Affordable new door & side panel for unusual size opening

[olly330]

Hi all,

need some help as im on a budget due to just buying new house which needed total gutting and starting over.

I have had a quote for a composite door and side panel together from the same company which is £1000 fitted. I may even consider UPVC or a wooden door to save some cash.


The gap is 1705 wide by 2210 high so will need a side panel as its quite a wide gap.


I have a few questions and would really appreciate any help, seems firms round my way only want to supply and fit both door and side panel rather than advise with the most affordable way:

• Is it possible to get a cheapish off the shelf door from bq (composite £400/upvc £250) and then get a local window firm to make a separate white upvc side panel and join the 2 when fitting?
  Or does the composite door and side panel have to be one fused unit?

• If I get a composite door does the side panel have to be composite or would a UPVC side panel suffice? Also would a upvc side panel look ok next to a composite door?

• BQ composite door heights are a maximum or 2125 whereas my opening height is 2210. Would the fitter be able to bridge the 85mm gap with some sort of cladding

• What sort of cost would I be looking at for a side panel with double glazing inside.

Here is a pic of the current door :

The current door is a slider as a inward opening door wouldn't fit due to the porch being very narrow.

We are going to get rid of the doors that are inside of the house, and plan to raise the height of the bricks that the new door/panel will sit on so that the new door can swing in and open inwards.

However, the current height of the front upvc sliding door is lower than the rest of the house, as in when you step into the porch you have to take a step up when passing the second doors.

Is it simple enough to raise the height of the porch floor, and raise the height of the new composite door by building it up with bricks so it is in line with the rest if the house flooring?

Better explained with pictures :

Appreciate any help with this.

 

[JohnD]

There appears to be some reason why you don't want a wooden door in a wooden frame with sidelights. What is this reason?

Do all the local houses have that horrible door arrangement, or were some of them built with an open porch or some other design?

 

[olly330]

Thanks for replying.

Do you mean get rid of the outside door and just have a storm shelter and then a new wooden door where the existing inside wooden door exists?

I did think of this but wife wants a place to dump muddy shoes etc hence wanting to keep the porch.

Yes all of the houses on the estate have this silly door setup from when the were built in 1970s.

Most people got rid of the horrible tilt slide doors as in the picture and fitted more modern patio style sliding doors that look like they were fitted in the 90s.

Some people have done it properly be either fitting an outside opening door (pvc and composite) or inside opening doors but raising the height of the porch so the door opens fully.

 

[JohnD]

If it was me I think I would go to full height. A good wooden door and frame will cost less than the substitute materials. You could still have a vestibule door or double doors in the hall, you would have to position the frame set back enough to open the first door, it will reduce heat loss and you could make the lobby big enough for a bench to sit on while changing shoes, and a compartmented storage under it, with coat-hooks above. It needs to be ventilated to the outdoors if you are putting boots and wet coats there. Not a complex job. The outer door needs to be the secure one, anybody in your hall can use tools unobserved and take his time.

Remember to use safety glass.

Don't leave keys in the lobby, have concealed keyhooks or a concealed cabinet elsewhere.

 

[olly330]

Sounds like an interesting plan.

I would just get rid of the second wooden doors and made good.

Do you think the cost of a wooden door /side panel would be cheaper than composite?

Also, are wooden doors easily available from window /door companies. I have never really looked into it. Thanks

 

[Gazman16]

To be honest your asking for quite a lot of work for not alot of money. £1000 for a Comp door + sidelight + fitting + guarantee is a good price and you should bite their hands off if you can stretch to it.

99.9% of company's will have no interest in fitting doors that you supply, The ones from diy stores are pretty rubbish and wont last much longer than a cheap timber door & frame.

You could try haggling it down a little by removing and disposing of the outer door and getting the brickwork built up ready so they can just measure,order and fit with no messing about.

A basic PVC PVC door would be about £200 cheaper than a Comp door.
Comp doors with PVC side lights are common and look fine

 

[ronniecabers]

I agree with Gazman here , £1000 for comp door and Pvc sidepanel ( will look fine as a pvc sidepanel , as outerframe of comp doors is pvc ), thats a very good price!!

B&Q door ...lol... if you want a rubbish door then get one , if they were that good don't you think the Pvc installation companies would use them. ans there is no way our company would fit doors supplied by someone else as we then would have to guarantee a product thast we do not know anything about.

And if you think a wooden door would be cheaper then I'm afraid not , when I ask for quotes for wood, these days it tends to be twice the price I'm paying for Pvc products

As Gazman says , tell them you'll remove the old doors, dispose of them and if any brickwork being done you'll do it ...if you can do the finishing off once they've been installed too , that is a bargaining tool , and can help reduce the price

 

[Gazman16]

One quick last point dont get a builder to fit doors that you buy elsewhere.
No offense to the good builders on this site but I spend a good part of my time quoting to refit doors and windows that have been fitted poorly by builders.

 

[olly330]

Thanks for all the replies.

Im not looking for anything fancy, we just needed a door and side panel (no sidelights, solid wood not required), the most important thing at the moment was cost as we have spent all our budget on the rest of the house.

Hence was trying to find the cheapest way of getting a door fitted until a couple of years when we could get a custom made composite door installed and fitted.

So i guess any off the shelf bq door wouldn't even do a couple of years, they must be seriously bad.

The main thing I was trying to work out was if I could use one of these off the shelf doors and get my own joiner to fit it, then once in place ask a glazing company to make a upvc side panel to match the gap.

 

[Gazman16]

You may save £2-300 trying to do something like this but then your still going to have to pay £1000ish later on to redo it, Why not just spend the extra couple of hundred now and get it done right instead of paying twice?

The DIY store ones will last a few years but when things start going wrong the stores will not be interested in helping you get the parts or fix them so repairs will cost a small fortune to find and get someone to fit the parts. (its why they are cheap!)

A PVC door and sidelight will save you £200-300 but again for such a small saving you may as well just get it done the way you want it now as it will cost you twice as much to do it twice in the long run.

 

[olly330]

I have just seen this lovely looking hardwood door on ebay which is close to my dimensions and just £250 or best offer:

The dimensions of this door are 1680 x 2040

My dimensions are 1705 x 2210

The width is 25mm too small, could this be packed out sucessfully?

And the height, we were going to raise the height of the floor in the porch to match the height of the floor in the rest out the house, that would be an increase in height of 2 courses of bricks, so 150mm approx height increase. Which would mean my new height would be 2060, and the door height is 2040. Again, could the height be packed out under the frame?

Really like the look of this door too

 

[Gazman16]

Yes that could be packed out and trimmed eaisily.
Will there be enough room for the door to open inwards though? check it wont hit lights walls etc