Internal Doors News

At a glance, it might be hard to spot the uniqueness of fire doors. After all, they look like other internal (wooden) doors. So, why are they SPECIAL? Why are fire doors the main choice to prevent the spread of fire? What even makes a fire door a fire door? Our experts at Internal Doors have the answers you seek. And it's all in this article.   Here is a quick preview of what to expect here: What is a fire door? How to tell if a door is a fire door? What Is A Fire Door? The first step in understanding what makes a fire door a fire door is knowing why it is called so to start with. So, why? For a door to be a fire door, it must limit the spread of fire within a building. During emergencies, these doors provide time (from a minimum of 30 minutes) for people to find safety. So put simply, a fire door is a fire-resistant, safety utility designed to prevent the spread of fire within a building long enough to save lives and crucial properties/documents. That said, let's see why fire doors are different. More importantly, let's help you identify one.   How To Tell If A Door Is A Fire Door? The Components Unlike typical internal doors, fire doors are not strictly wooden, glass or metallic. And while their frames are usually solid timber, other parts are a combination of different materials. For specifics, fire safety doors are often designed with materials such as aluminium, glass, gypsum, timber, and sometimes steel. As a result of the different components, safety fire doors are sturdier than other internal doors. And often, that results in weight differences. For example, an average internal door weighs about 45kg. Funnily enough, that is the weight of an FD30 (the least fire-resistance rating) fire door. On the other hand, FD60 (the medium size) can weigh up to 75kg! You can find  more information on rules and regulations for fire doors here Intumescent Strips Intumescent strips are the most distinguishable features of fire safety doors. They are the one thing you won't find in typical internal doors.   So, what are intumescent strips? Intumescent strips are the heart of what makes a fire door a fire door. In short, a fire door can't keep out a fire without the strips. How so? For fire doors to work, they need to completely shut out fire and flames during emergencies. Ideally, that is not 100% possible, given that there will be spaces around the frames and edges. That is where intumescent strips come in! During fire outbreaks, the heat expands the intumescent strips in a fire door. When that happens, the strips fill up all the empty spaces between the door and the frames. In essence, the strips are the elements preventing the spread of fire. And often, they determine the fire-resistance ratings.   Also read: How To Look After Your Doors Once They're Delivered!   Summary What makes a fire door a fire safety door is its components - mostly the intumescent strips. In addition to the "strips," fire doors contain other fire-resistant materials. Together, the components make fire doors fire-resistant and sturdy. Information is accurate at time of publishing, however, may be subject to change.

