The door between our living room and conservatory has pretty much come to the end of its life. Victorian, lightweight, single glazed and no security that would keep a flea out, so time to replace it with something different, before we do all the other jobs in that room. Said door is paired with a fixed panel (like a pair of doors where only one opens) and is glazed above. The opening in the brickwork is about 5' 6 ( as it's a Victorian house, my measurements have regressed to Imperial these days!)
I went to the local doors place and was quite taken with their base price for a pair of 5' doors, low panel at the bottom and open for glazing above - about =A3260. So I got the blokey to come and quote to do the whole job (install, glaze etc and the panel above): =A31580!
Definitely plenty of scope to do this job myself then(!) Got the same doors online (=A3190) and a new frame (=A380), which will be delivered at the weekend. Quotes for double glazed panels amount to around =A3100 all together. Can't see any real problems in the job (famous last words!).
So what are the questions?
1 Building regulations (i.e. a door into a s=3Dconservatory is an external door blah blah) notwithstanding, is it a good idea to double glaze these doors? On the one hand all insulation is a good thing. On the other hand, the conservatory is south facing and gets pretty warm even on a cool day if it's sunny (Today it was 36 degrees when it was 14 outside). My guess is it's a swings and roundabouts thing but someone may have experience of this situation.2 I have yet to decide whether to paint these doors or show the hardwood. The originals are painted but it always seems sacrilege to paint hardwood (if the grain etc looks good enough). If they are not painted, what's the recommended treatment? The pro said they would use a satin varnish with multiple coats before hanging - does anyone have any recommendations?
3 I realised I have never put double glazing in a timber door (or window) before. These are made to accept a d/g unit, but it occurred to me that there might be a good way to do it. Searching the web gives almost nothing except the pdf of the Wickes 'How To' sheet, which is pretty superficial. I was assuming spacers around the outside of the glass, then maybe some sealant on the faces where it meets the beading, but then d/g in uPVC frames uses gaskets. Then there's all manner o rubber strips, sticky security tape etc etc. So what's the best approach?4 Locks etc: I'm thinking a sash lock, hinge bolts and rack bolts or flush bolts on the 'slave' door. The door pair are rebated, so I'll need a rebated lock. All the nicely finished rebated locks seem to be
3-lever, which is hardly 'secure' in modern terms, while the few 5- lever, BS-approved versions have industrial rebate kits that might look the business in a warehouse or something but look pretty dire in a nice french window. Has anyone solved this issue recently?5 Seals: I've been thinking that it would be good to make sure the final product is properly draught proofed. In fitting a new door there is clearly an opportunity to route grooves to accept sealing strips but these would have to be pretty low profile and most that I have seen work to a gap of 3mm or so. I had been thinking of putting this in along the hinge edge of the door and along the rebate but it wouldn't feel fight to set the door up with an intentional gap to accommodate this. Has anyone encountered / solved this one?
Any sensible opinions gratefully received as ever! (I'm not sure there's a role for an angle grinder here)