Front doors are the face of the owner

Front doors are installed not only in theaters and museums. They decorate country houses, mansions and cottages, administrative and office buildings. At the same time, guests immediately get an impression about the owners of the house.

These front doors protect and decorate the home, demonstrate the wealth of the owners, their social status and good taste, and for the company successful development. How to choose the design and material of the door, will be discussed in this article.

Front Door Requirements

The front door for a private house, cottage must meet such requirements as:

• Beautiful appearancecorresponding to the overall style of the building. In fact, the entrance is a presentation of the house, a bright accent of the entire architectural ensemble. Elite buildings have front doors in ash or solid oak. These wood species look rich and delight the eye with their texture. This natural lining, which is covered with a durable waterproof varnish made on the basis of polyurethane, is able to withstand harsh winters, autumn rains and summer heat. In addition, the material does not fade with time, does not fade;
• Strength;
• Long term use;
• Easy operation. The door should be comfortable for children and the elderly;

Tip: When buying front doors for a country house, you should consider every little thing: the movement of the sash should be easy, which is ensured by using reinforced hinges and installing an automatic closer; quick cleaning, protection from stains on the surface; spontaneous "slamming" of doors.

• Excellent insulating properties. It is very important that the entrance metal doors keep the house warm and protect it from frost, drafts and noise from outside. For this you need:

1. Ensure that the web and box are filled with high-quality sound and thermal insulation materials with non-inflammability of class G0, according to the classification of GOST 30244-94.
2. The door seal should be uniform, around the perimeter.
3. Correctly form the material on thermal break to protect the door from freezing and during severe Siberian frosts.
4. Provide a high level of security design.

Particular attention should be paid to the prevention of hacking, shooting, squeezing. In addition, passive protect systems or various sets of active protection are installed.

In particular:

1. Additional metal layers protect the most important areas of the door: the installation area of ​​the locks, double-glazed windows.
2. The metal pretended stripe will interfere with the release.
3. To prevent the doors from being removed from the hinges, special pins are welded, duplicating the system from breaking into “KRAB”, in which retractable bolts are installed around the perimeter. They are activated with a key, simultaneously locking the standard lock.
4. Pads of steel, which contains manganese, successfully withstand firearms.

Tip: The front doors for your home should harmoniously combine aesthetic perfection and exceptional structural reliability.

Types of entrance doors

Front doors for design features are:

• Integral and frame;
• The material can be: metal, wood, plastic, glass;
• With automatic drive, responsible for the smooth operation of the lock mechanism when closing and opening the canvas.

The most popular models of front doors are combined in the table:

Door type	Special features
	This is the classic, simplest version of the front door. Mounted on hinges or fittings. Opens to yourself or from yourself. Can be single or double. Advantages of the design: Simplicity; Easy do-it-yourself installation; Can be made from any material. Cons of the doors: improper installation when opening the canvas from the inside towards you, does not provide security during a fire.
	It happens with one and two doors. The design resembles a wardrobe. In this case, the canvas will slide along the guide tracks on special carriages. Advantages of the design: Take up little space; Easy installation; It is made of any material. Minuses: the installation of an additional magnetic mechanism is required, which provides a tighter closure of the opening; not too good thermal insulation design.
	Mounted on a special vertical device. Easy to open inside, and on yourself. Advantages of the design: Easy to use; Original opening mechanism; For the manufacture of any material used. Minus - the high price of the opening mechanism.
	They look like sliding ones, but the cloths move along rounded tracks. Pros: spectacular look; easy opening and closing. Cons: for installation requires a spacious vestibule; high cost of installation.
	They are made of two panels in the form of a book or several narrow ones (see Folding doors: installation features), folding like doors in a trolley bus. The advantages of the design are: Do not need a lot of space for installation; Approach any doorway; Can be made in different shapes; Product cons: Difficult installation; Poor insulation; Products from the massif have rather high cost.
	When opening, several mechanisms simultaneously come into effect, which increases the width of the opening. In addition, these doors look spectacular. Cons design: the complexity of installation and high cost.

The choice of material for the front doors

The best materials for entrance doors are:

• Steel. Such a structure is strength and beauty, at a relatively low price.

Steel entrance doors are made of a combination of polyurethane and steel sheets, with a width of 1.6 to 2.4 m. Structural strength is ensured by a rigid frame and sectional frame.

Disadvantages of the product - it may appear dents and scratches that are difficult and almost impossible to repair. Scratches may contribute to rust. In addition, due to high severity, steel doors can cause physical harm to a person if used improperly: injuries, bruises, and blows.

