Custom made external door options

[Kelvin]

Hi all

 

I am going to have two front doors. Our architect thinks we are mental but it’s our house! The door on the left is into a formal hallway and then the house. The door on the right is into the utility room. The reason for the door directly into the utility room is because we have two dogs who get into a right mess when we are out walking. Despite cleaning them off before we enter the house they still bring a load of filth in, shake themselves off and splatter up the walls. This used to annoy me in our previous house and entrance hallway in the front and back ended up manky. The original layout had the util on the end elevation with a door on that side. However, I’ve since added a cinema room so the util room is now in the middle and can’t be moved. So that explains why it’s there! 
 

The problem is having two front doors side by side does look a bit daft (according to the other half, I’m not so bothered) and makes it look like two houses (almost) My idea was to clad the util door to match the house cladding so it is effectively concealed. I’ve seen a few like this and it works well. The issues are: 

 

1. Our windows and door supplier (Nordan) can’t do it

2. The cladding profile is board on board profile A so not convinced it will work that well on the door

3. where can I find someone that can build a custom made door that could be clad like this? 

Any other suggestions? 

 

[Jilly]

Not answering your question, but in the genre of daft things we do for animals, I've had a hot water tap put outside for dog washing. 

[Roundtuit]

I'm with your architect and Mrs Kelvin.  I get the dog thing, but two front doors wouldn't be an acceptable solution for me.  Can't your architect come up with any other way to do it?  You're right to design a house that works for you  but also bear in mind that you, or a family member, may need to sell one day, and an 'eccentric' layout won't help.

[joe90]

14 minutes ago, Kelvin said:

Our architect thinks we are mental but it’s our house!

Good fir you 👍 all my doors and windows were custom made by a local company you just need to find one, where in the country are you.?

[Kelvin]

8 minutes ago, Jilly said:

Not answering your question, but in the genre of daft things we do for animals, I've had a hot water tap put outside for dog washing. 

It is likely we’ll do the same which is fine when out walking but when they are in and out all day in all weathers I’m not likely to wash them down every time. 

[Kelvin]

9 minutes ago, joe90 said:

Good fir you 👍 all my doors and windows were custom made by a local company you just need to find one, where in the country are you.?

Ta. 😂 Perthshire 

[joe90]

Just now, Kelvin said:

Ta. 😂 Perthshire 

Ah, a bit far from cornwall where my chap is 🤷‍♂️

[Kelvin]

14 minutes ago, Roundtuit said:

I'm with your architect and Mrs Kelvin.  I get the dog thing, but two front doors wouldn't be an acceptable solution for me.  Can't your architect come up with any other way to do it?  You're right to design a house that works for you  but also bear in mind that you, or a family member, may need to sell one day, and an 'eccentric' layout won't help.

That will be my son and daughter’s problem 😂 

 

The architect’s solution is one door and an outside shower. There’s no other way in  that isn’t through the house or to re-arrange the rooms. In any event the warrant drawings are done and I don’t want to change the layout. 

Edited July 29, 2022 by Kelvin

[joe90]

If the formal front door is made to look like a door but the second is a copy of the cladding it won’t be apparent. I built my brothers back gate onto a public path but looks like the fence so people are surprised when he disappears through it, he’d wanted it “hidden” to stop people breaking in.

[Kelvin]

37 minutes ago, joe90 said:

Good fir you 👍 all my doors and windows were custom made by a local company you just need to find one, where in the country are you.?

The other thing they think is slightly mental is the upstairs. Their original layout was two bedrooms upstairs but we are building this for us so have done this instead. Master bedroom suite effectively. Master bedroom, dressing/occasional room (we’ll build in wardrobes at the gable end) which is open at the top of the stairs. There are two bedrooms and big shower room downstairs. 

Edited July 29, 2022 by Kelvin

[JohnMo]

Front door for each bedroom, what wrong with that

[Kelvin]

27 minutes ago, joe90 said:

If the formal front door is made to look like a door but the second is a copy of the cladding it won’t be apparent. I built my brothers back gate onto a public path but looks like the fence so people are surprised when he disappears through it, he’d wanted it “hidden” to stop people breaking in.

That is the plan. It could be as simple as a basic hardwood door clad to match the profile being careful with the depth of the door reveals so that the cladding is flush with the wall. Add a pull handle made from the same cladding and an automatic lock. 

