Are Composite Doors easy to install?
Your Composite Door Questions Answered:
Are Composite Doors easy to install?
The answer to the above question is itself a question – how confident are you in your own DIY ability?
As anybody who is not a tradesman will tell you fitting a door can be awkward but it is a far from an impossible task for the competent DIY enthusiast. The Composite Door manufacturers even make it that little bit easier by pre engineering the door and frame as “a door set” which in the simplest of terms means they pre- rehang the door in the frame during the manufacturing process so everything should be guaranteed as square and plumb – which with predrilling of screws means when your door arrives all you have to do is remove the door from the frame – install the frame square and plumb and rehang the door – it should be easy. But there are a number of pitfalls and items to check that you may not have considered.
Problem 1 – measuring a door opening is easy or at least it is to a professional but its quite surprising how many amateurs actually end up getting it wrong.
Problem 2 – when you measured your opening did you check for other obstructions – gas pipes and electric cables set in the plaster next to the door frame are probably more common than you might think. Did you check for a lintol (the concrete or steel thing that holds the brickwork above the door up) the law says you have to have one and lots of older properties have problems in that department.
Problem 3 – you have of course chosen the correct cill profile to stop ingress of water into your home and you have considered the necessary adjustment for your door and frame opening size
Your good – you have overcome all of the above and your door is in your possession.
Problem 4 – setting a frame square and plumb is frequently not as easy as it would seem, if the bricklayers straight line wandered just a little you may have more problems than you anticipated – what if the cavity was only closed with a damp proof membrane how do you seal the cavity and get a good solid fixing. The fixing – the drilling and placing of plug fixing in brickwork if carried out with care can cause the spalling (the face coming off) of the brickwork (not easy to repair. Worse still – loose plaster on the inside of the door frame can simply “fall off” when disturbed requiring more remedial works.
It done its installed – but the door is not sitting square in the frame – the frame is out of square or something worse maybe its not quite that easy.
And the often-forgotten job sealing around the door frame its so easy that even a tradesman can make a mess of it.
Why would you put yourself through all of the above when generally for the addition of two – four hundred pounds (dependent upon where you live and excluding the South East) someone else can take the pain – you can complain if they get it wrong (which rarely happens) and in the main you can stand admire a job well done when it’s all completed.
When you purchase your Composite Door, most suppliers will offer a fitting service that should include all of the above – many advise what the service incudes when you are placing your order or it could be as a page on a web site ( Our premium installation explained )if you are buying on line and frequently door suppliers will include items on their “blogs” pages extolling the benefits and pointing out the pitfalls of DIY installation i.e “Why correct installation matters”
If the manufacturers , suppliers and installers want you to have your door perfectly installed so it will look great and function well for years to come there has to be a reason – yes you can install it your self but invariably the professionals who do it all day every day will do it just that little bit better.
