Things about....DOORS
So, you’ve moved into your new home and now all you have to do is make it look awesome. This is an exciting time! But aside from the odd moment of satisfaction, when you’ve had a quick win on e.g. a simple paint job, I’m afraid you are about to enter into a world of really, really boring and fiddly things. New front door? Wallpaper? Replacing windows? Likely you’ve just not saved space for any of this in your mind-tube. You will miss the days when Saturdays were about watching movies and Sundays were long walks and the pub….now everything is DIY and ordering things you have to research the hell out of online.
I’ve put together a few top 10s of things I wish I’d known, when I moved into my first place. To hopefully give you back a bit of down time, save you money and make the whole thing a little bit less dull-whelming.
…..EXTERNAL DOORS
COST - new front doors and back doors (external doors) are expensive! Ranging from approx £1200-£5000. It is worth knowing this now, so you don’t vomit when you get a quote. NB: beware of cheaper options - often means poor workmen/people and more chores for you, as they won’t paint or varnish what they have installed. Make sure you check reviews if you go down this route.
FRAME AND TOPLIGHT - see if you can keep your existing door frame and toplight (window above door). If it isn’t rotten, it’s ok. If it’s a bit rotten, it can often be fixed. This will save you quite a bit of money.
COMPOSITE DOORS - are a good option all round - they look nice (like wood), come in a range of ordinary but fine colours and are very secure and eco-efficient, i.e. they keep the heat in. This may not be a door of dreams, but you will likely lose sight of that pretty quickly during this process. Composite doors are just fine.
INSTALLATION - most door companies will send someone to measure-up and quote in person. Online quotes often don’t include installation, so will come up significantly cheaper. If you organise a different person to install, e.g. local chippy, your uncle Dave, make sure that they do the measuring up as well. Not you. Measuring is hard.
SALE/DISCOUNT - online door company quotes are extremely high - they will often tell you it is a “discounted or “sale” price. If they don’t, ask for that price. Or ask them when their next sale is coming up.
DEALING WITH SALESPEOPLE - remember that sales people work on commission and will have a monthly target to fulfill. They may be more keen to make the sale at the end of the month, depending on their sales target cycle. You can even say “Have you had a good month?” and they might talk about it. Or you could say “It’s too much for us right now, but give us a call at the end of the month/ next month.” They might come back to you for a cheaper sale when they most need it.
DOOR FURNITURE - this is your knobs, knockers, letterbox etc. You know gold/bronze door furniture is the thing, right? Heroes don’t choose chrome these days, but do what you need to do. NB: you can also get house name/number stickers for your toplight, if you like that (I do - bronze/gold is good, obvs).
LOCKS - you can keep your locks to save a quid or two - but make sure they are BS-3621. This is the British Standard that all insurance companies will ask for.
VINTAGE - you can get a refurbished, “vintage”, door, but this will not end up being cheaper than a new one. Some of these are incredibly beautiful and you can find local artisans to do the glass, features etc. Perfect, if you can spend a lot of money.
STAINED GLASS - new door companies can do a new version of double-glazed stained glass. It’s not for me, personally. But worth having a look to see if you like it. You can go down the original stained glass route, by finding a stained glass specialist and choosing an original pane from them. They will fix it up and make it solid for you. This is more of a project, as you will need to get them to install it on whichever door you have chosen and make sure it all fits. More measuring I’m afraid. And money. But lovely.