Why Distinction
Why we fit this door and not another.
We fit Distinction composite doors on nearly every front door job we do. Some of that is specification and some of it is a judgement, and this page separates the two, because a page that pretends everything is a measurement is not worth reading.
What is in it
A 44.5mm slab, built in six layers.
A uPVC door panel is around 28mm and mostly hollow. That difference is the whole argument for a composite door. Open a layer and the drawing shows where it sits; the words say what it is there for.
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Glass reinforced plastic, moulded with a grain taken from real oak. It is the same family of material boat hulls are made from, which is why it takes a knock without denting the way an aluminium or a timber face does.
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The rails around the slab are a water-resistant polymer rather than timber. Distinction use them because a timber-cored door can take up water at its edges over years and bow; a polymer rail has nothing to take up.
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Laminated veneer lumber inside the stiles, which is timber rebuilt in layers so it stays straight. It is what the hinges and the lock are screwed into, so it is the part that decides whether a door still shuts properly in ten years.
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A central board running through the slab. It is what makes the door feel solid rather than hollow when you close it, and it is the reason a Distinction slab is heavy to lift.
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High density insulating foam fills everything the structure does not. This is where the thermal figure below comes from.
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Decorative units are triple glazed and laminated as standard, with the decorative layer sealed between two panes of clear glass. That is a maintenance point as much as a security one: the pattern is on the inside, so cleaning the door never touches it.
The one number
The one number worth quoting.
50% more thermally efficient
Distinction had their 44.5mm slab independently tested against a 48mm solid-timber-core composite door and a 44mm timber panelled door, and it came out 50% more thermally efficient than both. The testing was at the University of Salford's Energy House.
What it does not tell you
- It is Distinction's test rather than ours, and it measures the slab rather than a finished doorset. Your frame, your glass, your threshold and how well the thing is fitted all move the real answer.
- It is a thermal comparison only. It says nothing about security, and nothing about how a timber core handles an impact, where a solid timber door may well have its own case.
- It is also why you will not find a U-value on our composite door pages. A real one belongs to a complete doorset, and we would rather publish nothing than a number invented before your door is specified.
The rest of it
The rest of it, in figures.
All Distinction's numbers, and each one says so. None of them is the reason we fit the door; that is further down.
- 25 years Warranty on the slab
- Distinction warrant the door structurally and its surface for 25 years. That covers the slab. Our installation carries its own ten year insurance-backed guarantee, which is a different thing and covers different ground.
- 31 dB Weighted noise reduction
- The figure Distinction publish for the slab. If a busy road is the reason you are replacing the door, say so at the consultation, because the glass and the seals matter as much as the slab does.
- 4 million Fitted since 2004
- By Distinction's own count. Ordinary is worth something on a front door: parts are available, and nobody has to work out how it comes apart.
- 1 in 4 UK entrance doors
- Their share of the front doors fitted in the UK, by their figure. It is why the name is on the page rather than hidden: a customer meets it anyway.
- SBD Secured by Design
- The slab is accredited by the police security initiative, tested by an independent UKAS-accredited body. That belongs to the slab; the locking on the doorsets we fit is ours, and is on the composite doors page.
- UK Where it is made
- The slabs are manufactured in the UK and the doorset is built to your opening, so a door is made after the survey rather than picked off a shelf and packed out to fit.
Looking after it is warm water and a soft cloth, and that is genuinely the whole routine. Do not paint one, because it voids the surface warranty, and skip anything abrasive, any solvent and the pressure washer.
Not a specification
And the part that is not a specification.
Every figure above is Distinction's and every one of them is checkable. The actual reason we fit their doors is not on that list: it is the best-made composite door we have handled, and after enough years of hanging them you can tell. That is a judgement, not a measurement, and we are not going to pretend otherwise by finding a number to stand behind it.
The way to test a claim like that is to close one. There are doors in the Milton Keynes showroom and you are welcome to come and be unconvinced.
Where to go next
If that settles it, pick a door.
Start your project
Ask us anything.
Send the basics and we will come back with straight answers: which style suits the house, what the glass does to the price, and when we can survey.