[Bozza]

I see you have a full height window to the left.  Have you thought about making the doggy door look like a matching window, perhaps bringing it closer to main door.  From exterior it could be made to just look like a spacious glazed hallway.   integrated blinds or opaque glass whatever would likely be needed.  Making it look like a front door with a glass panel next to it?  Obviously you’d need covert or discreet external hardware.

 

if though you wish to have the doggy door hidden by cladding it might be more effective to hide by having  a more defined entranceway rather than the whole elevation clad and trying to hide the door.  I’ve attached pics to try to explain what I’m whittering on about.  The second pic shows the slabs leading to the door and you could have gravel to the hidden door.  Again adding to the illusion.

 

I have 6 window doors around my house that look like full height windows but hinge to side so you can walk outside.  In fairness though they don’t have exterior handles or locks i so no use for what you need.

 

Having a well designed hidden door would be very cool/James Bond.  My next door neighbours bungalow has two normal front doors for exactly for same reasons as you but certainly not hidden.  It looks a bit crap TBH, more Austin Powers.  Especially when bemused Amazon driver arrive trying to deliver parcels.  
 

I think a good joiner would relish the prospect of doing a door hidden in cladding,and you could turn a prospective pig into a princess.  I respect your decision to build something that you need & want not what convention dictates.

 

 

 

 

[Kelvin]

Thanks for the thoughts. We’ve contemplated exactly what you suggest. The formal door has a vision panel to the left of it so could the extend that idea to the util door so it looks like a big entrance with glass either side. The challenge i see with this is when the dogs are in that room (it’ll be their sleeping area) they’ll woof and scratch at everything that goes by. They did this at the previous house and wrecked the door. Of course we could switch it round so the glass is actually the front door. Worth considering a bit more. Fundamentally I am quite stuck on the concealed door as done well it could be great but needs to be done well. 

[joe90]

2 minutes ago, Kelvin said:

Fundamentally I am quite stuck on the concealed door as done well it could be great but needs to be done well. 

I agree, just needs a good chipee 

[Simplysimon]

half height glazing on both doors so the dogs can't see out?

[Kelvin]

Just now, Simplysimon said:

half height glazing on both doors so the dogs can't see out?

It’s what we had at the previous house. The big dug would stand against it paws on the glass slavering all over the window (and scratched the glass to buggery) and the wee dug stretched just enough to hook his paws to the half height and wrecked the wood. Bloody dugs. Lucky we love them 😂 

[Simplysimon]

start building when they're close to death, problem solved, then get a smaller dog

[Kelvin]

So that’s in about 9 years. With inflation such as it is it will be a caravan and small shed we can afford by then. 😂 

[Simplysimon]

not that big a dug then, the bigger ones tend not to live too long. horses even worse they can go to 40+! 😥 and they're a lot more expensive, food, bedding, stabling. got a lovely big shed i could fill with cars but no, stables. people think you must have money if you have horses, unfortunately it's the opposite, you'd have money if you didn't have horses.

[Kelvin]

Flat coated retriever (he’s two) and a mutt rescue dog. The other one is my sister’s. 
 

We used to have horses too. A big thoroughbred and two wee escape artist ponies. 

Edited July 29, 2022 by Kelvin

[Adsibob]

3 hours ago, Kelvin said:

I am going to have two front doors. Our architect thinks we are mental but it’s our house!

Your architect is correct. I know a good psychoanalyst; PM me for details.

Edited July 29, 2022 by Adsibob

[Adsibob]

3 hours ago, Kelvin said:

The problem is having two front doors side by side does look a bit daft (according to the other half, I’m not so bothered) and makes it look like two houses (almost)

Your other half is correct. You are “mental”, to quote your (correct) architect.

[Adsibob]

1 hour ago, Kelvin said:

The challenge i see with this is when the dogs are in that room (it’ll be their sleeping area) they’ll woof and scratch at everything that goes by. They did this at the previous house and wrecked the door.

Easy solution: get rid of the dogs.

[Jilly]

12 hours ago, Kelvin said:

The other thing they think is slightly mental is the upstairs. Their original layout was two bedrooms upstairs but we are building this for us so have done this instead. Master bedroom suite effectively. Master bedroom, dressing/occasional room (we’ll build in wardrobes at the gable end) which is open at the top of the stairs. There are two bedrooms and big shower room downstairs. 

Why not put a second door in the bedroom into the lounge so you (and air)  can freely move through the house? Im sure there must be a door through the hall, but I can't make it out. It would probably be closed when you have guests, but I would be walking between these rooms a lot and it looks a pain to walk all the way round (unless I ve misinterpreted the drawings.