The front door is one of the most important elements of an apartment or a country house. It is the main barrier to intruders, so the door must first of all be reliable, able to protect you and your property from intruders. In addition, you should pay attention to its design, because it is she who welcomes guests to your home.
What is the best front door? How to choose the best option from a huge number of models on the market today? These questions are quite relevant today, and in order to get answers to them, you need to know what requirements really good entrance doors should meet. Feedback from buyers about the manufacturer, the presence of all the necessary certificates is a guarantee of the quality of the 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 front doors should meet several important qualities:
- Protect your home from brute-force break-ins.
- Have good heat and sound insulation that can prevent the penetration of unpleasant odors, cold and noise into an apartment or house.
- An important factor is access control (bolt, chain, armored glass, peephole, video surveillance).
- The possibility of intellectual hacking should be kept to a minimum.
- 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 the smile of the house.
These are the basic requirements that quality models must meet.
Classification
Which entrance doors are best for installation in a country house or in an apartment? The answer can be obtained by knowing the classification of doors.
- First class - the simplest and cheapest models. They can be hacked using common tools. Such doors are unlikely to provide your safety, so it is not recommended to pay attention to them.
- Second class - can be opened with electric tools. These models are more reliable than the first ones, but they are quite easy to hack, although it will take some time.
- Third class - to crack such a door, you need a tool with a power of more than 500 watts. If you do not know what good entrance metal doors are, then remember that these are third-class models.
- The fourth class is the highest degree of reliability. These armored doorscapable of withstanding small arms attack.
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 have always attracted the attention of thieves, since once such a reliable door is installed, it means that there is something to hide.
However, at the end of the last century, the situation changed dramatically. Wooden doors have sunk into oblivion, and they have been replaced by steel models that can provide reliable protection for property.
How do good entrance metal doors work? 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 solid, since the seam will disperse after hitting it with a sledgehammer.
The best front door has a steel sheet thickness of at least 1.5mm. Of course, you can order a model where this value will be larger (3-4 mm), but such doors are very heavy.
Stiffeners
Steel sheet is quite flexible in its properties. With the help of simple tools, an attacker can easily bend it and get to the lock mechanism. Stiffening ribs significantly increase the strength of the front door. Good entrance metal doors should 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.
Usually stiffenersmade of higher quality metal.
Hinges and crossbars
The door design element that most often attracts the attention of intruders is hinges. They can be knocked down with a sledgehammer or easily cut 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 by turning the lock.
The number of hinges depends on the weight of the door and 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 three or four hinges are required, otherwise the door will sag.
Hidden loops
The advantages of hidden hinges are immediately visible. First, they are hardly noticeable when the door is in the closed position. Secondly, such loops present a serious problem for robbers. It is impossible to knock them down, it is difficult to cut them off, and if we are talking about an apartment building, then 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 entrance metal doors are, then rest assured that models with hidden hinges are the safest.
platbands and pretense
Entrance doors with good sound insulation have porches on which various seals are attached,providing silence in your apartment. In addition, the vestibules also perform a protective function. They are on the front sheet and do not allow intruders to use a crowbar, as they close the space between the box and the door.
Platbands close the space between the door frame and the opening where it is mounted. Without platbands, it would be possible to take out the door along with the frame, using a crowbar and a large crowbar. The physical strength of two he althy men is enough to do it.
Door locks
So, you want to buy front doors. The best models have locks that prevent not only entry into the apartment using brute force, but also intellectual breaking.
What kind of castles are there? The most common and reliable are described below.
Cylinder - have an inner part, which is often called the "larva". If you lose the key to such a lock, then it is not necessary to completely change it, as you can simply buy a new cylinder. The main problem is that cylinder locks can be drilled, knocked out or unscrewed
Level locks - the main task of this type of locks is to counteract the forceful opening of a house or apartment. However, he is not an obstacle to the intellectual thief
Smartlocks are locks that don't require keys. They open after passing a fingerprint examination (fingerprint, retinal scan) or you need to enter a password. 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 filler is polyurethane foam. In terms of its properties (thermal insulation), 1 cm of this material is not inferior to 30 cm of brickwork.
In order to improve the heat and sound insulation performance, single and double-circuit sealing is applied. Sometimes you can also meet a three-circuit one, but, according to experts, this is no longer a necessity, but a matter of the client's taste.
Remember, don't skimp on filler! When choosing a door, please note: the material inside the leaf must be fire resistant 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 are produced with a variety of external design:
- 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 overlays - a great finishing material that can emphasize the individuality of the owner of the house.
- Anti-vandal coating is a great option for a country house. Although for a city apartment a door with such a coating is relevant, sincesometimes hooligans can scratch doors or put out cigarette butts on them.
If the financial situation allows, then pay attention to models where natural wood is used as a finishing material.
Access Control
In addition to strong locks and construction, the best front door should have good access control, which is provided by curtains, latches, peepholes, video surveillance.
It is better to choose a peephole with a wide viewing angle. This will allow you to receive more complete information about what is happening behind 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 best to choose, you need to follow some recommendations. For example, you can't skimp on your own safety.
Remember, a secure door cannot cost $100. Today on the market you can find many models of Chinese production. 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. As a filler, the Chinese use corrugated cardboard, which has no sound and heat insulating properties. Metal with a thickness of 0.5 mm can be easily 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 thatwell proven, because it is better to pay more, but feel safe.
Helpful advice
Almost all metal doors open outward, which means you can unknowingly prop up or ruin your neighbor's door on the landing. In fact, this is done for security purposes so that they cannot be knocked out. At the same time, the old doors, as a rule, opened inside the apartment. The law prohibits changing the direction of opening the door. Therefore, before installing a metal front door, it is recommended to negotiate with the neighbors. If this is not done, then they can file a complaint, employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations will come and dismantle the door, writing you a fine as well.
Conclusion
Now you know what the best front door should be. As you can see, there are no trifles here, every detail is important - steel thickness, locks, fillers, design, etc. Of course, if you want to buy a door to an apartment that you plan to rent out, then you can choose a cheaper option.
However, for your own safety and the safety of your property, it is recommended to install reliable doors.
