It seems almost unbelievable now, but 25 years ago, double-glazed doors were something of a rarity! If you were around “that far back” though, you will remember that double-glazed doors and windows were a luxury!
We can vividly remember our house front door being made of wood and having a single pane of glass which would collect ice – yes, actual ICE! – in the corners, and be freezing to the touch. Not to mention the draughts that invariably howled around the poorly-insulated edges.
There are a number of probable reasons why double-glazing was still not common in homes and why double-glazed doors were mostly something the “Joneses” had put in, along with double-glazed windows, right up until the early 80s when:
- double-glazed door (and window) prices began to fall and reasonable financing solutions were made available (remember “double-glazing salesmen”! Do they still exist?!)
- environmental awareness became much more widespread – people realised it just wouldn’t do to be pumping the heat out of our house and onto the street
- similarly, the economicalbenefits of double-glazed exterior doors became more and more apparent. Heating and fuel costs spiralled, and a very real cost-benefit factor came into play. Quite simply, you could pay for double-glazed doors and windows to be installed (especially if you got financing) and expect to recoup the investment through savings in heat bills - very quickly in some cases, a matter of a few years.
Also, there was just something about the typical British home in those days – it was expected to be a cold place: double-glazed doors (and windows) just seemed an unneccessary luxury, something those continentals might opt for, especially in less temperate climates. Ironically, winter temperatures in the UK actually seem to have gone up on average in the last 20 years, but maybe Brits are finally seeing their homes as more cosy places, rather than an icy cave of single-glazed doom!
External double glazed doors come in a variety of flavours for specific uses: front doors, side doors, back doors and patio doors (French, sliding etc.). All of these are of course not just double-glazed but involve some kind of double layer which insulates the entire door, not just the glass portion. Where PVC doors are concerned, this is usually the hollow cavity inside the “shell” of the door. The glass itself of course typically follows the familiar configuration of double-glazing – two panes of glass separated by one or two centimetres of space and sealed into the frame with flexible rubber. Some exterior doors, like front doors, often do not have a great deal of glass in them, for reasons of privacy, whereas double-glazed sliding patio doors are almost entirely of glass in order to let the maximum amount of light in and give an unhindered view of the garden.
This type of exterior double-glazed door by law is required (source) to use “safety glass” that is of a tougher grade than regular window glass. This also applies to any window which is less than a metre and a half off the floor. Safety glass is defined in British Standard BS6262 part 4 as toughened/tempered glass, laminated glass, wired (or Polyshield) glass or plastics glazing sheet (which is not really glass, of course). So if you come across any double glazed external doors not satisfying these requirements, remember, they are not just unsafe, they are ILLEGAL and should be reported to the trading standards authority!
Just to finish with, external doors are often installed as part of an overall double-glazing package, but of course they can be bought individually from all the leading UK door and window suppliers, where double-glazed door prices start from around 200 pounds for a very basic back door. You might well want to buy them separately, especially front doors, in order to give your home that individual note that might be missing from an all-in-one package – you don’t want your house to look JUST like the Joneses, after all..!
Concertina doors