#54 - Windows & Doors - External Openings Explained for Renovations

Windows and doors might seem like simple decisions - but they affect heat, light, ventilation, security and how your home feels every day. In this episode, we break down the key decisions to get right early when planning your external windows and doors.

What we cover:

•  Why windows and doors must be decided early in a renovation 
•  Different window types - fixed, casement, tilt & turn, sliding and bi-fold 
•  Choosing the right frame materials (uPVC, aluminium, timber, alu-clad) 
•  Double vs triple glazing - and when each is worth it
•  Designing for light, privacy and ventilation 
•  Front doors vs secondary doors - function, security and everyday use 
•  Sliding, bi-fold, and French doors - pros, cons and real-life trade-offs 
•  Thresholds, flow and how doors actually feel to use day-to-day 

Key considerations

•  Start with use, not style - how will you actually live with these openings? 
•  Opening direction, clearance and furniture placement matter more than you think 
•  Bigger isn’t always better - especially with large, heavy doors 
•  Plan for privacy without losing light 

Items mentioned

• Fineo slim double glazing
• Spring sash windows

This episode focuses on the early planning decisions - helping you avoid costly mistakes and choose windows and doors that work for your home long-term. 

Follow the podcast on Instagram @ripitup_podcast_official, or follow us - Jenny is @workerscottage and Kate is @victorianrathmines

Transcript

Welcome back to a brand new season of Rip It Up. Every renovation teaches you something, but it's only after you've lived through the dust, the delays, and the decisions, and then done it again like me, that the real lessons appear. This season, we're revisiting our biggest renovation topics, not with theory, not with optimism, but with hindsight.

Process planning, lighting, kitchens, bathroom windows, what worked, what didn't, and what we'd never do the same way again. This is what we wish we knew then. 

Jen: Welcome back to the podcast. Hi, Kate.

Kate: Hi, Dan. 

Jen: Uh,

next in our

series, our new series 

of what we, what we wish we, knew then is something I think we both have quite a few lessons learned on, and that is

windows and doors, more specifically 

external 

Kate: I've, I've definitely gotten 

bitten on doors and windows 

and pulled my renovations.

Yeah. 

Jen: Yeah, 

it's tricky, right?

Because like

there's so much talk about kind of insulation and grants and 

all that kind of stuff, and that's all fantastic. It is really good. It's definitely worth doing, but if you [00:01:00] don't 

have good windows and doors, no point in doing any of it. 

Kate: I know. Yeah, absolutely. And like it's one of

the biggest, most complicated, earliest decisions you have to make in a renovation as well, because your openings have to be decided quite early, so you have to kind of get the proportions right and then very long lead time. So sometimes you might have to get the colors right and picked and stuff like that.

So it's not an easy one. It definitely requires 

a lot of thought and a lot of

walkthrough and

then. You know, reviewing the, the draft of the schedule they send you back and all that jazz. Like, it's, it's, it's a complicated, it's a complicated business. 

Jen: And Difficult to 

change if you get it wrong.

so. very much one that you need to get right early. And and think about it early. So the things really to know about, I

suppose,

are what are the different materials involved in windows and doors?

Styles are, are 

really important. Like what kind of, 

what 

direction your house is facing, what

type of light you want to get in, where security is obviously a big one.

I think people forget like you have windows and doors because

you can't leave your house open to the elements, like 

you need to be secure. Um, so [00:02:00] how are you going to use it?

What type 

of opening your window needs to have 

ventilation. Um. 

everything. 

Uh, it's, it's really important. So, uh, the first things you need

to lock 

in 

is 

what, 

I 

guess what

type of

windows and doors you want to have, right?

So what are you gonna use 

it for? How do you want it to open is 

probably what, 

uh, the 

best way to 

describe that. 

Kate: I think both of us had something different. Well, at least in my, my first renovation that you had sliders and I had bifold. 

Jen: Yeah. 

Kate: So 

what made you decide it 

Jen: I 

I

went with sliders 'cause I had, I 

didn't have the space for bi-folds. Um, 

I had more than 

enough space when the slider 

was open to get in and out. I didn't need it to be open 

any wider than that. Um, 

that 

was it.

Video: it. 

Kate: And I 

probably, I won't say it was a mistake, but we did have bi-folds and a few of the kind of unforeseens, well one, I had an absolutely shit show my supplier, which I won't go [00:03:00] into names or anything like that, but it was terrible, like so bad that the handle fell off my hand heavily pregnant, like, and I fell on my ars like a few months after they were fucking installed.

