8 Different Types of Doors for Your Home Renovation

Discover the various types of doors that can elevate your home’s appearance. Whether your style is modern or traditional, there’s a perfect door to complement any design!

8 Varieties of Doors for Your Scottish Home

Doors come in so many styles these days, it’s hard to keep track—let alone understand how they function or what they bring to your home’s aesthetic.

With 50 years of expertise in replacement doors, we’ve amassed a wealth of knowledge that makes us more than qualified to walk you through the different types of doors available today.

October is National Home Security Month, making it the perfect time to talk about types of doors for home. Let’s explore which doors suit your home best, their standout features, and whether they’re ideal for traditional properties or modern homes.

8 Styles of doors described in this blog

Flush

Primarily used as internal doors, their sleek, minimalist design makes them a perfect fit for modern new builds.

Glazed

Refers to any door with glass panels, including entrance doors, and complements a wide range of home living spaces and environments.

French

A double door that opens inward or outward, featuring large glass panels, typically associated with classical residences.

Patio

Operated by a sliding mechanism, with one panel overlapping the other when opened, these doors are ideal for any location.

Panel

Featuring a series of square, rectangular, or a combination of both decorative panels, these doors suit homes of any era.

Stable

Divided into top and bottom sections that can be opened independently, these doors are commonly found in rural homes.

Fire

Designed to prevent the spread of fire and provide an escape route in case of an emergency, these doors are legally required in residential properties that are three storeys or taller.

Bi-Fold

Imagine a bi-folding door as an accordion, with its multiple panels folding inwards. These doors are a popular choice for modern settings.

Flush Door

Identifying a flush door among the many types available is straightforward; its face sits entirely flush with the door frame, rather than protruding outward.

With a straightforward design as one of its best features, it appeals to those who prefer clean, simple lines over ornate details, creating a minimalist aesthetic.

In terms of performance, flush doors excel, particularly in acoustic insulation, making them ideal for spaces like home offices where reducing external noise and distractions is essential.

Flush doors are best suited to a contemporary style property and modern flats.

An internal flush door within a largely white colour scheme
Panel Door

Panel Door

You’ve probably gathered that panel doors feature framed panels, ranging from one or more, which are typically raised, flat, or recessed.

Most panel doors are made from solid wood, engineered wood, or composite materials and are commonly found in bedrooms and bathrooms, though they can also serve as an entrance door.

Sturdy and substantial, panel doors offer excellent insulation and soundproofing capabilities.

Whether used internally or externally, panel doors can seamlessly blend into virtually any home design.

Glazed Door

Likewise, glazed doors are quite straightforward; they feature glass panels set within a frame.

These doors allow light to flow into living spaces, creating a sense of openness and a bright, airy atmosphere.

If you have a lovely view at home that you want to showcase, a glazed door is an excellent choice for external openings, allowing you to fully enjoy it.

Offering enhanced light and visibility, glazed doors are versatile enough to complement both traditional and contemporary properties.

Glazed Door
Stable door with the top half open

Stable Door

A stable door consists of two halves, each of which can be opened and closed independently. This allows you to invite fresh air inside by opening the top half while keeping the bottom half closed to prevent young children or pets from wandering out.

Whether crafted from timber or featuring a wood-like finish, stable doors bring a touch of rustic charm and are often chosen as back entryways.

Among the various types of doors available, we believe stable doors are an excellent replacement option for cottages and countryside retreats.

French Door

Behold the undeniable elegance of the French door, featuring gracefully elongated glass panels that extend nearly the full height of the double doors.

Designed to open either inward or outward, they create a spacious passageway, perfect for transitioning from indoor living to outdoor enjoyment, such as moving from your living room to a patio.

Enhance the sophistication of your French doors by opting for glazed inserts with decorative patterns or elegant bars.

Whether in a traditional or modern property, French doors seamlessly complement both styles.

White French doors
White fire door

Fire Door

Fire doors are primarily installed between two sections of a building, such as corridors and stairwells, to prevent the spread of fire in the event of an emergency.

Commonly made from steel or specially treated woods, fire doors come with a fire rating that indicates the level of fire protection they provide.

While they are particularly well-suited for townhouses and homes with attached garages, fire doors are an essential safety feature for any property.

Patio Door

Patio doors are a type of glass sliding door featuring long glazed panels, making them a popular entryway into gardens and a great source of natural light for homes.

