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The initial couple of paragraphs introducing the article, before it goes on to discuss individual products, very much mirror our personal experiences here at GFD HQ<\/p>\n
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\u201cThere is undoubtedly a certain prestige surrounding natural materials and their use in the world of building and house design.\u00a0A natural stone floor, beautiful hardwood windows, handmade bricks, rustic solid wood flooring and real timber cladding are all seen as the ultimate in quality and the pinnacle of good taste.<\/em><\/p>\n There appears to be a certain degree of snobbery surrounding the synthetic or manmade alternatives to natural materials \u2014\u00a0perhaps the very fact that so many of them strive to mimic the appearance of natural products is evidence enough that what people really want (but possibly can\u2019t afford) is the real deal. But is this belief that natural products are always the better choice founded, or is it simply the fact that \u2018natural\u2019 often costs more and carries with it a sense of architectural purity that sways people towards thinking that it must be the best option?<\/em><\/p>\n Are there, in fact, cases when choosing a manmade or engineered product is the preferential option \u2014 and\u00a0just what constitutes manmade anyway<\/em>?\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The article makes reference to Bricks, roof tiles, stone, timber flooring and cladding but it could equally have applied to the products that the GFD Trading group sell notably Timber Composite Doors and UPVC Sliding Sash Windows.<\/p>\n Through our Global Sash Windows<\/a> web site we have already addressed this \u201cstand- off\u201d between the wooden only traditionalist view and the progressive UPVC point of view in articles such as \u201cEnglish Heritage do not like us\u201d<\/a> and UPVC Sash Windows<\/a> our opinion is that everything has its place and where conservation is involved we can easily understand the argument for wood if the purchaser can meet the prohibitive costs involved.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n At our Timber Composite Doors<\/a> and Global Doors<\/a> outlets we are far from immune from the same criticism both companies supply quality \u201cComposite Doors\u201d one with a Timber core and the other with a Compressed polyurethane core, traditionalists may argue that they are not natural where in fact these doors have many qualities that make them superior to a wooden door.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Price<\/strong> \u2013 Yes we accept that it is possible to buy a cheap softwood timber imported external door which is fine if you want to watch it swell and stick at the first sign of rain, warp twist and require redecoration every year. If you want a true comparison with a hand crafted hardwood door you will undoubtedly get an excellent door but the cost will be substantially more than the equivalent composite door.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Choice <\/strong>\u2013 with wood as it is a natural material and requires to be worked into many components which require cutting gluing moulding etc the choice can be limited and when or if you look for bespoke \u2013 price again becomes an issue. With composite doors as both solid timber core and Compressed polyurethane can be machine pressed and cut from slabs the choice of styles is only limited by the number of templates available and where every hand crafted door will have its own little individual quirks the composite door because it is manufactured under Quality Controlled Factory conditions is the same every time \u2013 excellent.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Colours \u2013 <\/strong>Wooden doors have the limitations of paint and varnish and the chore of repainting on a regular basis. Composite doors do have limitations in colour but most manufacturers can provide about twenty colours which with through coloured external cladding means redecorating is a thing of the past<\/p>\n <\/p>\n ECO credentials \u2013 <\/strong>Trees are the life blood of our planet so the more we can save the better. <\/strong>Composite doors as the name suggests are made from a number of materials and the factory production does involve a Carbon footprint but in the main manufacturers are now more aware than ever of the needs of \u201csustainability \u201cetc and particularly those who use timber cores as we covered in an article a couple of years ago comparing the two different types of composite door<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Thermal and Sound deadening efficiency<\/strong> \u2013 when considered like for like size and thickness the Composite door produces better results and as most new composite doors which include glazing come with double glazed cassettes as standard that\u2019s a further advantage.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Security<\/strong> \u2013 A well handcrafted hardwood door can have excellent strength characteristics but many are let down by the quality of the locks installed. The vast majority of quality composite Doors have accreditation to PAS 23\/24 for weather and strength and durability and even though the multi point locking systems fitted to most as standard are exceptionally good the majority of doors now have the option to upgrade to superior locking systems that comply with the Police and Insurance Company standard of \u201cSecured by Design\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Aesthetics<\/strong> \u2013 this one comes down to the individual \u2013 but when composite doors can be made to look as stunning as this recent installation they certainly can compete with the real thing be it softwood or hardwood<\/p>\n Sometimes maybe the imitation can be better than the real thing \u2013 here at GFD HQ we believe it can<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" And the Argument rages on \u2013 Fake or real ? \u201cIt \u2018s not like it was when I was a lad\/lass\u201d is how the discussion normally starts \u2013 \u201cback then we had real ( any reader can fill in the next bit) \u201c -simply because the statement could apply to virtually everything we use in …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"loftocean_post_primary_category":0,"loftocean_post_format_gallery":"","loftocean_post_format_gallery_ids":"","loftocean_post_format_gallery_urls":"","loftocean_post_format_video_id":0,"loftocean_post_format_video_url":"","loftocean_post_format_video_type":"","loftocean_post_format_video":"","loftocean_post_format_audio_type":"","loftocean_post_format_audio_url":"","loftocean_post_format_audio_id":0,"loftocean_post_format_audio":"","loftocean-featured-post":"","loftocean-like-count":0,"loftocean-view-count":820,"tinysalt_single_post_intro_label":"","tinysalt_single_post_intro_description":"","tinysalt_hide_post_featured_image":"","tinysalt_post_featured_media_position":"","tinysalt_single_site_header_source":"","tinysalt_single_custom_site_header":"0","tinysalt_single_custom_sticky_site_header":"0","tinysalt_single_custom_sticky_site_header_style":"sticky-scroll-up","tinysalt_single_site_footer_source":"","tinysalt_single_custom_site_footer":"0","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1067],"tags":[911,1160,875,855],"class_list":["post-4975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-solidor-composite-doors-2","tag-composite-doors","tag-real-or-fake","tag-solidor","tag-timber-composite-doors"],"aioseo_notices":[],"modified_by":null,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.timbercompositedoors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.timbercompositedoors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.timbercompositedoors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.timbercompositedoors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.timbercompositedoors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4975"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.timbercompositedoors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4975\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6993,"href":"https:\/\/www.timbercompositedoors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4975\/revisions\/6993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.timbercompositedoors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.timbercompositedoors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.timbercompositedoors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"a-real-solidor-composite-door\"](\"https:\/\/www.timbercompositedoors.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/a-real-solidor-composite-door.jpg\")
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