Like it was, they were terrible anyway. 

It's not, they didn't look the part. They were nice, but. 

Uh, 

there's a lot of 

bulk in bi-folds. There's a lot of frame.

And there's, that frame

has to go somewhere. So they fold away, but they fold away to where do

they fold away to inside your house. Outside your house where sliders are just there.

That's the mechanism, that's

the

track. Bi-folds have a chunkier track in the floor as well. So if you want that lovely kind of

Smooth transition from indoor to outdoor, which a lot of people look for nowadays, you know?

um, I think, I think, uh, bi-folds have a lot more

bulk than you'd think, so you have to have the space for that bulk to fold away tidally, in my 

opinion. 

Video: Yeah, 

Jen: Because sliders fold away to half, or maybe even a third 

of the original size, depending on how big and how 

many panes you 

have. but probably bi-folds 

do too. They're probably about a third of [00:04:00] the, of 

like the closed 

size, 

which isn't, is 

Kate: wears three 

panels right across my 2.5 meter width. But when it falls, I was like, well, that will hold away to one of them, but it kind of doesn't. 'cause three of them have to stack together and each door is about. 

10, 15 centimeter, probably 15 centimeters thick. 

Video: centimeters thick. 

Kate: At least in the double glaze, kind of 

more modern unit. So they stack, stack. stack And then when you stack them together, you're like, it's a whole other door that has to go somewhere. So like we, it depends then on your hinging

can you hinge at 180 degrees back against a wall outside that you have. We didn't, so it was kind of hinging 90 up against our side wall, which 

then encroached in in the room a bit. So like we

didn't have the opening. We thought we'd have just a lot of 

bulk.

Now that 

being 

Jen: more of both when you think, yeah. 

Kate: space and your walls on 

the side and you can fold it back 180. It might be

the perfect solution for the back of your house.

I just think, just be conscious of they don't 

disappear as tidally, as some sliders might, and there's more frame involved than there is with sliders as 

well.

More frame less light less, you know, 

less glass. So like I think [00:05:00] sliders a 

lot of the time can actually end up being a slicker option. 

Jen: yeah. 

Yeah. And I 

do love

the look of bifold, like I love the look of yours,

but I know what you mean.

The other thing about them as well is like sliders, 

they're harder to get 

wrong 

'cause they're just on a track 

and 

they open and close and that's, there's not a huge amount to it. Whereas bifold are, there's a lot of weight going onto one 

hinge that also has to rotate.

So. There's just additional mechanism there and 

additional weight on a smaller point. So there's just more that can go 

wrong 

inherently with that. And you know, there's great companies out there who make great doors and that's, you know, 

they're likely to, to last a long time and that's fine. Um, there's 

just

more

potential, I suppose, for failure

Kate: For 

sure. Now this time I've gone something completely different. Like 

I went 

with French doors this time And now 

French doors. 

French doors, not as modern, not 

as practical, maybe as some sliders and stuff like that, but I really wanted. More traditional look this time. 'cause I kind of regretted not going traditional last time

in an old house, but also I'm south facing, like I have the luxury of being able to [00:06:00] block off some of that light if I need to.

If I was. East facing or north facing 

again, would I put in the French

doors? I don't dunno. Like it is just, I have so much light at the back of my 

house, it's fine. I can kind of forego a little bit of the panels on the bottom Slightly smaller openings. that being said, I was a bit greedy and I was like, I'm gonna go with the max height that can make the

doors, which is 2.4 2.4, meters on the doors.

And then I did a 30

centimeter fan light on the top and I did the biggest sash window that they could do

on the other

side to match 

all the sizing and

like a line, the 

tops and whatever. I wish I had 

kind of gone smaller on the doors, not width-wise, but just height-wise, I feel like proportions are a bit off for

me.

For traditional

doors, 

they just, traditional doors typically wouldn't have been 2.4, they would've

been maybe 2.1, so I

kind of regret doing that. I probably would've done a bigger fan light in hindsight

and smaller doors. that means that I love them. I love, you know. They're modern. They have like even my sash window there

To match them at the back is like not a weighted sash window, it's a [00:07:00] spring sash window.

So it's all like airtight and more modern

and still has timber frames. So like for me it's a win-win

from efficiency and looks point of view. Uh, but Proportions are just something I probably give a bit more thought to next. 

time. 

