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Last updated: 17 September 2024

How to Insulate a Front Door: Your Ultimate Guide (2024)

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  • Insulating and draught-proofing your doors can significantly improve your home's insulation and reduce your annual energy costs.
  • Most insulated doors have insulation material built into the frame, normally in the form of polyurethane foam infused in the door's core along with a steel skin on top.
  • Adequate door and window insulation can save your household up to £35 per year on annual energy costs.

Front door insulation is an often overlooked upgrade to improve your home's thermal performance. Doors and windows make up most of the direct access between your home and the outdoors, where most of the home heat can escape! That’s why it’s important to make sure your front door is properly insulated and draught-proof. Luckily, there is an endless amount of colours, styles and textures of doors on the market suited for every budget. 

If you’ve ever wondered how to insulate a door, you’re in the right place. Through this complete GreenMatch UK guide on insulated doors, you’ll walk away with everything you need to know to make the right choice.

Ready to insulate your home? Look no further than GreenMatch UK for a one-stop solution for all your needs. Instead of spending endless hours researching and vetting installers, spend just 30 seconds filling out our simple online form, and we’ll send you up to 3 free home-tailored quotes from our network of trusted installers. No costs, no obligations. Just click the button below to begin!

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Front door insulation

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Wondering how to insulate doors? We’ve got you covered.

Your front door presents the largest opportunity for heat to escape your home. It’s open wide several times a day and often goes overlooked when insulating a home. This is why proper insulation, even for your front door, is necessary. Luckily, there are several simple strategies one could take for adequate front door thermal insulation. 

Addressing the gaps

The most common issue that leads to heat loss with doors are panel gaps and a lack of draught proofing, so let’s address the problem with some draught insulation.

Make sure to draught-proof your doorframe with weather strips or spray foam for doorframe insulation, and install a door sweep or draught stopper on the bottom to cover the panel gap. All of these items can commonly be found in your local hardware store. 

Covering your keyhole

To further draughtproof your door, you can even purchase and install a keyhole cover! This is especially useful for older doors and antiques that have a larger keyhole opening. Keyhole covers can be found in hardware stores or furniture stores as accessories, and are made from a variety of materials, including metals and wood.

It may seem like a small step, but in the long run, this will drastically help keep your door from letting heat escape your home. Every little bit counts.

Draught proofing your letterbox

Just like a keyhole, your letterbox is a constant opening that allows heat to escape your home. While most letterboxes will have some sort of cover, it often does very little from an insulation perspective. 

Consider installing a letterbox cover with a brush to further help secure the gap, boosting your home’s thermal efficiency. These can be commonly found both online and in local stores.

Buying an insulated door

It might seem like a no-brainer, but purchasing a sturdy insulated door will help to drastically reduce heat loss in your home. This is especially true if you have an older home with an outdated door.

These days, most new doors come with insulation material infused into the frame. This is usually as polyurethane foam in the core of the door. If you have an older, more frail door, consider swapping it out for a brand-new insulated door.

The cost of insulation for doors differs drastically based on your choice of material, style, door size, and thickness. Luckily, there are plenty of options suited for all sorts of budgets and environments. For example, if you are looking for log cabin insulation, you may want a sturdier door.

By following these easy steps, you can drastically improve the thermal efficiency of your house, reducing your energy bills and carbon footprint simultaneously. It’s important to combine such upgrades with other ones, such as wall, loft and floor insulation, to have the most optimal thermal efficiency in your household.

Why should you insulate your front doors?

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External door insulation is a home upgrade that only brings positives. Not only is there an endless amount of stylistic choices for sturdy insulated doors, but your energy bills and the environment will benefit from your decision too.

Here are just some of the key perks you can expect to enjoy by upgrading your front door to an insulated door.

Thermal efficiency

In combination, uninsulated windows and doors can account for a staggering 20% of heat loss in a home. That’s a significant amount for a house upgrade that often goes unnoticed. By insulating your front door, you can enjoy a thermally efficient home, watch your energy bills drop, and your savings grow. 

While thermal insulation is not necessarily sound insulation for doors, having a sturdy insulated door will provide some degree of soundproofing to your home as well.

Energy bill savings

By properly insulating your front door, you can drastically save on your annual energy bills. To be more specific, you can expect to save upwards of 15% on heating and cooling costs, or up to 10% on your total energy costs. 

Over time, these savings will also work to pay off your initial investment in an insulated front door.

Home comfort

Simply put, drafty, damp homes are not comfortable to live in. These conditions also invite condensation, mould growth, and even structural rot, which can damage your health, property, and peaceful indoor environment.

By addressing all insulation issues, including exterior door insulation, you can create a stable and dry home environment that is temperature-regulated all year round, giving you peace of mind.

Environmentally friendly

Poorly insulated homes become a huge environmental burden due to their staggering carbon footprints. This is usually due to a heating system constantly working to top up lost heat.

By insulating your house and front door, you can drastically reduce the need for heating and cooling, thus reducing your carbon footprint and benefitting the planet at large. 

What is the best material for insulation front door?

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There’s no shortage of material and stylistic front door options on the market today, suited for all types of budgets. However, a few key materials stand out for their sturdiness and thermal efficiency, these are:

  • Composite doors: These doors are renowned for their well-rounded blend of robustness, security, and thermal efficiency, making them one of the most popular choices throughout the UK. Made from a combination of wood, PVC, insulation foam and reinforced glass, composite doors offer the best qualities you can find.
  • Aluminium composite doors: Similar to composite doors, but with a highly sleek and stylish finish, these doors offer increased durability and excellent thermal efficiency through the use of aluminium. Alongside their modern appearance perfect for contemporary homes, aluminium provides an added layer of security to your door.
  • Wooden doors: An all-time classic, wooden doors provide elegance and character to any home. Made from a range of hardwood and softwood, wood comes with surprisingly impressive insulation properties. Wooden door insulation can also be heightened if it has insulation material manually added to its core. A downside however is that wooden doors require a lot of maintenance and upkeep in comparison to other materials.
  • uPVC doors: On the more budget-friendly side, uPVC doors provide an affordable, yet durable and effective front door option. Made from dense polymers, uPVC doors come in a wide range of styles and colours. A downside however is that uPVC is unsustainable and largely unrecyclable. 

Find local door insulation installers 

Now that you know everything important about getting insulated front doors for your home, the next step is to land the best installer you can find. It’s often best to obtain multiple quotes from a range of installers. That way, you increase your chances of landing a bargain.

However, this is often easier said than done and can take endless hours of researching and vetting with no deals in sight. Luckily, GreenMatch UK can free you from this burden.

Through our services, you can receive up to 3 free home-tailored quotes on door insulation, completely free of charges and obligations. All you have to do is fill out our simple 30-second form and let the bargains come to you. Click the button below to begin! 

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