When furnishing a home, you need to pay special attention not only to furniture and decorative elements, but also to seriously approach the choice of the front door, because it provides protection from burglary, from extraneous noise and retains heat. Today, the most popular secure-house steel security doors, since they are much stronger than wood products, MDF, chipboard, and do not require special care, serve for decades.
Before you buy a door, you need to consider several important criteria that it must meet. Now there is a wide range of models from both foreign and domestic manufacturers. Domestic brands such as Argus, Intekron, Le Grand are especially popular. Their products meet all operational requirements and are quite diverse, which allows you to choose the front door, taking into account the general style of housing.
Criterias of choice
The first thing to consider before buying is where the door will be installed. If in a private house or cottage, the surface must be with an anti-vandal and weather-resistant coating. Also, the entrance metal doors for both the house and the apartment must meet the following characteristics:
- Design. Regardless of the model, a metal door is made of a door leaf (from which the frame is formed), upholstery (external and internal), insulation, stiffeners, door frame, sealant. A lock, hinges, a handle, additional fittings are also provided. The operational properties of the structure largely depend on the method of obtaining steel. Cold rolled is highly resistant to external influences, and hot rolled can rust over time, especially if the coating has been damaged. For a door to be strong, it must be made of a monolithic sheet.
- Metal thickness. Depending on the type of construction, the thickness of the metal sheet can be in the range of 0.8-5 mm. In order for the product to be resistant to mechanical damage, shock, it must have a metal sheet thickness of at least 1.2 mm.
- Stiffening rib. There are stiffening ribs between the inner panel and the steel sheet, which increase the strength of the structure. They can be arranged vertically, horizontally or diagonally. In high-quality models, at least one rib is installed horizontally, and two or more vertically.
- Sound and heat insulation. The inner space of the frame must have a filler. It can be isolon, polystyrene, mineral wool, polyurethane foam. To exclude the penetration of foreign odors and drafts, a sealing system is required. Also, the presence of a sealing layer ensures quiet closing. And for additional thermal insulation, decorative panels can be used.
- Canvas. In order for the structure to be reliable and durable, the thickness of the web must be at least 40 mm.
- Locks. Any door must have at least two locks, preferably of different types. Lever and cylindrical models will become reliable.
Also, a good metal door should be fire resistant, the fire resistance index should be at least 30 minutes. The weight of the door leaf must be at least 80 kg. For maximum safety, anti-shears (anti-removable pins) are required.
Door appearance
Before choosing a metal door, immediately pay attention to its appearance, evaluating the aesthetic qualities. But this is far from the most important thing in ensuring reliability. Considering the external part of the structure, you need to pay attention to such elements:
Steel doors are very popular. This is justified by their high strength, sound insulation. You can also find aluminum models, but with less high performance.
It is necessary to take into account the thickness of the metal frame. It is much more difficult to get into a house where doors from wide sheets are installed. The most optimal indicators are 1.5-2 mm, this width is enough for the design to be functional and not lose its burglar-resistant properties.
With a sheet thickness of less than 1.2 mm, the rigidity of the web decreases, and with a thickness of more than 3 mm, the dimensions of the structure and its weight increase significantly, which is inconvenient for operation.
Source of information: secure-house.co.uk
