The front door is one of the most important elements of an apartment or a country house. It is the main obstacle to attackers, so the door must first of all be reliable, able to protect you and your property from uninvited visitors. In addition, it is worth paying attention to her design, because it is she who meets the guests of your house.
What is the best front door? How to choose the best option from the huge number of models on the market today? These questions are relevant enough today, and to get answers to them, you need to know what requirements really good front doors must meet. Customer reviews about the manufacturer, the availability of all the necessary certificates - this is a guarantee of the quality of products.
General recommendations when choosing entrance doors
Conventionally, doors can be divided into wooden and metal (there are also combined options). Undoubtedly, the leading position today is occupied by steel doors. However, no matter which option you choose, the best entrance doors should meet several important qualities:
- Protect your house from breaking with brute force.
- Have good heat and sound insulation that can prevent unpleasant odors, cold and noise from entering the apartment or house.
- An important factor is access control (deadbolt, chain, armored glass, peephole, video surveillance).
- The possibility of intellectual hacking should be minimized.
- The best entrance doors to an apartment or house should have an attractive appearance, because it is not for nothing that Americans say that the door is a smile at home.
These are the basic requirements that quality models must comply with.
Classification
Which entrance doors are best for installation in the country or in the apartment? The answer can be obtained by knowing the classification of doors.
- First class - the simplest and cheapest models. They can be hacked using conventional tools. Such doors are unlikely to provide your safety, therefore it is not recommended to pay attention to them.
- The second class - can be opened using electric tools. These models are more reliable than the first ones, however, breaking them is easy enough, although it will take some time.
- The third class - to break open such a door, you will need a tool with a power of more than 500 watts. If you do not know what good metal entrance doors are, then remember that these are third-class models.
- The fourth class is the highest degree of reliability. These armored doors can withstand the attack of small arms.
Steel doors
In Soviet times, metal doors always aroused suspicion among neighbors, who believed that the owner was hiding something illegal behind them. In addition, they always attracted the attention of thieves, since such a reliable door was installed, that means there is something to hide.
However, at the end of the last century, the situation radically changed. Wooden doors have sunk into oblivion, and steel models have replaced them, which are able to provide reliable protection of property.
How are good metal entrance doors arranged? They consist of two steel sheets - front and back. Sometimes the design may include a third (inner) sheet. At the same time, it is desirable that all of them be integral, since the seam will be dispersed after hitting it with a sledge hammer.
The best entrance door has a steel sheet thickness of at least 1.5 mm. Of course, you can order a model where this value will be greater (3-4 mm), but such doors are very heavy.
Stiffening rib
The steel sheet is quite flexible in its properties. Using simple tools, an attacker can easily bend it and get to the lock mechanism. Stiffeners significantly increase the strength of the front door. Good metal entrance doors must have at least two vertical and horizontal rows of stiffeners. The void between them is filled with special materials that provide heat and sound insulation.
As a rule, stiffeners are made of better metal.
Hinges and crossbars
The design element of the door, which most often attracts the attention of intruders, are hinges. They can be knocked down with a sledgehammer or easily cut off with a grinder. Then you can open the door and enter the room.
To avoid such a development of events, the best entrance doors to the apartment are equipped with anti-removable pins (crossbars), which are passive and active. In the first case they are in a stationary state, and in the second they are put forward when the owner closes the door, turning the lock.
The number of hinges depends on the weight of the door and on the intensity of use. If the weight of the canvas does not exceed 70 kg, then two loops are enough. If this value is greater, then the presence of three or four hinges is necessary, otherwise the door will sag.
Hidden loops
The benefits of open hinges are immediately visible. Firstly, they are hardly noticeable when the door is in the closed position. Secondly, such loops are a serious problem for robbers. It is impossible to bring them down, to cut them off is difficult, and if we are talking about an apartment building, this option is generally excluded, since there will be too much noise that will attract the attention of neighbors. Thirdly, aesthetics. Hidden hinges do not spoil the appearance of the door.
If you don’t know what good metal entrance doors are, then be sure that models with hidden hinges are the safest.
