, the greater the likelihood that the door will not freeze.
Tightness is achieved using a seal and special clamps.
PVC perfectly repels water, which prevents the door from increasing in size.

The material easily tolerates temperature changes.
The door can be easily opened by pressing the handle.
PVC is easy to care for using regular detergents. Enough to remove even heavy dirt.
Acid and alkali will not damage the material.
Such a canvas is difficult to scratch with the claws of an animal or make a dent with a blow.
Products from reputable manufacturers are fire resistant. Due to the air gap inside the sandwich panel and seals, smoke and carbon monoxide will not be able to easily overcome such a door.
Since the door block consists of individual elements, if necessary, they are easy to replace.
If the door sags, you can adjust it yourself.
Doors of proper quality will last up to 20 years.
Manufacturers offer doors to suit any budget, and even an expensive door will cost less than a metal or wooden one.
Plastic doors are regulated according to GOST, which makes it possible to determine the quality of the product and legally protect it.

PVC doors also have disadvantages:

The quality of the product depends on the integrity of the manufacturer, so, unfortunately, you can only find out how high quality the product is during its operation.
Poor quality doors made from window profiles freeze in winter.
Not every manufacturer can adequately decorate a door leaf; because of this, the door sometimes does not fit well into the existing interior.
If you need a high level of protection against burglary, such a door will definitely lose to a metal one.

GOST allows that the door will not have an additional profile, but then it becomes unstable to mechanical damage.
Installing a door block is a rather complicated process. You should not install it yourself; it is better to entrust it to professionals. If you lack experience during installation, you can damage the glass unit, which will lead to cracking of the glass.
Since PVC is a chemical compound, its environmental friendliness is inferior to wood. The presence of chlorine, phenol and aldehyde in the components provides harmful fumes.
GOST does not allow the addition of lead to PVC, but making sure that the standard is not violated will be problematic for an ordinary buyer, and the sense of responsibility of manufacturers is not always at its best.

Preparation for purchase: no spontaneous decisions

Guardian street entrance doors have prices that are suitable for buyers with different budgets: from economy to premium. In order to purchase exactly the product that suits your functional characteristics, you should clearly define the purchase criteria. Arm yourself with a pen and paper (or an electronic medium on which it is more convenient for you to take notes) and answer the following questions for yourself:

What price for insulated street entrance doors is acceptable to you?
Which option do you prefer: a door with a thermal break or another door, but with the creation of the conditions recommended by the manufacturer for its operation?
Which decorative coating options presented in the Guardian catalog did you like? Decide on color and design solutions.
Your requirements for burglary resistance. For example, if this is a door to an entrance, then it does not require such enhanced security measures as a door to a cottage. Or if your living space is provided with a reliable alarm system and is constantly guarded, the issue of protection against intrusion should also be approached carefully. In cases where ensuring burglary resistance is a pressing issue, the company has developed powerful protection systems.
What additional options do you need? took care of creating additional options for street doors. These are reliable stainless steel thresholds, trims, extensions, drainage systems, closers. The installation of windows, shelves and transoms can add special charm and personality to the entrance doors.

Having answered these questions for yourself, you can safely dial the phone number of a dealer in your region and place an order. If at the time of the call you still have doubts, you can get qualified advice from a manager.

We will be glad if our advice will help you make a successful choice of a street door.

Kinds

It is customary to subdivide plastic doors according to the method of opening - swing, folding, sliding, tilt and turn. And according to location - entrance, interior and balcony.

Plastic doors in the apartments of the average citizen of the country, as a rule, are most often found in balcony blocks. This is primarily due to the fact that when installing triple-glazed windows and a five-chamber profile, you get “warm” doors, that is, doors that do not let the cold in from the street.

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You can rarely find interior plastic doors in an apartment. They are more in demand in office centers and shopping complexes. Moreover, equipping them with a locking mechanism is not such a big problem.

In cottages, for safety reasons, it is customary to install plastic doors without a threshold

This is especially important in families with small children. When the threshold does not physically exist, the risk of injury from falling is eliminated

Another important feature of doors made of this material is that they are moisture resistant. It is because of this that they are very often installed in swimming pools and in rooms with unglazed balconies.

Plastic and glass repel water and prevent it from entering the room

A blind door is most often installed in technical rooms - in utility rooms or in security offices. In this case, glass is replaced with plastic, which guarantees “protection” from prying eyes.

The folding plastic door turned out to be less in demand. It is mainly installed in small spaces. Doors of this type do not retain heat and do not prevent the penetration of noise. They serve as a kind of partition between one and the second room. But to be fair, when open, the space is not cluttered and their cost is quite low.

By the way, sliding options also save space in the room. In terms of opening, they have something in common with sliding wardrobes. Unfortunately, they are more widely used abroad, in those countries where there are practically no low temperatures, and not in countries with a sharply continental climate.

Swinging double-leaf (also called double) plastic doors will suit almost any interior. Because you can use a huge number of different solutions as decor, ranging from the color component to stylization for a classic design.