Are you on the hunt for a new front door? With so much choice on the market, buying a new front door can be quite a daunting task. The front door is the focal point for any home, and it plays an important role in setting the tone of your home as well as being crucial for security and energy efficiency. If your front door is underperforming, then the time has never been better to replace your old external doors with a new composite door instead.
What is a composite door?
In short, a composite door is a door that is made up of multiple materials. Materials can include wood, uPVC, steel, insulating foam, glass reinforced plastic (GRP) and more; and the combination will usually result in a door that offers superior security, weather protection and thermal efficiency when compared to a standard uPVC or a traditional timber door.
At Highland Homestyle we’re proud to offer three high quality composite doors – our Signature range, Solidor and Palladio – and in this blog we’ll explore the features and benefits of each option and hopefully help you decide what would best suit you and your home.
Our Signature Range of Composite Doors: The energy efficient option
We’ll start by looking at our most competitively priced option – our Signature Door.
The key component of our Signature door is the 44mm Nan Ya door slab, which is made with a high-density foam core and GRP outerskin. The high-density foam core is an effective insulator, meaning that it’s the ideal choice if you’re wanting to lower your energy bills and enjoy a more comfortable temperature in the home. In fact, a thermal efficiency test carried out by the University of Salford concluded that our Signature Door range is 19% more thermally efficient than a solid timber composite door.
Another standout feature of our Signature door range is the Ultion lock. This is one of the newest door locks on the market and is packed with features designed to protect your home from any would be intruders. With Ultion there’s three options – 1 star (good), 3 star (better) and 3 star plus (best). All three are highly secure, but 3 star plus is the standout option, featuring an extra hidden lock for another layer of protection and a thicker, more robust key.
As well as offering excellent security features, our Signature range of door locks can be upgraded to a smart lock, meaning you can control it from your phone, watch or voice. This easy-to-use smart system can be fitted in a matter of minutes, and you can also send guests keys on the app.
To top it off, our Signature Range doors are available in a vast array of styles, colours and with different glass options, meaning you can truly personalise the door to suit your home. Try our Signature door designer to see the various options for yourself.
Solidor Composite Doors: The solid core composite door as seen on TV
Next up in the Highland Homestyle ‘Composite Door Buyers Guide’ is Solidor. You may be familiar with this brand as it has featured in several big TV advertising campaigns and often advertises in lifestyle magazines and national newspapers.
So what makes Solidor so special? The secret ingredient is the 48mm solid timber core slab. While this isn’t quite as energy efficient as the foam filled slab found on our Signature door, it is 4mm thicker, meaning it’s stronger, more durable and offers a higher level of security. That’s not to say the product isn’t energy efficient – it still exceeds the Building Regulations for thermal performance – and offers a good level of sound proofing.
Solidor composite doors from Highland Homestyle feature a forementioned Ultion lock as standard, and can achieve the coveted Secured by Design security standard. This is an official police security initiative and essentially proves that the door offers an exception level of protection.
As for the outerskin that wraps around the solid timber core slab, this is made with acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) with a solid core all the way through making it completely scratch resistance.
Like our Signature door, Solidor is available in an extensive array of styles and colours, which you can view from our dedicated Solidor composite door designer. If you live in an older style property, the Traditional and Cottage door collection will probably be best suited to you, whereas if you live in a more modern house, make sure you check out the Italia Collection.
Palladio Composite Doors: Our top performing composite door
The third and final door in the Highland Homestyle ‘Composite Door Buyers Guide’ is the Palladio Door. As the old saying goes, “you should save the best for last,” and with this in mind we have a stunning product to show you.
Quite simply, the Palladio is one of the most advanced composite doors on the market and is the best in our collection. Why? For starters, the door features a double rebate – essentially an additional seal that means the door offers twice the amount of weather protection when compared to other doors.
Next up is the 65mm reinforced fibreglass slab. This unique monocoque structure is incredibly strong and will never twist, warp or delaminate, as well as offering exceptional levels of energy efficiency and security for your home.
Talking of security, the door boasts an impressive 10-point locking system with 4 bespoke adjustable hinges. Just for context, most composite doors you’ll find on the market today feature a three-point locking system, so with seven additional points, the Palladio is head and shoulders above the competition when it comes to repelling any would-be intruders. The security credentials are further boosted by the doors outerframe which is reinforced with galvanised steel – another feature you won’t find on lots of mass market composite doors.
As for the glass – we use triple glazed units instead of double, which further enhances the thermal efficiency and security. We put the decorative pane of glass in the middle of the unit, which offers better protection from the elements and means there’s never any deterioration in colour or texture, as well as being much easier for you to clean.
The final point to mention is the authentic timber aesthetic. Every Palladio starts life as a real oak door and the manufacturer then takes a faithful silicone impression to give a perfect match. These mouldings have great depth and detail, as well as much more character than the computer-generated timber styles found on other doors.
Like our Signature range and Solidor, Palladio comes in a wide range of styles and colours, which you can see via our Palladio door designer.
Why choose Highland Homestyle?
We hope you found this Composite Door Buyers Guide useful, and if you would like to learn more or discuss any our door options in more details then please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
And remember, we offer more than just a range of composite doors here at Highland Homestyle, so if you’re interested in other home improvement products such as windows, bifold doors, patio doors or conservatories then please feel free to reach out.
We operate across Perthshire, Tayside, Angus and surrounding areas including Crieff and Kinross; and our highly skilled team are committed to providing exceptional customer service from the initial contact right through to the final installation. We look forward to hearing from you!
For more information contact us today by calling on 01738 553 552 or email us on info@highlandhomestyle.co.uk where our friendly team of installers can give you a free, no-obligation quote.
You can also visit our showroom to view our range of products up close including; French doors, patio doors, uPVC windows and aluminium bi-folding doors.
