Outward opening external doors

dmkdr

I am building a new house and want to order my front door (and a couple of other external doors). I've seen very nice Swedish ones (look good, priced ok, good U values etc.), but they open outwards. I'd be interested to know peoples' thoughts on outward opening doors, especially anyone who has them or has experience of living in or visiting a house with them. It seems to be the norm in most European countries, certainly Scandinavia.

muffler

Depends on who's ringing the doorbell or knocking - you just might open the door too quickly

I dont see a problem with them at all unless of course they are used for replacement doors in urban areas where the front wall of the house abuts the footpath.

DustyBin

Hi dmkdr
You should watch out for an outward opening door getting caught in the wind and either putting stress on the hinge or banging off a wall or something else

CJhaughey

I have outward opening doors, no problems with them.
I fitted a catch with a rubber shock absorber so the door can be locked open if necessary when loading/unloading from the car.
Swedoor is the make if you are interested.

Same here, I have an outwardly opening back door with a rubber stop on the adjacent wall. Just be careful when laying paths outside it.

Do-more

Wife is Swedish and insisted on outward opening external doors all around the house.

One major benefit is that you gain usable space inside the house where the door would normally swing, especially useful in the hallway for shoe and coat racks etc.

In theory at least when the wind blows the pressure is helping to seal the door but with a good quality door that shouldn't be an issue anyway.

We had a porthole in our front door to prevent broken noses!

muffler

Do-more wrote: »

We had a porthole in our front door to prevent broken noses!

Mighty

kitser

you can have restrictors fitted to most outward opening doors. they can be set to stop the door from opening past a point i.e banging off the wall.

be sure that door works and locks perfectly before you hand over the balance of the money, as some of these fitters don't know how to level and plumb a door, and you can have years of problems if its not fitted correctly. you get much better attention when you still have some of their money.

another thing worth noting is that some (not all) of these nordic type door companies have only come to the market recently. nothing wrong with that of course, but if this downturn in the economy continues, you might see them disappear as quickly as they came. you'll have no comeback in the future if such happens, so be prudent in your hunting

Do-more

kitser wrote: »

you can have restrictors fitted to most outward opening doors. they can be set to stop the door from opening past a point i.e banging off the wall.

be sure that door works and locks perfectly before you hand over the balance of the money, as some of these fitters don't know how to level and plumb a door, and you can have years of problems if its not fitted correctly. you get much better attention when you still have some of their money.

another thing worth noting is that some (not all) of these nordic type door companies have only come to the market recently. nothing wrong with that of course, but if this downturn in the economy continues, you might see them disappear as quickly as they came. you'll have no comeback in the future if such happens, so be prudent in your hunting

Agreed there may well be some companies who disappear as quickly as they have appeared.

I'm currently looking for a site to build again in the next few years.
In Sweden there are quite a few companies which supply triple glazed windows and insulated doors off the shelf in a range of standard sizes at very competitive prices, so I intend to design the house with their standard size windows and have them shipped over. Lots of other stuff available there at a fraction of the prices here, such as air source heat pumps, Garden chalets, bathroom fittings etc.

sydthebeat

if you have these remember that in order to comply with disabled regulations the 1.2m sq 'clear area' needs to be located outside of any swing of the doors (at the disabled access door), therefore a larger landing type area is required.....

something to watch out for....

blackiebest

Really, only use owtward opening doors when inward just will not work! Generally when open they are open to the weather and wind swing is a big problem, the very best restrictors will be useless if big wind takes a door sash, useful where space is tight but otherwise you should avoid outward opening doors. A double rebate is more difficult with outward opening sashes and overall they cause more problems than inward.

dmkdr

Thanks to everyone for your comments/advice. From what I can make out, the people who have outward opening external doors themselves seem pretty happy with them and have not had any negative experiences due to weather, knocking over visitors etc. People do warn (here and elsewhere) of the possible pitfalls, but my impression (and maybe I am wrong) is that these warnings are based more on what people think could go wrong than on having seen such things happening (but please correct me if anyone thinks I'm mistaken in making this assumption).

dardevle

the developer i work for went with latvian windows and doors
which are turning out to be a disaster...doors open outward
and windows open inward! have replaced 8 or 10 back doors
due to damage from wind,nightmare in strong wind,have seen
doors split in 2- hinges still on frame and door lying in the yard.

inward windows wtf?!!

CJhaughey

dardevle wrote: »

the developer i work for went with latvian windows and doors
which are turning out to be a disaster...doors open outward
and windows open inward! have replaced 8 or 10 back doors
due to damage from wind,nightmare in strong wind,have seen
doors split in 2- hinges still on frame and door lying in the yard.

inward windows wtf?!!

You get what you pay for, but sometimes you don't even get that.
No coincidence, that a developer went for cheaper spec stuff...
Inward windows have the advantage of being cleanable from the inside.
I don't like them but that is what I can see they would be good for.

dardevle

You get what you pay for, but sometimes you don't even get that.




most expensive of 5 prices tendered and exactly twice the cost of the lowest quote!

granted inward opening windows are easier to clean-after you remove all the nick nacks from the window boards and get the window dressings to clear from the inswing:(

muffler

Listen lads, this thread is about outward opening doors and not inward opening windows. Can we stay on topic please.

And I dont have a problem with anyone opening a new thread on the windows.

Cheers

Nuwanda

Lived in Sweden for 15 years. Outward opening front doors are great. Frees up space inside the hall. A lot harder to break in when you have an entire door frame against you as opposed to a lock, also much safer if there is a fire, (most safety doors open outwards). Anyone know how much they would set you back here in Ireland?