Jen: Who 

did you go with there? It was Carlson, was 

it? 

Kate: Yeah. And like I had a

great experience, oh my God. Compared to my first house. It was a dream. Like, do you know, they were great to deal with. Very reasonably priced, I thought for 

French, uh, doors and timber

doors compared to some of the quotes we got. And you can customize a lot of the colors, although I didn't 

pick my final color at the 

time 'cause I was

just 

decision fatigue and I just,

didn't know, 

And we were rendering the back of our house.

I didn't know exactly

what that would look like, yet, so I just, I was like, oh, just make it white and we'll figure it out after, 

which 

I 

Jen: Yeah, I can always paint it again. her, I try do, 

Um, what one, thing I

did on my slide indoors that I really

do think makes all the difference, and I'm

also, I'm kind of southwest facing

here, so I do also get quite a bit of 

light in my backyard, even though it's tiny.

Um, 

but I went floor to

ceiling and obviously that's a additional expense.[00:08:00] 

Um, 

and it might not necessarily be possible everywhere, especially if there's like a, a supporting

beam or

something like that going across, um, that 

door. But if you can, if it's at all possible, 

I think it's really worth the additional

spend to go floor to ceiling. It makes all the difference in the world.

I think for sliding doors. It just looks so 

much slicker, like it really, really does. It 

just looks much, much cleaner. There's less 

in 

your eye line. 

Um, yeah, sorry. 

I really

recommend that.

Kate: I 

agree. And there's a lot of people

who try and do floor to ceiling. Now your house is a different kind of layer 'cause it's kind of focused around a courtyard. Right? So it's kind of like at a Right two, the two slide are at a right angle where some people are putting extensions on now and they, they're saying they want the whole back.

Of the house, essentially sliders and I, I was trying to explain to

a client recently, I was like, if you put sliders the whole back wall, you've lost that wall of 

your 

Jen: The entire wall. Yeah. 

Kate: lost an entire wall to put a table up against it, you know, 

like

it's stuff. 

Stuff can't go on that wall. Now. Cabinets

can't go on that wall now. And 

like you kind of need a path to all those doors. So 

[00:09:00] sometimes I think a slightly smaller opening or maybe a half an opening and a huge picture window over cabinets or something like that might be a nice

combination. So. Just think about 

maximizing glazing needs to make sense as

well for how the room's gonna function. Like where you're gonna put furniture.

Don't just blatantly go make the biggest opening we can on that wall and we'll figure everything else out later because you might 

fit what you want later. 

Jen: yeah, yeah.

yeah.

that's

totally true. And it was a trade off

here. Like I 

'cause, because I have two right 

angles, full width, almost sliding doors, uh, looking like the courtyard pat or the courtyard garden is like the focal point of

this living room and 

is the

focal point of this Um.

Video: um. 

Jen: Kitchen, but oh my God, the amount of brain power that went into rearranging the kitchen to accommodate having lost a wall.

like weeks, months, potentially. And I'm delighted 

with the 

outcome, but it's, 

it's a harder thing to design around having 

lost that wall. 

No regrets, 

But it is

harder. 

Kate: But I 

also think even the way you have yours at a right angle, the two sliders that stepped kind of [00:10:00] extension, we'll call it, actually gives you more options than a straight back extension a lot of the time. And sometimes I ask. 

When I'm talking to clients, I'm like, maybe step out one half the extension where you get a bit more of the sun to capture that on. It might be a sunny banquette or it might

be where you want your kitchen or whatever, but I think sometimes that step gives you more interesting zones rather than one, just big rectangle. 

Jen: Yeah. Agreed. Yeah. 

Kate: so yeah, like it's not as simple as just slapping in as much glasses as you can in The back. Definitely think about where furniture is gonna be placed and cabinetry is gonna be replaced around 

Jen: And there is such a thing as two bright rooms, like, I know 

it's in Ireland. It's hard 

to achieve,

like 

it's 

hard to, to get a 

room too bright, but there is such a thing as, as too much light 

there can 

be like, are there, there's at least such a thing 

as 

enough. 

You know where you 

Kate: roof light. Do you remember our roof light we put in the last time? So we put in a big roof light and then it was kind of like a slot down to the ground. It kind of continued all the way down like a waterfall kind of. So we were, we were east facing, but we put that roof light in 'cause that's the kind of south direction that wouldn't have [00:11:00] been blocked.

