I thought I'd done this before but I can't fin it or remember the outcome.
A few years ago I was decorating above the outside of the front door and the ladder slipped and one side of the ladder landed on the uPVC front door, making a cracked/indented area about an inch square. We didn't seem to bothered about it at the time.
Now that people are getting new coloured (presumably composite) doors SWMBO has a renewed interest and we are considering replacing it. However having spent a couple of hours online looking at doors she's decided that she likes ours more than any we've seen so we should look at getting someone to fix it.
Is this possible? I realise the panels pop out, and if it were a small panel this might be do-able, but I doubt they could realistically replace the whole panel with the broken bit as it is the whole of the front door including the glazing. So what it would need is an invisible repair. (I suppose the answer will be to ask a specialist but I expect they'll all want to sell me a new door)
I have just bought some PVC strip for another job so I'll compare to see if the existing door and frame have discoloured too badly.
We do have a chappie coming tomorrow to quote for a new front door, with glazed panels each side. I'm expecting something around £3k - does that sound about right?
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I paid just over half that for a fitted composite door.
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Oh really? That's not so bad then... was that a local company or a national?
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>> Oh really? That's not so bad then... was that a local company or a national?
Local, they may have a place near you. www.academywindows.co.uk/composite-doors/
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Oh, them, yes, they have a showroom in our high st. I looked at their website this afternoon but not a lot to look at without filling in my contact details which wasn't up for. I may wander to town tomorrow and take a look. Thanks.
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>> Oh, them, yes, they have a showroom in our high st. I looked at their
>> website this afternoon but not a lot to look at without filling in my contact
>> details which wasn't up for. I may wander to town tomorrow and take a look.
>> Thanks.
Like them a lot, no hard sell from the salesman, you get one competitive no pressure price with no "today only special deal" bull shine, the quality is good and the fitters mostly work for the company, and they meet schedules. Had loads done by them including the conservatory. Lot of their work comes from word of mouth, and they haven't over expanded.
Last edited by: Zero on Wed 5 Aug 20 at 08:31
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Similar problem. Brown UPVC door, west facing so gets extreme sunshine (When we have some). It was fitted 16 years ago. The lower panel has radiated cracks around the central square moulding and this year the single cathedral shaped glass pane dropped. Its only stuck in position using double sided tape.
Mate in the business. He's just replacing the central part of the door ie the bit that contains the glass. The existing surround with all the hinges and locks is staying. £300 all in.
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Ah! So was it a door sales company or some other trade you looked for? I imagine the sales outfits don't do repairs.
EDIT: just looked at a few repairers on Checkatrade, though they mainly go on about repairing glazing. I think I'll see what this salesman says tomorrow before contacting them
Last edited by: smokie on Tue 4 Aug 20 at 18:25
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No. One man band window fitter. He has a supplier who supplies his UPVC doors and windows. He measured up and awaits delivery. Its all fairly standard stuff.
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I guessed it might be, thanks. Will see what tomorrow brings.
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I had trouble finding any more than a couple of sites who claim to be able to repair, and none picked up the phone to me yet or responded to my online requests.
I've found you can get a kit online for repairing doors for about £15 but knowing me I'd make a mess of it (and of course it may show as a whiter patch) so I'm not inclined to do that.
I went to Academy yesterday and without coming out to measure he came up with about the same price as another local company who we've used before - about £2350 (we have rather large side windows). A third local company, also so far only by phone, has come in at about £1800 - their doors are Solidor which seems to be a respected brand. Not really sure why they are quite so much cheaper but they've been around a while and have good enough reviews.
So the jury is out at the mo - whether it's worth even doing or not. I'm thinking maybe we ought to just get on with it as once it's in the mind it will mag away until it's done...
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We're still thinking about whether or not to get a new front door and may visit the cheaper door showroom tomorrow. They use a Solidor door which is fairly common, and it turns out a mate procured some double glazed units from them and said they were fine, and he thinks hte4y may be cheaper as they make their own stuff.
Anyway - has anyone any experience of smart locks on their front door, if so brands to recommend or avoid? The bloke at Academy had only heard of the Yale lock and said they'd been discontinued due to the number of problems with them,, but I can't find much evidence of that on the internet. The two features I'd like are push button code entry and also fingerprint - less bothered about Bluetooth but not averse to it. The lock would need to be suitable for an exterior door though it is protected from the worst of the elements by a porch.
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What happens if you get home in a massive storm and there's a powercut? That happened to me today.
Do they have battery backup or something? Do they need your wifi to be on?
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They only run on battery. I saw one which if the battery had run down there were external points to touch a battery to to temporarily awaken it.
Some can attach to your WiFi - I think the Yale can - I know when we had an AirBnB in Germany the guy reset the entry code to one of our choice from his home miles away as we arrived. He could also see when the door had been opened and it would have told him which code.
Some of the Bluetooth ones appear to unlock with a shake of your phone, which I think I'd disable - in case someone nicked my phone!
The better ones are not cheap but then one of the companies told us that extra keys for out door (over and above the 2 supplied) would be just over £20 each. We have keys with at least 5 people, (family and house-carers when we are away) plus a spare.
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>> The better ones are not cheap but then one of the companies told us that
>> extra keys for out door (over and above the 2 supplied) would be just over
>> £20 each. We have keys with at least 5 people, (family and house-carers when we
>> are away) plus a spare.
If supplied by him, yeah, copied, they are about £1.50 each.
Cone on this is the worse case of man maths I have ever seen to justify unnecessary but fancy tech. Tech that will bite your ass down the line.
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Haha caught me... though I did see one key style that I doubt Timpsons could do!
SWMBO is also keen on some tech for the front door.
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Repairing a uPVC front door - Zero