How to Treat Your Newly Delivered Internal Doors If you have purchased unfinished doors, it is essential that our customers treat their newly delivered internal doors before they are fitted. This gives the doors the best possible level of protection and allows our customers to achieve their desired look. Your warranty may be void if this is not done! It’s also extremely important that you care for your doors before they are treated and fitted. Packaging, storage, treatment and maintenance are all vital in ensuring your doors will stand the test of time. Inspecting Your New Internal Doors When your doors have been delivered, please be sure to check them over thoroughly. Problems are very rare but it’s always best to inspect them immediately so that you know they are ready for treating and fitting. Doors are well protected and should be re-sealed after inspection to keep them safe. The packaging stops any moisture in the air from penetrating the untreated wood, particularly important if your doors will be sat for a considerable length of time. Leaving doors exposed to moisture can cause the water to be sealed in when they are treated and could eventually cause warping as it gradually dries. Storing Your Oak Internal Doors One of the most common mistakes which people make when storing new doors is standing them up against a wall as it takes up less room. The issue with this is that doors have a considerable weight which should only ever be stressed across their structure entirely vertically or horizontally. Leaning a door against a wall can cause it to bend slightly and also poses a significant risk of the door falling which could of course be very dangerous.   If it is necessary to store you new doors before treating and fitting, they must be kept on a dry, flat floor. Untreated internal oak doors must be stored in a dry room which is free from any damp. This also means you should avoid storing them in recently plastered rooms as the moisture leaves the walls and is absorbed by the room’s atmosphere and contents. We supply our interior doors unfinished to give our customers the opportunity to choose the finish they prefer, this does however mean they are susceptible to moisture absorption so please ensure your doors are well protected before being treated. Treating Your Internal Doors Treating your internal doors gives you the opportunity to match them with existing features to create a consistent look throughout a room. An alternative option is to use the beautiful wood door as a feature itself by breaking up a room with a single colour finish. We suggest using a hardwax oil as they provide fantastic endurance and smoothness to your doors. We highly recommend using our Treatex range because from experience, it offers an excellent surface finish and is also extremely effective at keeping moisture out and protecting your doors over time. We highly recommend using Treatex Hardwax Oil. You Will Need . . . Sanding Pads Safety Goggles & Safety Mask Latex or Safety Gloves Micro Fiber Cloth or Tack Cloth Varnish Paint Brush or Lint Free Cloths Treatment Oil (We recommend Treatex or Osmo) Masking Tape - For Glazed Doors & Door Knobs Dust Sheets Fine Wire Wool Treating Your Newly Delivered Doors Ensure your working area is very well ventilated both before and after treating your doors. If you are treating a glazed internal door, ensure that you mask off any glazing with your masking tape. Either remove or mask off any door furniture. Our doors are supplied pre-sanded but it may be necessary for you to buff over any uneven areas which may have been created when you cut into the wood for the hinges and handles etc. Thoroughly wipe away dust using your micro fiber cloth before using a damp, lint free cloth to remove any remaining sawdust. Make absolutely sure that the door you are about to treat is clean, dry and entirely free of any dampness or moisture. We highly recommend that you use either a Treatex or Osmo internal oil to treat your internal doors. Ensure that the oil is stirred thoroughly before use and with a flat brush, the treatment should be applied evenly following the direction of the fibres. Oils should not be applied in temperatures less than 5 degrees Celsius or in blazing sunlight. The drying time is dependent on the product you choose to use when treating your internal doors. For example, a coat of Osmo Polyx Oil Clear Satin will take approximately 8-10 hours to dry whilst Treatex Hardwax Oil Medium Oak is quick drying and allows for two coats in 3-6 hours. For the recommended number of coats required, please read the manufacturer’s instructions as it will vary depending on the product and the desired finish. Be sure to treat your internal doors thoroughly and seal inside lock cut outs, behind hinges and also the sides, top and bottom to ensure the door is well protected. It may be necessary to lightly rub down any uneven areas with wire wool after the first or second coat has been applied to the door and has dried.   Information is accurate at time of publishing, however, may be subject to change.

Ooh la la! The Riviera door is a classic in its own right. It has six panels of glass to allow the light to pass from one room to the next. It’s enough to brighten a dark adjacent room but glazed to maintain some privacy. It has a sunken edge that leads to a raised centre panel just below the glass panelling that gives the touch and style of a door far more expensive that what it retails for. So why is this popular door called ‘The Riviera’? What is the history behind the ‘Riviera style’ that's brushed off on to one of the most popular style of doors on the market? Until the end of the 18th century the French Riviera was an area unknown outside of France and barely known within it. The south east part of the Mediterranean coast was yet to be christened 'the French Riviera', or Cote D’Azur as it is also known, for another hundred years as it took a while for the region to be popularised. This happened when doctors prescribed ‘climo-therepy’ recommending patients suffering a range of ailments take refuge from urban areas and absorb the fresh healthy air the seaside has to offer. Climo-therapy boosted tourism in the UK but also abroad for those that could afford it and so the French Riviera’s first tourists were the British upper class. Robert Louis Stevenson was a fan that came for his health and even wrote some of his famous works there too. Queen Victoria was a frequent visitor returning year after year but it was during the second half of the 20th Century that the region came to symbolise glitz and glamour. Just after the war the Cannes Film Festival was launched and with it, silver screen celebrity flowed from champagne flutes and around the roulette wheels as the new breed of wealthy tourist, the ‘Jet Set’, came to reside next to the likes of Bridget Bardot. Lovely I’m sure but what’s that got to do with doors? Well, the sophisticated interior design look within the hotels and mansions along the French Riviera is unquestionably traditional in style. They have simply smartened up the same style of doors and windows seen in the more rustic villas in the same region. And of course the term ‘French Door’ is a clue to how popular it is to have doors in France that bathe rooms with the drape of sunlight via an internal door window, something one comes to expect with the consist weather on the south coast of France. The style of the mansions or villas along the Mediterranean coast today still reflect traditional designs and so the Riviera door was born to capture the essence of them for a wider market. They don’t come with Monaco weather but they don’t come with a Monaco price tag either. Images courtesy of sxc.hu