So we got a lot of south facing light in that roof light. And like, look, it was lovely. If brightened 

up, it would've been a dark. 

Extension otherwise. But our countertops were white 

and at the start of COVID, we tried to work at that island. 'cause we had no office space built or 

anything yet. We couldn't, we were blinded.

The two of us were sitting there in sunglasses at 

that, 

Jen: Like you never think you're gonna have that problem in Ireland, but like 

it 

is a thing.

Kate: that much light south facing on a white countertop. The glare like it was actually blinding. 

So you 

can, you can,

Jen: Unforeseen 

Unforeseen 

Kate: hit, I hipped my roof light this time, you know, and did a kind of a pyramid one.

And because I was south 

facing this time, I was like, I'm not making that

mistake. 

And it's much softer,

you know, it comes in, but it 

kind of comes in an angle and it kind of only hits part of the island. And I just think it's a lot softer. 

Jen: It's 

diffused before it gets 

into

the

room, which is, Yeah. 

really nice. Yeah. Um, okay.

so that's a lot about 

different types of, well that's 

doors I suppose, sliding doors, right? You One thing that is

windows.

So I have a

mixture of windows. 

I have, [00:12:00] 

um, casement windows in my front of my

house there. Wood, I went with all wood.

Um,

some of the more modern engineered woods, uh.

Don't

need maintenance, pretty much. You might

have to repaint them every few years. It was worth it to me. I just 

liked that kind of traditional look on the outside

of my

house. Um, and that

as a material gives, it gives you a lot of options in

terms of color. So I have one color on the outside.

I have one color on the inside and it can be painted and it's easy.

So from a design perspective, I do love wood. I have a two over one, so there's kind of one horizontal opening window at the

top,

and then two panels or two panes 

underneath it. So kind of in a 

T shape. 

And I love that. they all open?

but they, at the front of my house, they're

limited. They only open like they crack

open. and there is like,

most 

windows now have that

mechanism where you can open them

at a, just a, a gap, So there's kind of double lock thing on. You can have them fully locked or you can open 

them, lock them 

again, and there's just a little um, 

vent, which is really

handy in 

summertime 'cause it gets very hot here in summertime.

Um.

And again, the [00:13:00] only reason

I went with that design was because that was 

quite

traditional to the type of house that I have. And I

do think that is 

something 

really important for Windows is look at the type of house 

you have, 

the era that your

house is from, especially at the front of the house. Um, and that should largely

dictate the type of windows that

you are

putting into the house or the style of window that you're putting 

into that house.

Kate: what 

you said there about splitting the bottom and then the top, so the bottom ones are balanced and they are. 

Symmetrical is 

so important 

I'm, I try and get 

this 

across to some people, 

they make things opening 

sashes where sometimes they don't need them or they don't make them all 

opening sashes. and what happens then is an opening sash has more frame

because you have the frame and then the window that opens, and then a fixed pain has just the frame. So you've doubled the

thickness of frame and an opening 

sash. So they can look distinctly different if one of them is an

opening and one of them 

is not.

So. Do it, that they're all opening or they're all

fixed and one opening

somewhere that all the that all the gla glazing sections look.[00:14:00] 

balanced on symmetrical, if that makes 

sense. 

Jen: Yeah. So 

Kate: something, an opening sash versus a non-op

fixed pain. You can potentially be down 20% of the glass in that window depending on the size of it. 

So 

it is a significant difference and it's something that people

don't think and they kind of say, oh, we'll make that one

opening and make that one opening. And they don't think, and then it looks unsymmetrical, it looks, you know, 

not balanced. So I dunno, give a thought if you really 

Jen: Sketch it out. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. So important. 

It's 

not, I hate

that. And

like I was somebody when I was doing it at my house, 

I was like, I don't care 

what the outside

looked like. And I still to an extent

don't really

care. But symmetry is really

so

important. Like it really, really is. And if you look online. I 

won't 

go too deep into it here. I think I

wrote an article about this

for the Examiner maybe a year, year and a half ago. There is, there are

kind of symmetry

rules 

for the 

outside of a house

and what looks good, where, 

um, 

it's really interesting, it kind of follows that, you know, the golden ratio 

number. Anyway, [00:15:00] there are, there's 

rules

layouts that you can follow to make sure that the outside of your house and your, your windows

look 

symmetrical and 

easy on the eye.

