TRANSFORMING HOMES SINCE 2007
MADE IN BRITAIN
NATIONWIDE SUPPLY & INSTALL SERVICE
Your front door is more than just an entryway; it’s a reflection of your home’s personality, the first impression to visitors and passers-by and a vital component of your security. With so many designs and styles available, choosing the right one can feel overwhelming. However, selecting the right front door is crucial not only for your home’s curb appeal but also for its safety. At Express, we specialise in aluminium entrance doors, ideal for homeowners who want a combination of modern style, durability, and top-notch security features but which front door is right for you?
To help you make this decision we always recommend talking to our team or visiting our showrooms but in the meantime this guide will take you through the key factors to consider when choosing a new front door.
The Importance of Quality Materials
If you’re looking for the strongest front door options, aluminium doors are an excellent choice for boosting security. Known for their durability, these doors come with advanced locking systems and tough frames that can withstand serious force. Their sturdy yet lightweight construction makes it difficult for intruders to cut through or damage the door, which is why they’re a popular choice over uPVC front doors.
Additionally, aluminium holds up against extreme temperatures, so you don’t have to worry about the door warping, expanding, or contracting like wooden front doors might. While composite front doors also offer solid security with their dense cores and multi-point locking systems, they do not match the longevity and resilience of aluminium and are prone to bowing particularly in harsh weather conditions.
Key Features That Impact Front Door Security
When it comes to protecting your home, the front door is often seen as your first line of defence, making it essential to consider the key features that contribute to its security:
Upgrading Your Locks for Maximum Security
To step up your home security, think about upgrading to high-security front door locks and latches. Standard locks may not offer enough protection against tampering or forced entry, but advanced locks are built specifically to handle these threats. Quality front doors contain multi-point locking systems, which secure the door at several points along the frame. This makes it a lot harder for anyone to pry open or break through.
Increasing Security with laminated Glazing
When it comes to securing your front door, glazing is about more than just aesthetics; it’s a key element of safety. If you’re considering adding glass to your entrance door, choosing high-quality glazing is essential. Laminated glass, commonly found in double glazing, provides an extra layer of protection compared to standard toughened glass. This type of glass features a plastic PVB layer sandwiched between two sheets of glass, making it much harder to break. Even if the outer layer cracks, the PVB layer keeps everything intact, reducing the risk of injury and helping to deter intruders, making laminated glass a smart choice for anyone looking to improve home security.
Enjoying Low-Maintenance
One of the standout benefits of aluminium doors is how low maintenance they are. Unlike other materials, they resist corrosion, rust, and warping, so they’ll keep their sleek looks and superior performance with very little effort. A simple periodic cleaning is typically all you need to ensure your doors remain in top shape. This means you can enjoy the peace of mind that comes with their excellent aesthetic, thermal and security features without worrying about constant upkeep. When you choose an aluminium front door, you’re opting for a fashionable and secure entryway that’s easy to care for!
The Impact of Professional Installation
Even the best-quality doors won’t perform well if they’re not installed correctly. Opting for professional installation is the key to ensuring they operate smoothly and fit perfectly. This way, you’ll enjoy the maximum benefits in terms of security, energy efficiency, and aesthetics. Plus, investing in expert installation helps you avoid any future headaches and ensures your doors are fully guaranteed and truly add value to your home.
Other Factors for Choosing a Front Door
Selecting the right front door involves more than just longevity and security; it’s essential to consider a range of factors that improve both the practicality and the overall appeal of your home from both the inside and out.
Stylish Aesthetics
When it comes to choosing a front door, you shouldn’t have to sacrifice style for security. Aluminium doors not only offer practical benefits, but they also bring significant aesthetic advantages that can truly transform your home’s appearance. With their modern and sleek features, these doors add a contemporary touch that complements a wide range of architectural preferences, from minimalist to industrial chic. The elegant design and durable finish of aluminium doors suggest that your home is both beautiful and secure. This combination of curb appeal and practical advantages can also significantly boost your property’s value.
Boosting Your Home’s Energy Efficiency
High-quality aluminium front doors are not only stylish but also incredibly effective at boosting your home’s thermal performance. Look for doors with a thermal break in the frame, which creates an insulating barrier to help minimise heat loss. Pairing this with quality glazing can significantly improve your home’s energy efficiency so your living space stays comfortable while reducing your carbon footprint and saving you money on your energy bills.
Maximising Natural Light with Design
Front doors come in a wide array of choices, with many featuring glass panes that invite in floods of natural light. Due to their sleek profiles, aluminium doors can support larger glass panels, brightening your living spaces and improving sight lines for a more open and airier feel. Homebuyers often gravitate toward properties that showcase contemporary, high-quality fixtures that are also easy to maintain. However, it’s important to strike the right balance between welcoming natural light and maintaining privacy. A thoughtfully designed front door can achieve both, allowing you to enjoy a bright and inviting entrance while keeping your home private and protected.
Evaluating Cost vs. Long-Term Value
Aluminium doors generally come with a higher upfront price tag due to the quality of the material and the superior technology involved. While the initial cost may be more significant, these doors offer exceptional longevity and durability, which means you’ll likely spend less on repairs or replacements in the long run.
For homeowners looking to invest in a front door that boosts property value and energy efficiency over the years, aluminium doors are often a wise choice. If you’re interested in learning more about their benefits, check out our previous blog, How to Increase Property Value with Aluminium Doors.