Competition Announcement We're pleased to announce that all submissions to the photo competition have been received and compiled into a prize draw picker. Take a look below to find out who won our £50 prize! We were so impressed with how many customers sent us their fabulous images of the doors they purchased from Internal Doors. Some images were from customers that have had their doors fitted for a number of years now, showing how well they have served their home!   We put all enteries into a virtual spinning wheel picker, to ensure the prize draw was impartial and random, giving everyone a fair shot. Take a look at the video below to find out who was the lucky winner!   We want to give a huge congratulation to Angela Lee for winning this competition with their fantastic image of our Mexicano Ely 5L Internal doors. We love the way they captured the photo, and the doors look perfect in their cosy home. Thank you to everyone that entered and stay tuned for our next Photo Competition for a chance to win more prizes! Information is accurate at time of publishing, however, may be subject to change.

  What do you need to do?   If you’ve purchased any doors, ironmongery, skirting or architrave from us in the last few years and want to show them off, send us your best photos of them, and we'll enter you into our prize draw!This is a brand new photo competition for 2022, so if you've entered any of our old photo competitions, you can enter, and all images will be considered new entries! Good luck!1 PHOTO = 1 ENTRYEnter as many photos as you like, for a higher chance of winning!Email your photo entries to competitions@internaldoors.co.uk(Please include your name, email address and your order reference)Please see our the competition T&Cs at the bottom of this post.   These are some examples of the quality of photos that have won previous photo competitions, we were pretty impressed with these images showcasing our 1930's Style and Mexicano Ely internal doors   Tips for taking a great photograph:   Getting Started!   Firstly, get in close and fill the frame with your subject. Make sure it’s clear what you’re focusing on and try to avoid wasted space.   Consider the light you have available. Natural light is a great way to improve a photo but even artificial light will create focus on your subject and create shadows and details.   Take lots of photos! Don’t be picky, snap away and have a look back through them afterwards. The more you take, the more likely you are to have good ones which you can use.   Consider what’s in the background. A photo can be ruined by a sock on the floor or an overflowing bin. Try having a quick look at your frame and move anything distracting and which takes attention from your subject.   Finally, have fun! It might not pay off but you never know, you just might create something special!   As you can see, our gallery hasn't got many customer photos at the moment!   Please make sure you read our T&Cs carefully before entering our photo competition!     Not interested in our competition? Shop our website here > internaldoors.co.uk

We've just launched a brand new image gallery for our customers to view our lifestyle imagery, to give a better idea of how our products will look within the home! We'll continue to gather images wherever possible, to build our bank of photographs. This will allow customers to view our doors and other products in the most natural setting. Why not take a look at what we have for you to view so far: Internal Doors Gallery You'll notice that we've got a lot of similar looking lifestyle images at the moment. Stay tuned for an upcoming photo competition that will give our customers the opportunity to submit their own lifestyle images to add to our bank of photos in the image gallery! Image Gallery Experts The images below were winners of previous photo competitions, showing the calibre of imagery we receive from our customers. We're pretty impressed with these! If you fancy yourself as a bit of a photographer, why not submit yours, we'll never say no to a great image of our products! These are some winners of previous customer photo competitions, so we've got some high expectations of our fabulous customer images. We can't wait to get some more! Catch Us On Socials Take a look at our social media accounts and follow us for updates and inspo! We've got many customers that are regularly showing off their products and how they're using them, so why not get some inspiration for the next home renovation project!? If you've got any photos to share of our products, just tag us and we can repost to our followers! Facebook Instagram