And don't piss off your neighbors or 

don't

piss you off 

every time you, 

drive in your driveway. Um. But yeah, it's, it's important And yeah, you're right.

Frame the amount of

glass, all 

that leftover

makes a huge impact on that symmetry. So that's important. The other 

types of windows, then you've got sash 

windows. 

Um, 

Kate: talk about sash windows. 

a bit because I've. Both new ones and refurbed ones in both my houses and like the new ones at the back are timber frame as well. I'm like you, I only want kind of timber frame. I can kind of deal with aluminum on the right houses or Ali clad. PVC can 

fuck off, 

to be honest.

Like I'm, no, 

Jen: rid of 

Kate: there's, I mean there's 

Jen: time. It served a purpose. 

Kate: me ones that look good. I'm sorry. They just don't, the frames that you thick, they're rounded, they're. 

Video: Gamy, 

Kate: I'm sorry. But like, I think timber frames that are slim enough always look very slick. Um, and you can get them in more modern mechanisms now. [00:16:00] So like the sash windows that I have, the original sash windows, say on our house are, are weighted ones. you know, the weights are in the voids kind of on the sides and the windows, and you hear them knocking up and down when

you roll up and down the sash windows, loads of drafty spots, loads of big voids for air to get

in. 

And even if you double glaze 

the. Glazing section or the window section, you're still gonna get dressed around the edges. You can do brush stripping, but you still have these big weights, voids, all that. It's really hard to make original saches kind of air tight and warm. And you can do things like FIO glass, which is a really

thin. 

Glass that's almost as good as triple glazing to upgrade the glass. You can do slim, light double

glaze panels in uh, your sash windows. So that's how you upgrade the glazing. But once you have the weights, the weights are just there. So just try and fill in any drafty gaps in old sashes if you're getting them refurbed and brush strips everywhere

you can to stop those drafts. But then the new ones I have in also Carlson, all to the back of my house where we put in new windows our new.

spring sliding sash windows, so no

waits. they're just spring, [00:17:00] so they'll hold anywhere. And like even on the giant one, there's

spring sliding Asha windows. There's no weights void. So there's no, um, draftiness 

Jen: and 

they look

the exact same 

Kate: they 

look exactly the same 

Yeah. 

Video: Yeah. 

Kate: So 

like, they don't have the, the visible

little

roller pullies on the sides that the old ones would with the

ropes and weights.

But again, they've no drafts. So like,

they're amazing and they just slide up and down so smooth. They 

look the 

same. They slim timber frames, you know, I just, I loved them.

Video: them. 

Jen: And 

like 

listener

that those

drafts, they'll kill you

all year round. Obviously in wintertime when it's cold, they'll kill

you. In summertime, they'll get your

house

too hot. 

Like if your house

is well insulated and you don't have

those drafts around your windows and 

doors,

it's, 

it's thermal regulation in summer And in winter.

So like, it's just so worth

investing in 

and getting it right. Um, there's no point wasting all your money going through the grant process,

all that kind of stuff, 

insulating your house.

If your windows and doors are 

not, 

uh, doing the job they're 

Kate: Like our last house.

we got up to a B rating in a Victorian house. We double glazed the sashes, we insulated the [00:18:00] walls. None of which we were allowed to do this

time, by the way. and then, uh.

We ended up getting just drafty spots, like from under the floorboards around the sash window boxes around the window box, all, all that, where the 

shutters were. 

That was the drafty 

spot. And even though everything else was insulated, those drafts used get me on the couch all the time. 

Jen: Yeah. 

Kate: Yeah.

Jen: Um. 

Okay, so that's quite a bit about frame. Just a quick one there, right? You mentioned FIO being as good as triple

glazing and there's a point to be made, I

think about double glazing versus single glazing, or sorry, double glazing

versus triple glazing. So single glazing, unfortunately in 

some houses, 

if you're restoring 

an old house, you might have conservation on it and you might be

stuck with single glazing, and that is outrageous.

Really frustrating. Don't know why they 

don't change that, but it is what it is.

Um, most of the rest of

us, 

however, would be able to get a single

or double

or triple depending on how it goes.

Triple. The thermal

efficiency between single and double is gigantic. The thermal efficiency difference between double and triple is not

very big. [00:19:00] The one 

situation 

though, where people do rave about triple glazing

is if they're on a noisy

street. There is, there is a

quite a bit

of a jump in acoustic 

insulation 

if you're on a noisy

street. So if you live somewhere really

noisy and you have the money and you're stuck between double and

triple, then maybe it's worth going for triple every other scenario.

