help to choose composite door

alebleicker · 23 Aug 2017 at 23:40

Hi guys,

I'm looking at composite doors and I had in mind £500 would do the job, but it seems there are tons of brands which have no proven reputation and lots of horror histories after a couple of weeks researching on google. I'm looking for a long term quality door, but I was hoping to not spend much, but perhaps what I want is not possible. The 2 brands that come up a lot is Solidor and Rockdoor, but comes with a higher price tag. if I can't find any alternative to them that can offer quality and peace of mind, so be it, I'll have to spend more. If there are well know manufactures/installer that you guys could recommend, then I would be very happy

I've gathered some information and it seems there are a few things to take into equation:

South facing door, sunlight and door/frame expanding
Darker colours tend to fade after a while, especially red
Solidor has timber core, while Rockdoor has foam core. I don;t expect someone to come and pierce my door, but Solidor would have an upper hand in my opinion. Rockdoor carbon fibre seems to only add rigidity to the frame
Low profile aluminium thresholds are prone to draught and water leak in some situations, perhaps use a regular door frame all around
Does the letterbox affect much the insulation?
I would like to have a Yale Conexis L1 smart lock in place. It seems any regular multilock system can do it as long the middle of door handle and the cylinder are 92mm apart

I've found http://www.rightdoor.co.uk/ to sell Rockdoor installed in London for £1117 VAT inc http://www.rightdoor.co.uk/rock-door-ultimate/vermont/plain-glazed which so far is the cheapest I've come across online and I've seems a few success histories with them on the forums. http://www.phglazingsolutions.co.uk/ doesn't give prices but seem to have good reputation on checkatrade.com which I like, this shows transparency of the business.

I could not get quotes yet from Solidor as their installer finder system is not working on their website. What prices should I expect from a basic door like the Vermont on the link above?

There are a few other brands/shops that I've come across but I'm not sure what to say, these are my findings:

http://www.hormann.co.uk/ high quality, perhaps better than Rockdoor and Solidor but very expensive
https://www.compositedoorshop.co.uk/ saw some people recommending them, but I've no idea what door brand they use, I'm afraid of low quality chinese imports
https://www.valuedoors.co.uk/composite-doors Rockdoors are about £1350+ and some reports that they are not good, they seems to be just a broker in the end
https://www.abbeywindows.co.uk/upvc-doors/ultimate-composite-doors/ not sure if the ultimate door they sell is actually Rockdoor
http://www.heritagetradeframes.co.uk/ just another composite seller or manufacturer, not sure if they are any good
https://www.trade-upvc.co.uk are based in South London, that is the only reason I mentioned as I'm planning to visit their shop
http://endurancedoors.co.uk/ have very good website and marketing material, no idea if the doors are also any good? The brochure has a lot of information http://endurancedoors.co.uk/resourc...a89d998c/endurance_doors_brochure_low_res.pdf
http://www.compositedoorprices.co.uk/solidor-composite-doors/ seems to use other websites to give prices, not sure if they are just another broker?
http://www.rocksolidoors.co.uk/component/virtuemart/solidor.html the only website so far with Solidor prices

Apologies for the long post, perhaps I'm thinking too much about what would work for me, but considering the costs I think it is worth one I decide to go ahead to get the best I can for my hard earned money.

Could you guys please share your thoughts? I would really appreciated it!

robj20 · 24 Aug 2017 at 07:01

We have a Door-Stop door, find it great for the money. We went for it after speaking to a friend that works for the council said its the one they have been fitting throughout there housing due to value and performance.

https://www.door-stop.co.uk/

alebleicker · 24 Aug 2017 at 08:16

robj20 said:
We have a Door-Stop door, find it great for the money. We went for it after speaking to a friend that works for the council said its the one they have been fitting throughout there housing due to value and performance.

https://www.door-stop.co.uk/

Hey, thanks for letting me know. doorstop seems to have as many bad cases as good ones. Like you said this council fitting them I heard about another council doing the opposite and removing them due to the amount of complaints. They were on my list of 50/50 chances as I can find as much as good and bad reviews all over the place. It is difficult to decide to be honest.

Kingdom34 · 24 Aug 2017 at 15:03

Just had our Composite door installed. Its a Slate Grey Jacobean Rockdoor and it was installed by rocksoliddoors based in St Albans. Paul came round, surveyed the current door, measured etc etc. We chose the design etc, he wrote up the report that evening, sent over the price, installed 4 weeks later.
Its the Ultimate range which he said now the prices between this 10yr guaranteed and much better thermal door against the Select Range is only about £40. No brainer.
Good luck with your search but I did the same and down south the prices are a little higher as I had seen them a tad cheaper but the closest was a place in Derby and they didn't stretch down to Herts.

Kingdom34 · 24 Aug 2017 at 15:04

Oh and just to Add Rightdoor was the other website we looked at and for the same door was a tad more expensive. Ours was £1230 all in.