Equipped with locking systems that meet British Security Standards, they offer unobtrusive sightlines, ensuring minimal obstruction of external views when closed.

We believe that any home with outdoor space is an ideal candidate for patio doors, allowing both new and older properties to be easily opened up on a beautiful day.

Patio door in orangery
Bi-Fold Door

Bi-Fold Door

Bi-fold doors can span a considerable distance, providing a generous opening that enhances your ability to entertain guests in the garden while inviting in ample light and ventilation.

With numerous configuration options available, you can personalise everything from the number of door sections to their size.

Combining functionality and style, a gentle push is all it takes to open a bi-fold door, which folds back in a concertina fashion.

If you’re wondering whether they suit your home’s style, you’ll often find bi-fold doors featured in many open-plan layouts of modern properties.

Choosing the Right Door Material

While it’s essential to find a door at a reasonable price, cost-effective, and low maintenance, selecting the right material is equally important.

The material you choose will influence every aspect of the door’s performance, including thermal efficiency, durability, security, maintenance requirements, aesthetics, and lifespan.

Keep this in mind whenever you evaluate the various types of doors available.

 
UPVC
Composite
Aluminium
Timber
Price
UPVC
Composite
Aluminium
Timber
Security
UPVC
Composite
Aluminium
Timber
Lifecycle
UPVC
Composite
Aluminium
Timber

Different Door Materials

UPVC

UPVC is a popular choice for both front and rear doors, standing for Unplasticised Polyvinyl Chloride.

This material offers numerous benefits, including excellent resistance to weathering, corrosion, and rot, as well as providing outstanding thermal performance and a degree of soundproofing.

Since UPVC doors are unlikely to warp or fade over their lifespan, they require minimal maintenance, eliminating the need for regular colour touch-ups.

Although it may not exude the same elegance as timber or aluminium, UPVC is the most cost-effective choice among the types of doors available today.

UPVC front door
A composite door and knocker

Composite

Glass-reinforced plastic (GRP) is one of the key materials used in a composite door frame, fused with UPVC, timber, and a foam filling.

This multi-layered construction makes composite doors incredibly durable, making them an excellent choice for front door that offers round-the-clock protection for your entrance.

The external glass-reinforced plastic skin is weather-resistant, preventing unsightly cracking or distortion of the frame.

You might easily confuse a composite door with traditional timber front doors due to their similar appearance, but composite doors provide superior security and require far less maintenance than older wooden doors.

Aluminium

What’s truly impressive about aluminium is its lightweight nature, which is surprising for a material that boasts such remarkable strength. Equally notable is aluminium’s flexibility, allowing it to be crafted into a wide range of shapes.

Aluminium doors are characterised by their sleek appearance and slim design, enabling wider glazed sections compared to doors made from other materials.

We’ve found that the best way to add colour to aluminium is through a multi-stage powder-coating colour process.

With proper care, it’s not uncommon for aluminium doors to last 40 years or more, making it a true low maintenance door.

A grey aluminium door
Timber door

Timber

Responsibly sourced timber is an eco-friendly choice, being both renewable and sustainable, while also radiating warmth and character.

Low-quality timber can be susceptible to decay and rot due to weather exposure, making maintenance more challenging. However, the best types of timber are better equipped to withstand the elements, reducing the need for frequent preservation.

Timber’s versatility allows for extensive personalisation, enabling the creation of doors in various shapes and sizes to suit any type of property.

In addition to their appealing aesthetic, timber doors offer strength and durability, making them ideal for properties that require a timeless touch of beauty.

Which type of door is right for my property?

We hope this guide has helped you better understand the various types of replacement doors available for your home and clarified your options for selecting front doors that fit with the style of your house.

To wrap up, here’s a summary of the best door options for various property types:

Detached

Composite or timber doors enhance the designer appeal, boosting the kerb appeal of larger homes.

Terraced

UPVC and composite doors are both popular options for terraced houses, as they are easy to maintain.

New Build

An aluminium door’s slender appearance pairs beautifully with contemporary residential buildings.

Semi-Detached

A composite door offers balanced security and resilience, making it an ideal choice for homes sharing a common wall.

Period

Timber doors add authentic character, preserving the traditional aesthetics of Georgian and Victorian-era homes.

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