I would say save your money. You don't need

triple.

Kate: Yeah, I probably 

tend 

to agree because yeah, we were asked about it in the last time, but it does also make your frames thicker. 

Jen: Yeah. It makes your frame 

thicker.

Kate: That doesn't look great either. Um, so you really wanna be looking at the U value and the U value differences, and like I said, like you might be better off putting your money into draft 

stripping rather than getting 

the triple, 

triple days upgrade.

Jen: Yeah. 

so that's 

important. That's probably it on windows, that's most types of 

windows. Right. So you've

fixed, 

you talked about, fixed the 

one, actually a quick one on your, so your last fixed window that you had on 

your previous home was just a flat roof. was there ever any issues in that?[00:20:00] 

It's where you always hear

Kate: same supplier as the bifold, so we had issues with everything.

Uh, but it was two large pieces of

glass essentially joined, and

then like silicone sealed, they did a pretty bad job of the ceiling. So we had

someone else in to repair some bits and do some of the kind of cladding where they join outside. Uh, so we did have 

issues 

but once it was

fixed, we 

didn't, it was fine then. And 

um, when you're doing a roof light like that, a pitch is quite important.

Because it 

kind of keeps your window clean as well, right? Like it allows runoff, whereas if it's too flat, you'll start to get water pooling on it.

You'll get, you know, the rain won't run off it, so you'll just have

a dirty.

Roof light all the time. And there's no point having huge glazing

if it's dirty. In my opinion, clean glazing will always look

10 times slicker and sharper or whatever. And I used to have a little trick that on my flat roof was out my bath.

I used to use the handheld for my bath, and I

used to be able to point it at the roof light and run warm water, so I just

put like wash up liquid or whatever and then put on the [00:21:00] hot

shower, handheld down the roof

light and you, if you were in the kitchen, you'd see it

like a waterfall running down.

It would just come out like sparkling.

Jen: It's

great. 

Kate: So like remember 

if 

Jen: Very 

satisfying. 

Kate: Yeah. If 

you're 

putting in a huge roof, 

like remember 

you have to be 

able to 

get to it to clean it or else it's gonna look crap most of the time, unless you're someone come and doing it on a ladder all the 

time. 

Jen: That's

a big one where you don't want to be wowed by

magazines. Pinterest showroom, like it does look great when

it's clean and it's

impossible to keep it clean. So think about

it.

Uh, I think in general, like if you're at a planning stage and you're wondering about roofs

and about 

roof lights, you know, fixed windows or

whatever,

um, opting

for

pitched is always

safer than opting for

flat. Like you always 

hear there's issues with flat, with flat roofs. I think some insurance companies don't even cover flat, older flat, 

roofs. Um. 

So there has to be a really good runoff or 

it doesn't

work. Okay. I think that's 

loads. 

Video: yeah, I 

Kate: think ours was eight degrees from memory or something like that. I think that's kind of what they recommend as a kind of minimum six or eight 

degrees of a 

Jen: Yeah.[00:22:00] 

Yeah, 

And 

then we spoke a 

little bit about material. So you're, I'm 

with you. 

PVC. There's no need for it anymore. It, It's, it actually warps quite a lot. It lets drafts in quite a

lot. It breaks down 

quite a

bit. Yes, it's cheaper at the outset,

but 

you have to think about longevity. Like you're gonna have your windows and doors for probably 20 years or more. Um, and so the, the extra investment is, uh, I think is worth it. I like wood, especially modern wood. 

Um, it's, uh,

it's really. 

Easy to personalize to your own decor 

and it looks

really nice 

Kate: and easy to repaint 

then 

like 

Jen: easy to repaint. 

Kate: of the color, 

Jen: The 

bit of 

maintenance these days is very low. Ocad then is 

prob, it probably is the best, right?

In terms 

of durability, there's basically no maintenance. OCAD is where there's wood on the inside, so you get that thermal efficiency,

and then it's clad and

aluminum on the outside, so you don't have any of that maintenance.

You know, the, the part of it that's exposed to the elements, um, is aluminum, so it doesn't get worn down, and it is really slick.

And if your 

house is modern, then I think that looks great 

and that's a good 

option. 

Kate: The aluminum frames are very, [00:23:00] um, flat, like real minimal 

kind 

Jen: mm, very thin. 

