Replacing wooden front door with 4 panel victorian door

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Hi everyone,

We are currently trying to replace our front door and wanted some help! We live in a victorian terraced house in east london and want to replace the current horrible 80s front door with a restored or new victorian 4 panel door with 2 glazed panels at the top similar to http://www.londondoor.co.uk/images/doors/front/victorian-edwardian/home/2670.jpg

We can obviously have this made from new but this is very expensive so I've been looking at salvage yards/ebay etc to find a very similar size that could be restored and trimmed ever so slightly or have a plant added. I have found a few that would work.

My concern is that my carpenter has recommended against using 4 panel doors such as this in areas like ours (which is not terrible but it is inner london!) He said due to the way they're made and the thinness of the panels they are very easy to kick in. He recommends using a new solid door such as http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hardwood-...Home_Garden_Doors_LE&var=&hash=item6fc3dc75ca with bevelled 'panels' rather than actual panels

Most of the nicely renovated houses round here use the type of door i linked to above, but they are generally made bespoke for them rather than using a restored one. Unfortunately our door is not the most standard size (35” x 84” x 44mm) so this adds to the trickiness!

As a result my questions are:

1) Will there be any difference in how a new 4 panel door (with 2 glazed panels at the top) will be made today by a good door company (eg http://www.londondoor.co.uk/ ) vs how they would have been made originally? eg would a new door from a company like this be more secure than an identically sized restored door (apart from age) or are they made the same? I'm first trying to establish if it's actually less safe to get a restored one as lots of people use newly made versions of these round here.

2) What are your opinions on the safety or otherwise of 4 panel doors such as this, do you agree with my carpenter that they're not very safe or do you not think it's a big issue?

3) Can anyone recommend any good salvage yards for this type of thing or any door makers that would be able to make this sort of thing and aren't prohibitively expensive! I don't mind a bit expensive but from the london door company for example it's around £1k without fitting.

Thanks so much for any advice you can give, it is greatly appreciated!

Dave
 
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theres a fair chance it will be molded doweled and glued

you need to ask if it will be done in the traditional way with mortice and tennons
 
Get a composite one like mine
20jo31w.jpg
 
composites are nice, come in many styles and they are safe and energy efficient too. and also made to measure :p
 
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Thanks for your replies everyone, much appreciated.

big-all: Which one is better, i presume mortice and tennon (which i think is what they use for the new doors)? Does this mean if i can find an old restored mortice and tennon door then its likely to be a similar level of security to a new door (as long as the wood is still in good condition)?

s60tsy and God: Thanks for your comments but i have never managed to find a composite that matches the style of door we're looking for (see link in my first post), we want 4 separate inset panels with mouldings around the outside and not just bevelled lines where the panels would be (like in Gods image below). If you know of anywhere that does them then please send me a link but otherwise i think we have to stick with wood unfortunately.

Thanks very much for your help everyone,

Dave
 

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