Accessories & Hardware

We all know the importance of safety when it comes to choosing our front door. What you may not think about as much, is your door frame. Your door frame is also essential to help keep your home insulated! A properly fitted door frame won’t allow cold air into your home, and many door frame materials have insulation properties. Instead, you can keep the warm air inside where it belongs.

It can also be quite difficult to fit a new door into an old frame, so for ease of fitting, replacing it all can help speed things up. 

Aesthetically, putting a new door into an old frame can really draw attention to the condition it's in, it might not look so bad with an old door, but you might find it looks tired and worn sat next to a brand new door.

It is a bad idea to try an use internal door handles on external doors. The finish on internal door handles is not made to withstand the elements an exterior door is exposed to. Their weaker coating will wear quicker, with the handle looking tatty and old far sooner than one made for external use.

It is likely that the seals or locks on the door will suffer in the same way. The handle could start to leak as the seals corrode, leaving your home exposed to the wilds of the weather. They also don't provide the same level of security that you'd get with an external door handle and lock.

It is easier and cheaper in the longrun to invest in an external handle from the start.

Black door handles with a high-quality finish shouldn’t scratch easily, but they can be damaged by excessive force. And, unfortunately, they will show their scratches a little more obviously than a forgiving brushed chrome or nickel finish as the base metal underneath is exposed.

Day-to-day use shouldn’t pose much risk to black handles. If you need to adjust them (or the door) then make sure to cover the handles first to protect them. You should also make sure you don’t use abrasive cleaners, wire scourers or harsh chemicals on them either.

Matt black door handles can add a sleek, modern finish to your doors which is probably why they are so popular. Just take a little care with them, and they will last as long as other finishes too.

There is no ‘one size fits all’ standard internal door handle size. As doors are available in a range of sizes, thickness, and designs, internal handles offer similar options so that you can find ones that fit.

The main difference in the handle size itself is in the ‘backset’. This is essentially the length of the space between the edge of door and the handle turning mechanism. Generally this ranges from 44mm to 130mm. The size of backset that you need is usually decided by the width of the door stile.

Architraves are not necessary, but they are recommended. A "finishing" product, they will make your door way look much neater by covering the joins between the wall and the door casing, and will also support your doors and the opening as well as close any potential gaps that could cause a draft.

Architraves will also help neaten the look of your plasterwork by covering the edges which can be hard to finish. They will also provide protection to the plaster and prevent raw edges flaking off as the door way is subjected to daily life.

Simply put, a door frame is what sits inside a doorway while the architrave is a decorative moulding that sits around the outside of it.

A door frame (or door lining when referring to internal doors) is a wooden frame that sits inside the door opening to line it. It protects the edges of your door as well as the walls of the opening. It also helps square off the opening so that the door sits more snugly inside. Most internal door casings are made of timber, so they can be finished to look exactly as you want but they are more of a functional item than a decorative one.

In contrast, an architraves is all about looks. It is a type of moulding that you fix on the surface of the wall around the outside of the door. It covers any joins in the frame, and will also cover any movement if the frame shrinks or expands at the joins. It can have a much more elaborate appearance, with curves and dips and scrolls.