#Chri5# · 24 Aug 2017 at 15:49

We've just started to look for a new front door + two side access doors to the garage. Picked up a Jeld-Wen catalogue from Buildbase and :eek:

at the RRP of the top-end composite doors they offer.

alebleicker · 24 Aug 2017 at 23:14

robj20 said:
We have a Door-Stop door, find it great for the money. We went for it after speaking to a friend that works for the council said its the one they have been fitting throughout there housing due to value and performance.

https://www.door-stop.co.uk/

how much did you pay for yours by the way?

Kingdom34 said:
Just had our Composite door installed. Its a Slate Grey Jacobean Rockdoor and it was installed by rocksoliddoors based in St Albans. Paul came round, surveyed the current door, measured etc etc. We chose the design etc, he wrote up the report that evening, sent over the price, installed 4 weeks later.
Its the Ultimate range which he said now the prices between this 10yr guaranteed and much better thermal door against the Select Range is only about £40. No brainer.
Good luck with your search but I did the same and down south the prices are a little higher as I had seen them a tad cheaper but the closest was a place in Derby and they didn't stretch down to Herts.

I looked at their website, they have pricing for some models, and others they don't. How much did you pay for it? I'm pretty much sold on the rockdoor so far

#Chri5# said:
We've just started to look for a new front door + two side access doors to the garage. Picked up a Jeld-Wen catalogue from Buildbase and at the RRP of the top-end composite doors they offer.

what kind of pricing? I tried to look up the doors but they didn't have composite to compare to solidor/rockdoor so far I could see

NVP · 25 Aug 2017 at 00:01

I had a rockdoor installed and can't fault it at all. Expensive, but great build and looks.

robj20 · 25 Aug 2017 at 06:00

Paid in total £1000 for two doors and a window.

alebleicker · 29 Aug 2017 at 08:46

robj20 said:
Paid in total £1000 for two doors and a window.

Could you tell me the place please? I'll try to also get a quote from them as I got some very nasty quotes from over the last few days. Thanks!

alebleicker · 29 Aug 2017 at 08:46

NVP said:
I had a rockdoor installed and can't fault it at all. Expensive, but great build and looks.

For how long has it been in place?

NVP · 29 Aug 2017 at 09:28

Almost 1 year so not the longest of tests but I can tell it will last a lifetime if that's any help. Very expensive but the security of it is worth it.

robj20 · 29 Aug 2017 at 12:04

alebleicker said:
Could you tell me the place please? I'll try to also get a quote from them as I got some very nasty quotes from over the last few days. Thanks!

Friend of father inlaw so a cash job. I too wasn't keen on other quotes.

#Chri5# · 29 Aug 2017 at 13:45

alebleicker said:
what kind of pricing? I tried to look up the doors but they didn't have composite to compare to solidor/rockdoor so far I could see

Timber composite - http://www.jeld-wen.co.uk/products/exterior-doors/products/exterior-doors/?productId=18976
Composite - http://www.jeld-wen.co.uk/products/exterior-doors/products/#/4/2361/~/~/~/~/~/~/138476

Catalogue is at home but there were some RRPS in the £2000 to £3000 range from memory

alebleicker · 29 Aug 2017 at 19:02

#Chri5# said:
Timber composite - http://www.jeld-wen.co.uk/products/exterior-doors/products/exterior-doors/?productId=18976
Composite - http://www.jeld-wen.co.uk/products/exterior-doors/products/#/4/2361/~/~/~/~/~/~/138476

Catalogue is at home but there were some RRPS in the £2000 to £3000 range from memory

god, that is well beyond my budget!

kindai · 29 Aug 2017 at 19:48

We looked at various options, but went for http://endurancedoors.co.uk/

Well priced, very well built (a few neighbors have also had theirs changed recently and all went for the same as us after having an inspect) and loads of options/extras to customize.

alebleicker · 30 Aug 2017 at 07:50

kindai said:
We looked at various options, but went for http://endurancedoors.co.uk/

Well priced, very well built (a few neighbors have also had theirs changed recently and all went for the same as us after having an inspect) and loads of options/extras to customize.

How much did you pay for your door? What was the style?

They seems to offer something similar to Solidor with solid timber core.

Firestar_3x · 30 Aug 2017 at 08:04

Just about to order our 5th Rockdoor, not cheap but the best (imho) composite doors on the market.

Without knowing someone in the trade your £500 estimate will buy you junk, £800 - 1k is the starting price (fitted) for something worthwhile, costs quickly escalate once you climb the model range and need side panels etc.

alebleicker · 30 Aug 2017 at 08:19

Firestar_3x said:
Just about to order our 5th Rockdoor, not cheap but the best (imho) composite doors on the market.

Without knowing someone in the trade your £500 estimate will buy you junk, £800 - 1k is the starting price (fitted) for something worthwhile, costs quickly escalate once you climb the model range and need side panels etc.

I've got a few quotes for rockdoor at around £1250 and Solidor at around £1225, I'm trying to see if I can get a bit lower than that. I've realised already I would need to spend £1k+ to get a proper door in place

WHat is your opinion about Solidor comparing to the rockdoors you have?

alebleicker · 30 Aug 2017 at 08:22

by the way, I heard some report about draughty door hinges on the rockdoors. What is your opinion about that? Did you experience any problem like that?

help to choose composite door

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