Composite doors are one of the best front doors you can have due to their long-lasting durability and great visual appeal. They have been engineered to be low-maintenance, extremely secure, and thermally efficient. However, as with many household items you won, you may face some issues with a composite door over a period of time, a very long time at that, but it's still something you should be aware of. As with anything in the world, composite doors have their own set of pros and cons.
In this article, we will be going over whether or not composite doors warp in the sun and any other environmental factor that could affect your front doors durability.
What is a Composite Door?
Composite doors are the newest form of residential doors in the market. Composite doors have been created with the common shortcomings of single-material doors in mind. Using a combination of materials chosen for their advantageous features, composite doors make it possible to successfully "design away" the existing defects. Composite doors have remarkable resilience to weathering and do not respond to seasonal variations like doors made from a single material.
Due to the foam core, composite doors offer more thermal resistance than hardwood doors. A composite door is designed to resemble a wooden door with a nice wood grain, but due to the materials used, it will not fade, discolour, or require any maintenance other than washing with a damp cloth if it becomes dirty. Composite doors are modern, extraordinarily well-designed doors composed of many materials. Their excellent quality establishes a new benchmark in the door business.
What are composite doors made out of?
A composite door consists of multiple materials. A solid wood piece at the centre of composite doors imparts the design's strength. In addition, because wood is a natural insulator, less cold air may escape via these doors. In light of this, composite doors have added layers to protect the wood. uPVC is the most prevalent, adaptable, and weather-resistant material.
uPVC profiles will maintain their visual appeal longer in harsh weather conditions. This prevents the wood beneath from eventually splitting, bending, and decaying. Other components may also be present depending on the composite door you install. Lamination layers frequently add additional strength and help keep more of your home's natural heat, resulting in lower utility costs. Alternately, some composite doors are coated with GRP (Glass-reinforced plastic), which is highly durable.
Are composite doors weather resistant?
Intense temperatures caused by the weather and climate fluctuations will always impact doors. This affects not only the decorative aspect of your door but also its quality by producing vulnerabilities and opening and closing difficulties. One of the most notable advantages of a composite door is its strength and longevity due to the tough features of the materials used to construct it. Composite doors are often considerably thicker than their uPVC equivalents, and their glass-reinforced plastic shell ensures that they have a long lifespan. In addition to being windproof, these doors will not rot, rust, warp in the heat, or swell when it rains, making them the ideal choice for a front or back door. A composite door has an average lifespan of 35 years, making it a fantastic investment and a cost-effective option for your home.
Will composite doors keep my house secure?
The frame of composite doors is often reinforced with galvanised steel, and the protective surface can bear a greater force than other doors. This, along with the fact that composite doors are often thicker than traditional doors, makes composite doors a good security option. The majority of composite doors also include standard multi-point locking systems, making your property safer than if you had a traditional door with a simple locking mechanism.
Do composite doors fade in the sun?
No, composite doors do not fade in the sun. Unlike its uPVC or wooden counterparts, in which the colour is applied to the exterior of the door panel, the GRP skin is exceptionally resistant to the weather. It maintains the colour's fresh appearance regardless of external conditions. As a result, you will not have to worry about colour fading or to repaint the door panel, as is frequent with wooden doors.
Since the colour is not sprayed to the surface, composite doors do not fade or bleach over time, even when exposed to the bright sun for years or decades. They are not factory-painted or covered with a thin layer of coloured or patterned material, unlike some uPVC or steel doors. The entire thickness of the GRP or uPVC surface layer is coloured. Even if the extremely dent- and the scratch-resistant surface is breached in any manner, the newly exposed cortex is the same colour as the remainder of the character. The complete outer layer is manufactured in the factory with this colour.
Another reason composite doors do not fade is the technique in which the colour is created. Some paints and pigments are known to degrade over time when exposed to UV radiation; for example, consider parcels left in a sunny storefront window for too long. However, the pigments incorporated into the outer layer of a composite door are incredibly resistant to UV and other forms of damaging radiation. Certain colour mixtures contain long-lasting UV-protective ingredients — a permanent sunblock — to prevent the colour from fading or changing over time.
Can composite doors warp in the sun?
The short answer is a big "NO." A composite door of superior quality will be constructed to resist swelling, warping, and shape loss. They are built using multiple reinforced layers of various materials arranged so that the door remains rigid and stable in any intense or harsh conditions. The primary anti-warping feature of some composite door constructions is their "monocoque" outer shell of glass-reinforced plastic.
As they are effectively cast in a single piece and filled with polyurethane foam under high pressure in the factory, there are no gaps or seals that may allow moisture to enter, and there is no 'empty space' inside that could encourage condensation. An alternate building method consists of a durable uPVC shell covering a sturdy timber frame and core. This layering of the constituent parts presents a single, solid piece to the elements and is consequently highly resistant to warping, regardless of the method applied.
Bottom Line
In conclusion, very little maintenance is required to keep a composite door looking as wonderful as it did when it was first installed. Composite doors are durable, energy-efficient, give a high level of security, and are available in a variety of styles, colours, and finishes. The advantages unquestionably outweigh the disadvantages, as the most typical issues linked with composite doors are minimal and, as a result, can be resolved with straightforward solutions. It is naturally resistant to fading and warping and never requires repainting or refinishing. Even though composite doors often require less maintenance than other types of doors, you should still take care of them to the best of your ability!
If you are looking for high quality composite doors in St Albans, then the people over at Rock Solid Doors can help you find what you need! Our mission at Rock Solid Doors is to give you with all the assistance and information you need to select the appropriate composite door in a courteous and non-obligatory manner. We only offer and install branded doors of the highest quality (you can choose from 5 different brands), all of which are professionally installed by us and come with a one-year guarantee and building standards compliance certificate for your peace of mind.