Kate: and it really suits

some houses. I think that really flat, like not molded, no detail, no kind of, you know, swirly, twirly bits, And I think that can look 

very slick on kind of more modern 

renovations.

Done 

Jen: Yeah, totally agree. 

Um, 

okay. I think

that gets us to the front door then, which is really

Kate: Mm. 

Video: And 

Jen: again, all the materials that you can get for your

front door 

are 

the same.

I went with wood.

I really like wood. For a front door, I, OCAD is also an option for you. 

This is rule out PVC right here and now. I

think it's just not.

needed for a front door, but I think,

I think,

that really

affects the design of a front door is your locking

mechanism and you have to think about that.

So what we basically almost have to have in Ireland,

um, especially to keep your insurance company happy, is a mor to lock a five liter, five

lever mortis lock.

Um, you can get up to seven

lever if you want extra security, but that's. Basically what you need and typically with those, you do need a door [00:24:00] handle.

it's so that

is,

you know, handle on your front door. Of course you can get

lots of new, of different types of handles. There's loads of hardware out there. It's really nice. I personally just don't like door handles. I don't

on my front door. Um. The

traditional look was the central doorknob and then just a key latch.

And I dunno what got

into my head at the

time. I just loved that look. I really wanted to keep that central doorknob. I didn't want a door handle. And while I don't regret that decision, 'cause I still prefer the look, it does mean that opening my door is tricky. So you 

have to kind of. 

Rely 

on the key turning for the 

latch 

opening and for the lever opening, which is

just hard.

So I have

to kind of pull the door

towards me every time I do

that. 

And getting out from the 

inside is hard.

It's, It's, 

it's, a thing. It just means if anyone's staying or visiting

or I guess, or whatever, in my house. 

there's, I have to do like a video 

tutorial or like a personalized walkthrough of how to 

open the

door. 

Kate: about, I've just about 

mastered it, I think. 

Jen: Yeah, it's [00:25:00] the one

area where I 

went for 

form over function and I don't personally regret it 'cause I do 

love the look, but it 

is, 

it's a tricky thing. I don't notice the 

day to day, but it is tricky.

Kate: yeah, yeah, for sure. Front doors on. 

Old houses, like a lot of them originally were like some sort of hardwood. My God, they're eye wateringly expensive to change. Um,

like I've priced some of them, I've priced in our last house before we sold and I was like, I just couldn't justify it. Like we were talking like

mad money, like eight to 10,000 for these new hardwood doors.

Like I, I just can't understand how hall doors are so expensive. Uh, that being said, like 

the one we have at the moment is really old and it is drafty. I've changed our side lights. Um,

just a double glazed unit, so at least they're, you know,

a bit more efficient and it's not so cold. Um, but the draft proof stripping really needs to be properly done around those old

style doors if you're doing them. And like also you need a kind of a,

a draft strip along the bottom.

And a lot of these old houses have a kind of step down to [00:26:00] outside, so that 

rain. 

What, what would you call it? A rain sill, I 

think it 

is on the 

Jen: Right. Yeah. 

Video: Flips 

Kate: down and kind of 

flips up and you 

open the door. It's kinda like a hinged 

Jen: Mm-hmm. 

Kate: bottom of the 

door. And those are tricky to get 'cause you kind of have to get them 

made custom kind of your door. So like all doors are just complicated and I wouldn't be allowed to put in

a modern Door anyway. I wouldn't kind of want to, but like my God, it's just, can someone show me? Where I can get a 

new traditional style door for not 10 grand. I would 

Jen: because the

other thing then you're looking at a re is restoration, right? Because it is hard wood, so it is, you 

know, theoretically you can patch 

it, you can do all that But you're right, I get all the trimmings is, um.

not easy. 

Video: easy. 

Kate: We did it in our last house. We tried to kind of restore it now. It was pretty rotten 'cause the house was empty for decades, so it had rotted badly in spots. And we got this kind of, it's like a two part, it's not an epoxy, but it's like this gel stuff that you can use as a wood filler for rotted pieces.

So we did that on some of the rotted spots. We sanded the door down, we primed it again, but blah, blah, And then [00:27:00] inside I kind of stripped back a lot of the frame where there's just so much kind of painted over. Hardware and everything over the years, and I cleaned it all back like it was okay. But again, functionality wise, it wasn't great. 

Jen: Yeah. 