Why not get creative with your modern internal door choices? (Check out our Insta page for inspiration) Last year there were some exciting new designs released into the modern internal doors market, bringing a unique touch to many homes. With the addition of ranges such as the Urban Collection from Deanta, our contemporary door collection expanded, giving more and more options for the industrial styles and veneer finishes that have seen a rise in popularity in recent years. Check out our latest suggestions for bringing that modern touch to your home! The Urban Collection - Industrial Style Doors View the Internal Door Urban Collection If you're looking to replicate that cool urban penthouse feel, the latest offering of black and white internal doors landed in 2021, with the Shoreditch, Dalston, Brixton and Camden styles. Thin railings offer a take on the popular city apartment style doors, as a result, these modern interior doors allow an abundance of light into the home, creating a bright and airy space. Ultra-Modern Internal Door Hardware - Urban Collection Urban Collection Internal Door Hardware There's nothing worse than getting something new for your home, but being unable to find the matching accessories. Similarly, this is often the case for modern internal doors too! However, you'll have no issue finding the right hardware for the Urban Collection on our site. Click the image to shop! DIY Painted Doors - Take Control! If you're someone that prefers to get stuck in with creative projects, you can paint our white primed doors yourself. In other words, this would allow you to chose your own colour finish. With endless colours options, you'll subsequently be able to select the perfect finish to create that insta-worthy look! Why not make some unique painted door creations, like our customer above for instance. Shop our white primed doors to get your blank canvas! Tres & Seis - Charcoal Black View Tres & Seis Doors Finally, if you need an a-symmetrical design to complete your alternative decor, but also want something subtle enough to blend in with a slightly more minimalist interior, the Tres & Seis charcoal black modern internal doors might be for you. With prefinished charcoal black doors you won't lose the beautiful grain pattern that makes wooden doors so special, as the black prefinish enhances the wood grain even further. Also available in fire door variations! In conclusion, whatever you're looking for, we're confident we'll be able to assist! Information is accurate at time of publishing, however, may be subject to change.

We know that home improvement tasks can seem never ending, and it’s a regular occurrence that we’ll wait until things are beyond repair before actually repairing it. While we can get away with this with a few things around the home, doors are no exception.

Introducing a helpful guide to door architrave for those who do not know where to start. We know that there are many finishing touches you can implement around the home, some of which you will need a little bit of help with.

If you’re new to the world of interior design, it can be quite difficult to separate styles and designs to realise which are your favourites. Admittedly, there are many crossovers in design and it’s aesthetics, which is why many of us often refer to contemporary as modern design.

Colour psychology is an extremely powerful tool when it comes to interior design. This phenomenon is quite helpful when it comes to decorating your own home.

What internal doors will be trending this year? Find out now!

Unsure on how to store your doors when they're delivered? Don't worry, we can help. Read our brief guide now to avoid some of the most common issues.

Discover the top 5 trending door styles that we have crowned the best for 2019.

Having trouble finding the ideal door finish for your internal door? Our small guide on internal door finishes might be able to help!

See how sliding doors can lighten your home and ultimately increase your living space too. There are countless designs you can choose from to match your interior, and the feel you want to maintain throughout your home.

Internal and external doors are used constantly throughout the day in the home, and for those who thrive off interior design styles and always must hop on new trends, it’s important the impression they give off is nothing short of brilliant.