Every time we have to choose an external door for an apartment or a house, a dilemma arises in our heads. Which wings to choose – metal or wooden?
It can be assumed in advance that we will fluctuate from morning to evening and from evening to morning. So we will try to analyze the most important features of metal and wooden entrance doors.
Of course, we all know that the external door to the house should be an effective obstacle for thieves and other intruders, because then they will provide us with a sense of security. It is also known that the door should look good, because it is the showcase of our house.
Other features that we expect are comfort of use, fire resistance, good attenuation of external noise and – what is most important for some – high thermal insulation. Which type of external door has more advantages – wooden or steel?
Wooden exterior doors – advantages and disadvantages
Wood is a traditional material used to make doors. People have known its benefits for years. Wooden door leaves have very good thermal insulation properties, are a good acoustic barrier, and of course they are durable. Their main disadvantage, however, is their poor resistance to weather conditions.
Although today technologically advanced protective and preservative preparations are used, manufacturers recommend installing wooden doors at least under a roof, and preferably when we have a so-called vestibule.
Oak or pine wood is most often used to make wooden doors. The door leaf frame is made of high-quality laminated wood-based laminate, which guarantees strength and stability of the entire structure, even if moisture gets inside.
Currently, manufacturers often use additional elements to strengthen wooden doors, such as stabilizers made of metal profiles or other reinforcements.
Extremely durable wood-based HDF boards are also used as main boards, as they are subsequently covered with wooden, natural veneer or laminate, which perfectly reproduces the structure of wood.
Wooden entrance doors are very comfortable to use, and their undoubted advantage is also their appearance, which creates a warm, charming atmosphere.
Steel exterior doors – advantages and disadvantages
Metal exterior doors are most often made of galvanized steel, which is extremely resistant to weather conditions. Often the structure of the door leaf is based on double-layer wooden rails. Polyurethane foam or expanded polystyrene is used as a thermal insulation layer.
Energy-saving external doors to the house from the PORTA THERMO collection are made from exceptionally durable and thermally insulating SolidTherm composite. It is a specially designed mixture of ABS and fiberglass that does not absorb moisture and does not deform with temperature fluctuations, and does not unseal over time. All leaves are covered with 0.6 mm thick galvanized steel sheet.
PORTA THERMO GLASS external door (G1 model)
Why is SolidTherm composite better than wood?
Contrary to appearances, composite doors, which include the leaves from the PORTA THERMO collection, are the most ecological external doors. The previously mentioned mixture of fiberglass and ABS, which the composite consists of, is 100% recyclable.
In turn, doors based on a wooden structure that is soaked in glue, unfortunately, cannot be recycled. External steel doors from PORTA are also lighter by about 10 kg than models with a wooden structure.
Despite covering the surface of the leaf with a layer of steel sheet, they retain low weight with extraordinary strength properties. They are extremely resistant to adverse weather conditions, such as frost, rain, strong wind or high insolation.
The composite does not absorb moisture, is resistant to deformation and ensures the highest level of tightness for many years of use.
PORTA THERMO CLASSIC model C2
Steel or wooden external doors?
Metal doors are certainly more resistant to adverse weather conditions than wooden doors. Great attention should be paid when installing steel doors, because incorrectly installed and insulated steel door frames are a real generator of heat loss. Thanks to a professional, tight, three-layer warm assembly process of external steel doors they will become vertical thermal insulators.
The increased tightness that is obtained is extremely important in the construction of ecological and passive houses. It reduces the carbon footprint of a household by reducing the need for heat.
As the example of the PORTA THERMO collection shows, steel doors are also more ecological, provide better thermal insulation and are characterized by high resistance to moisture absorption.
| Important! By choosing energy-saving doors from the PORTA THERMO collection with a thermal insulation coefficient not higher than Ud = 1.3 W/m2K, you can obtain funding in the Clean Air Programme. |
When it comes to safety, steel doors are also unrivaled. Although nowadays we also encounter wooden doors with really good parameters of resistance to damage, balancing, with perfect locks and great bolts, steel doors in this respect generally cannot be beat.
