Door between porch and house. Thermal or security?

[roganty]

We currently have a uPVC porch with no door between the porch and the house.

Next year we are looking at replacing this with (hopefully) a brick built porch built to PD.

What I am unclear on is what the door between the porch and house is for, is it for security purposes or for thermal efficiency?

If it's for security will we have to have an external grade front door with all the normal locks and such-like?
Or will we be able to get away with a set of sliding patio doors?

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Or, seeing as we currently have no door, could we get away with changing our 'front extension' to a brick built one with no internal door?


Anthony

 

[JohnD]

once an intruder is inside your closed porch, she can work, unseen and unheard by passers-by, to gain entry through your internal door.

If it is a plastic one, a sturdy bread-knife or other simple implement will be sufficient.

so your outer door must provide the security.

 

[garyo]

You need to decide where your thermal envelope is going to be - i.e. is the porch/front-extension going to be subject to building regulations? If you want to avoid building regs then you need to keep the inner door in place. That inner door will then be the real external door to the house, even if you do have a brick porch with additional door. If you want a quality build, to regs, then it starts to become more like a front extension and you can remove the inner door.

Porch is a different concept in planning terms and building regs:

- Planning: a PD porch is a structure on an external door < 3 square metres. Inner door may or may not remain.
- Building regs: An exempt porch is < 30 square metres and is thermally separated from the rest of the house - like a mini conservatory on the front, even though you may choose to make it from brick.

Depending on the quality of your existing uPVC porch, the previous owner may have been a bit naughty and removed the inner door that should have stayed to maintain the thermal separation. It's analogous to people removing the french doors between their lounge and conservatory.

 

[^woody^]

The door (any door) you fit for security will be the same door you fit for thermal efficiency.

 

[roganty]

You need to decide where your thermal envelope is going to be - i.e. is the porch/front-extension going to be subject to building regulations? If you want to avoid building regs then you need to keep the inner door in place. That inner door will then be the real external door to the house, even if you do have a brick porch with additional door. If you want a quality build, to regs, then it starts to become more like a front extension and you can remove the inner door.

Reading between the lines, a non-building regs porch would require an internal door able to maintain the thermal envelope.

Thank you.

 

[roganty]

once an intruder is inside your closed porch, she can work, unseen and unheard by passers-by, to gain entry through your internal door.

If it is a plastic one, a sturdy bread-knife or other simple implement will be sufficient.

so your outer door must provide the security.

Noted.

I should have been clearer in my original post, in that when I said "sliding patio doors" I meant the type of doors one would find on the back of a house.

Thank you

 

[roganty]

The door (any door) you fit for security will be the same door you fit for thermal efficiency.

So "external grade" then (if such a description exists)

Thank you

 

[Nakajo]

But seriously, what kind of peasant has a porch of less than 30m2?

 

[roganty]

But seriously, what kind of peasant has a porch of less than 30m2?

How about the sort of peasant who's houses footprint would almost double building such a small "porch"

 

[pilsbury]

On my porch that has just been built along with the kitchen extension, the outside door (composite) is the security and thermal barrier. The internal door is just a regular door to hide away the coats and shoes.