And 

actually on that 

draft, guys, don't get a letter box in your front door. Put the letter box outside on the wall. Do not 

put a letter box in your 

front door. I don't even with the draft strips 

in the back, it's just no need. It's too hard.

Kate: there's no need. Yeah. And if you have a dog, they'll end up 

eating it or something. Anyway, your 

meal. 

Jen: Yeah.

Yeah. 

Depending on what you have 

posted to, I suppose. 

Kate: One finally, I know we're running outta time, but I just wanted to mention it because

I've looked into it in my last two renovations. I know it's super popular is crile

doors as external doors, and I priced it for my last, again, very 

expensive. If they're done correctly, you can get crile doors that aren't done correctly.

And by correctly, I mean thermally broken. So like steel, 

real crile steel doors, like that's gonna.

Be conductive, right? So like if it's cold outside, they're gonna be freezing inside. So they have to be 

thermally broken, where there's [00:28:00] kind of

It's

sandwiched with a seal or kind of a, an Insulating barrier between the outside and inside.

So it's really important that if you're looking at crile doors, that you're looking at someone that's doing those, right. They look 

Jen: Yeah, install. It's all 

about installation. It's all about 

the 

installation as 

well. Even if 

Kate: get 

aluminum 

Jen: from somewhere, you know they have to be installed.

Kate: Exactly. 

And if you're get, you can't get 

nice. 

We'll say Es in aluminum, but just again, 

look at your supplier. If you're doing, if you want to do 

crile, you want the thinnest frame possible for it to look like real crile. 

'cause real crile 

is super thin and that's why it's so beautiful. I think so. Like if you're thinking about 

mimicking it in Ali aluminum windows, just 

look at the frame 

Jen: Yeah, it. does look beautiful. Like I still love

it.

It's, it hasn't gone out of style for me. And it's a good point

as well about, especially about front doors,

right, is on style, because front doors come in so many shapes and sizes. You

can have a single one, you can have double ones. You can have windows in them.

You can have windows on the side. You can have fan lights

on the top, you can have different colors. You can do whatever you want. All of that, [00:29:00] I would say.

Again,

try to match like 

the era, the style of 

your house.

Try to match it to your windows and then windows. It's 

totally up 

to you. Do you. want 

windows?

Do you mind

people looking in your front door? 

If so, go 

for it. Like there, there's no issue in

terms of thermal efficiency or anything like that. 

It's purely down to privacy and the

amount of light that you want to bring in. Like, do you want frosted 

ones? Do you 

want stained glass ones? Do you want none at all? And if you still want that light, you can put a, you know, you can put a transom. 

Or a 

fan light over 

your, your front door and get a lot of light in that way. Um, you can put your side

panels in, you.

can put clear glass, you know, all of that is totally up to you

and up to your preferred style and match the style of your house.

I would say 

just, you.

know, remember privacy, 

like 

are

Kate: Oh yeah. 

I had the,

uh, 

Jen: in? I 

don't like 

it. Whatever. 

Kate: I had the TV license, guy peeking in mine one day, 

Jen: Oh. 

Kate: caught him on 

the ring doorbell. I said, were 

you looking in my windows? He said, no. I said, 

I saw you on the ring doorbell.

Jen: God, they're 

unreal. One of them po. One of them called 

to my house and pretended to 

be a delivery 

driver 

and like was like, Hey, 

I have 

a package. Are you Jennifer Tea? And I was like, yeah. And he is like, [00:30:00] TV license inspector. Gotcha. He 

didn't say Gotcha, 

but I was like, 

what is happening? Like 

Kate: Yeah. He, he came here and did the same when we had moved in. 

Jen: It's not on like 

anyway, 

Video: I 

Kate: know. Impersonating a delivery one 

anyway. 

Jen: planning your privacy, 

think about the 

Kate: think, do think about privacy in like 

if you're doing clear glass in your front 

Jen: Yeah. '

Kate: cause people like to peer in check. If you're there, why aren't you answering the door? 

Jen: Yeah. 

Yeah.

And think about

locks like there's, I 

am knee deep in 

researching smart locks 

at the moment. It's a whole other episode, 

but

Kate: Yeah. Yeah. We 

Jen: it's one to go into. I really want one 

Yeah. 

Alright, 

that is it. Windows and Doors.

Hopefully 

it was. 

We'll see you next week. 

Kate: Bye 

Jen: bye.

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