Express Aluminium Front Doors: Prioritising Security and Quality
Now that we’ve told you what to look out for it’s time to outline the differences within our range. All our entrance doors are manufactured in our very own world class 200,000 square foot production facility and come with a ten-year guarantee and Secured by Design accreditation. We put security first when creating our aluminium front doors; each door comes with anti-snap, bump, drill, and pick cylinder locks, all rated 3 stars by the Diamond standard. Our doors feature a robust 7-point locking system for extra peace of mind, and we also offer the convenience of keying your doors alike, so you only need one key for all your Express doors. For a modern touch, consider our smart locking applications, which allows you to unlock your door remotely using your smartphone. You can even grant temporary electronic keys to guests, eliminating the hassle of spare keys. Crafted for safety, every bespoke door we offer also includes a flush threshold to minimise trip hazards.
Our range of aluminium front doors
We offer four ranges of entrance doors which vary greatly in price.
Our pivot and premium entrance doors are perfect for your forever home, a beautiful range of luxury entrance doors that will stand out as a real statement feature on any property.
Our XP77 doors are strong and secure and ideal for creating large front doors at a more competitive price than our premium range.
Our Signature doors are the most cost effective within our range offering great value for money because of their quality when compared to composite doors.
Statement Pivot Doors
Pivot doors are relatively new to the UK and only suitable for large doorways. The pivoting action adds a real wow factor but takes up some of the clear opening making the minimum width for our pivot doors 1300mm wide. Those widths can span up to 2000mm wide which coupled with heights in excess of three metres makes for hugely imposing front doors that aren’t for the faint hearted. Available in a range of contemporary styles or fully glazed, pivot doors are not suited to exposed locations or replacement installations but are perfect when designed into luxury new build homes for the grandest of front doors.
Premium Front Doors that can be tailored for any home
Our Premium range is perfect for discerning homeowners who want style, quality, and top-notch security. These doors are highly customisable with a range of designs from traditional through to ultra-modern, hundreds of colour options including 200 RAL colours, woodgrain effects and metal finishes plus options for stainless steel or black inlays and eye-catching handles. Whether you’re refreshing your home’s entrance or adding an aluminium door to a glass atrium, our Premium doors provide a fashionable look while prioritising security to keep your property safe.
XP77 Range: Affordable Quality Without Compromise
For a budget-friendly alternative, the XP77 range offers security and style without breaking the bank. These doors are designed for faster availability while still upholding the quality you’d expect from our Premium line. Manufactured by our skilled team, the XP77 comes in 8 different panel options and any RAL colour. Unlike the Premium range, the panel is glazed into the door instead of being bonded to the sash, but it still delivers a sturdy and attractive entrance for any home.
Smarts Signature doors: great value for money
Uniquely for us we don’t manufacture the Signature doors, but such is their quality and modest price point we’re delighted to offer this range to our customers. The price is similar to that of a composite door but with much better guarantees and endless custom options including timeless door designs through to ultra-modern.
The differences in how our front door range is manufactured
We manufacture our premium and pivot doors in house and the chosen panels are then carefully bonded to each face of the opening door sash. This creates a beautiful and solid front door with a sleek finish top to bottom, which coupled with no visible hinges adds to the premium look and feel of our top of the range doors.
The XP77 doors are manufactured similarly to our bi-folding doors, we manufacture the door and then the distinctive door panel is glazed into the door, like how we glaze our doors and windows. This means that the front and back of the doors aren’t flush but stepped slightly.
Signature doors are foam cored with two aluminium sheets pressed and bonded onto the foam core. This method is why the doors look so good but as they’re not as strong as the rest of our range the Signature doors do have stricter size limitations which is why we offer the XP77 as a more cost-effective alternative to our premium range.
Steel bar or indented handles
Our premium range has various handles that are built into the panel itself and the modern designs within our XP77 & Signature range boast an external feature handle. This move away from a traditional lever handle means that a key is needed to re-enter into the door as it does lock when closed. Choosing a modern front door requires this new way of operating them so it is worth considering if you have young children or no other way to enter your house. Smart locking couples well with these modern doors because if your child does lock themselves out, you can grant them entry from your phone.
Compliment with other Express products
We can remove your existing door and replace with new but the real beauty of buying from Express is our ability to offer great products that will compliment your new front door. Our experience in residential properties means we can complement your new door with new windows, we can integrate it with sidelights, top lights, shaped windows and even create hugely impressive entrance atriums by inserting your door into curtain walling. Whether you’re looking for a cost-effective new door or a luxury statement piece we have the range and expertise to provide the perfect solution for you.
Invest in Lasting Quality and Efficiency
At Express, we understand that a front door should be more than just attractive, it should also keep your home secure. Our aluminium front doors are manufactured to do just that, with strong materials and multi-point locking systems that offer dependable protection. The bespoke nature of our front doors means that we can offer traditional doors in keeping with the rest of your street or modern doors coupled with slim profile sidelights that bring in plenty of natural light.
We offer a huge range of styles within our doors that offer advanced thermal break technology to ensure a comfortable indoor climate. Plus, with over 200 RAL colours and numerous finishes, you can easily match your new door to your home’s aesthetic, whether you’re building your forever home or working your way up the property ladder we can cater to all budgets and tastes whether you prefer a bold statement or a subtle but significant upgrade.
see, feel and decide for yourself
Visit our showrooms to see our full range of aluminium doors or schedule a design appointment for a personalised consultation. When you choose Express, you’re not just purchasing a stylish front door; you’re investing in long-lasting security, energy efficiency, and peace of mind.
