Guide to Buying French Doors

We’ve put together a guide to buying the best French doors with information about products, how to use them and what to expect.

Despite the popularity of bifolding doors and even sliding doors, French doors provide excellent security, functionality and styling.

Information about buying French Doors

When it comes to buying new French doors, both aluminium and PVCu are excellent for this type of door. Whether you choose a simple set of double doors or French doors with sidelights you’ll get similar benefits across both types of materials.

First of all, both are energy efficient products. PVCu doors use multi-chamber profiles. Aluminium has thermally insulated sections, often using a polyamide thermal break. As a result, when you combine either aluminium or PVCu with a good specification glass, you get energy efficient doors. As well as looking stylish, they keep your rooms warmer in winter, cooler in the summer. Of course, this energy efficiency also helps lower your heating bills.

In particular, French doors are the only option, for instance where the door opening size dictates the type of door you can have. In PVCu, these doors work very well in standard or smaller door sizes.

For new extensions or for larger doorways, aluminium doors provide one of the best solutions. Specifically, aluminium doors come at bigger widths, heights and individual door leaves compared to PVCu. Therefore, if you want doors only, without side panels or top lights, aluminium is best.

Design options when buying French Doors

Besides the obvious hinged operating method, French doors come with all manner of options for your home.

First of all is the direction they open. As well as opening out, French doors can also open in. Even better is the ‘floating’ door mullion, giving you a full clear opening when both doors open.

Another design to consider is whether you want any fixed frames. Depending on your door opening size there are door designs including.

• Standard double doors
• Doors with one sidelight or symmetrical with doors either side.
• Offset doors
• Multiple door sets for larger openings.

There are even options for combing opening windows within a sidelight or top panel of a door set. Not only do you get the benefit of the door opening, but you also get ventilation with open windows too.

Even better with French doors, they can match with new bifolding doors. Our bifolding door products come as hinged regular doors. Therefore, if you’re designing a new extension with several doorways, you get matching bifolding, double and even single doors. Another great reason to Choose this functional type of door in your home.

Steel look French Doors

To illustrate just how popular French doors are, look no further than the steel-look door.

We use the best system on the market for Heritage, Art-Deco and Steel-look designs. We’ve even created new porches using this sought-after door product.

The steel-look French door is ideal for exterior doors, interior partitions, since or double doors. Our doors come with all the recognisable features too such as the deep lock backplate. They even come with deep bottom rails, consistent sightlines throughout and deep bottom rails. We’ve created a handy guide to buying steel-look doors for your home.

Where you can use French doors

We think there is no better, more flexible door in your home. As well as the obvious use as exterior patio doors, French doors have all manner of uses around the home too.

One consideration when buying French doors is enlarging an existing window opening. It’s easy to do. Moreover it provides an extra doorway out to your garden, with bigger glass sizes than windows and more light coming into your room.

Here are some other examples of using a French door design around your home.

French doors in a new porch

Internal room dividers

As doors and picture windows

Balcony and Terrace doors

Front Doors

Energy Efficiency

Just like our super-energy efficient windows, doors also come with impressive U-Values and energy ratings.

As standard our doors come glazed with toughened safety glass, having a soft-coat low-emissivity coating, warm edge spacer bars and argon gas fill. 

You can also upgrade the energy efficiency with even higher performance glass or triple glazing. As a result you not only get better energy efficiency but improved acoustics too.

Door Security

Most quality doors on the market come with high security built in. You can expect to find internal glazing beads. These prevent the removal of glass from the outside.

Most doors come with four, five or even eight locking points such as those on our Origin door products. You also get very high security cylinders. For instance, these come designed against, drilling, picking or snapping.

Options when buying French Doors

If you thought French doors were boring, there are substantial options for making them your own.

First of all is colour. Aluminium offers over 150 different RAL colours. PVCu comes with rich foils with plain or grained finishes.

Then you have the choice of what glass to choose. Laminated glass offers enhanced security. Integral blinds provide privacy and shade housed between the glass. Therefore they won’t gather dust, won’t blow in the wind and never need cleaning.

You’ve also got the choice of glazing bars, obscure glass for front porches, and many other great options, personalising your doors.

Not only do you get a choice of handle styles and colours, but even the frame profile comes with a square, chamfered or more traditional timber style.

Let our Doors transform your home.

At Newlite Home Improvements, we’ve got all manner of products giving you the best options when buying French Doors for your home. Contact us today for a free quotation and to discuss your home improvement project.