• Aluminum. One of the most expensive are solid wood doors that are sheathed in aluminum, bronze or copper. Aluminum doors are characterized by high durability, and in case of factory manufacturing, their operation is guaranteed for over 10 years. Destroy them only hard frosts.
• Tree. For supporters of the traditional "natural" and "warm" style, wood is the best material. Unsurpassed beauty, such entrance doors are of incredible strength, besides wood products can be created that can close the entrance to the homes of billionaires and kings. Its decorating possibilities are endless.

Wooden doors are the most expensive.

The only problem when using a wooden structure is the interaction of the tree with the environment. In wet weather, the material swells, and when it is hot, it shrinks and cracks, which requires constant maintenance and thorough repair 2 times a year, and a complete renovation every 2-3 years.

• Fiberglass, as a part of which is a dense filler of polyurethane foam. The construction cost is approximately average between wood and steel, but exceeds both materials in strength and aesthetic characteristics. Fiberglass products are lightweight, which ensures the safety of their use, and high energy-saving efficiency. They are not damaged by moisture, they do not rot, insects are not afraid of them, and robbers are sometimes more difficult to handle fiberglass than metal.

In addition, by embossing fiberglass, it is possible to obtain a structure that imitates natural oak, mahogany, spruce, leather, velvet with a very high quality.

This is a stable material that does not deform from time, temperature fluctuations and other extreme weather conditions. They are easy to paint, carry out cosmetic repairs rarely required.

Often these materials are combined with others, such as strong glass. Some models are presented in the photo.

Tip: When choosing material for the manufacture of front doors for your home, you should take into account the climatic features of the region. With elevated temperatures and air humidity, preference should be given to fiberglass doors. They best protect the interior of the house from extreme weather conditions.

Glass front doors

An interesting solution for cottages and private houses, are classic or sliding entrance glass doors. If you follow the special technology in the manufacture of structures, they will have high strength and reliability, different colors and varying degrees of transparency.

Tip: Install the front doors with glass in the house without protection and high fence should not be so that they do not become the subject of possible trouble, because of the penetration into the house of outsiders.

Entrance doors for the manufacture of which simple or stained glass, decorated initials of the owner of the house or specially designed drawings look spectacularly.

At the same time glass can:

• Decorate with a beautiful color coating;
• Tint;
• Make a matte.

The main advantages and disadvantages of glass front doors are combined in the table:

To decorate a private house or cottage is to install glass doors, regardless of their existing shortcomings. And how to do this will tell the video in this article.

Installation of swing structures made of glass

Glass cloth can be purchased ready-made or ordered according to your sketches and individual sizes.

Further, the installation manual suggests the following door installation sequence:

• The ends of the door leaf are protected with pieces of rags or soft carpet;
• Wooden wedges are prepared to align the doors if necessary;
• The compliance of the door box with the dimensions of the glass sheet is checked;
• Attached to the door jamb hinges. For this:

1. A PVC liner is enclosed under the loop;
2. A loop is pressed on the inner side of the web;
3. A clamping plate is applied on the reverse side of the canvas and fastened to the hinged loop with feints;
4. On the hinges and clamping plates are installed masking caps.

• The lock box is fastened on the inner side of the blade;
• Handles are mounted;
• It is checked that the tongue of the lock corresponds to the size of the hole in the box for the doors.

Features of MDF doors

MDF is a material that in its popularity has pressed such expensive competitors as durable plastic and solid wood. Such doors with MDF decoration are elite.

Their positives are:

• Strength;
• Durability;
• Resistance to high humidity;
• Resistance to mechanical stress;
• The plasticity of the material allows you to give the finished product various forms, to imitate the color and texture of wood;
• Low cost of the product;
• Good resistance to fungus and bacteria;
• Ecological purity.

These advantages are due to the fact that MDF is produced by pressing under high pressure wood chips, followed by gluing it with lignin. After this, the panels do not stick out, do not swell even with increased dampness and high temperature.

To increase the strength of doors finished with MDF, PVC film is used, which gives the finished canvas the texture and appearance of wood, which additionally protects the structure from water, ultraviolet radiation and mechanical influences. A great result is given by veneering the canvas or finishing it with a thin layer of wood. In appearance, the surface will not differ from a real tree, but its value will be much less.

There are several drawbacks to the door: PVC film, which is used to decorate the surface, is afraid of UV light and fire.

Tip: Avoid direct sunlight and flames on the decorative side of the door.

What doors to the front door would not be chosen, it is better to entrust their production to experts. This will save errors, and the product itself will be of high quality. In addition, many companies give a guarantee on their products.