Platbands and vestibules
Entrance doors with good sound insulation have vestibules on which various gaskets are attached, ensuring silence in your apartment. In addition, the narthex perform a protective function. They are located on the front sheet and do not allow attackers to take advantage of the crowbar, as they close the space between the box and the door.
Platbands cover the space between the door frame and the opening where it is mounted. Without the platbands, one could take out the door with the frame, using a crowbar and a large crowbar. The physical strength of two healthy men is enough to do this.
Door locks
So, you wish to buy entrance doors. The best models have locks that prevent not only penetration into the apartment using brute force, but also intellectual hacking.
What are castles? The most common and reliable are described below.
- Cylinder - have an internal part, which is often called a "larva". If you lose the key to such a lock, then it is not necessary to completely change it, since you can simply buy a new cylinder. The main problem is that cylinder locks can be drilled, knocked out or unscrewed.
- Suvaldnye - the main task of this type of locks is to counteract the forced opening of a house or apartment. However, it is not an obstacle for an intellectual thief.
- Smartlocks are locks for which keys are not needed. Open after fingerprint examination (fingerprint, retinal scan) or you will need to enter a password. They are powered by electricity.
Heat and sound insulation
As mentioned above, voids remain between the stiffeners, which are filled with sound and heat-insulating materials. In inexpensive models, mineral wool, sawdust, polystyrene are used.
If you get high-quality entrance doors with good sound insulation, then in this case the foam serves as a filler. According to its properties (heat-insulating) 1 cm of this material is not inferior to 30 cm of masonry.
To improve the heat and sound insulation characteristics, single and double circuit seals are used. Sometimes you can find a three-circuit, but, according to experts, this is no longer a necessity, but a matter of the client’s taste.
Remember, do not save on filler! When choosing a door, pay attention: the material inside the canvas should be fireproof and non-toxic.
Design
When developing entrance doors, the best manufacturers try to take into account the wishes of each client. That is why models with a variety of external design are produced:
- Leather (or its substitute), vinyl and other soft materials contribute to excellent sound and heat insulation. Doors with such upholstery have a very attractive appearance and relatively low cost.
- MDF panels, plastic, lining, all kinds of linings - an excellent finishing material that can emphasize the individuality of the owner of the house.
- Vandal-proof coating is a great option for a country house. Although for a city apartment, a door with such a coating is relevant, since sometimes hooligans can scratch the doors or put out cigarette butts on them.
If the financial situation allows, then pay attention to the models where natural wood is used as the finishing material.
Access control
In addition to reliable locks and construction, the best entrance door should have good access control, which is ensured by curtains, latches, eyes, and video surveillance.
It is better to choose a peephole with a wide viewing angle. This will provide more complete information about what is happening outside the door.
As for door chains, they are used less and less today, since the metal door has an impressive weight. If you pull it, the chain breaks easily.
Chinese doors
To know which entrance doors are better to choose, you need to follow some recommendations. For example, you cannot save on your own safety.
Remember, a reliable door cannot cost $ 100. There are many Chinese-made models on the market today. And it is here that the first thing that catches your eye is their cheapness. However, the quality of such doors, to put it mildly, is not the best. The Chinese use corrugated board as a filler, which does not have any sound and heat insulation properties. 0.5 mm thick metal can easily be cut with a simple can opener.
And these are not all the “advantages” of these doors, so it is recommended to buy domestic or imported models that have worked well, because it’s better to pay more, but feel safe.
Useful advice
Almost all metal doors open outwards, which means that you can unconsciously back up or ruin the door of a neighbor on the landing. In fact, this was done for security reasons, so that they could not be knocked out. At the same time, old doors, as a rule, opened inside the apartment. The law prohibits changing the direction of door opening. Therefore, before installing a metal entrance door, it is recommended to negotiate with neighbors. If this is not done, then they can file a complaint, EMERCOM employees will come and dismantle the door, writing you a fine.
Conclusion
Now you know what the best front door should be. As you can see, there are no trifles here, every detail is important - the thickness of steel, locks, fillers, design, etc. Of course, if you want to buy a door to the apartment you plan to rent, you can choose a cheaper option.
However, for their own safety and the safety of their property, it is recommended to install reliable doors.