Your Top 10 FAQ’s on Doors and Stairparts Answered!

We know that it can be a daunting task looking for doors, flooring and stairparts if you are not in trade or have never looked into them before. We were all there once so we have decided to answer some of FAQ’s we get from customers to help you along the way.

1. Do we sell custom made fire doors/Are our internal Ledged doors Fire Rated?

Unfortunately we are not able to make any fire rated doors here. All of the doors that we manufacture here are standard doors that do not hold any fire rating. We are able to supply some Engineered Doors in standard sizes in an FD30 which would be supplied by LPD but we cannot custom make them I’m afraid.

2. Can we custom make internal door linings?

All of our Internal Door Linings are sold as a kit and include loose stop laths. Our Oak Linings are available in 108mm, 132mm or 150mm as these are the 3 most common sizes. We are not able to custom make our Door Lining kits, however as the ones we do sell are Solid Oak they can be cut down, you would just need to purchase the closest size to what you need and then trim these down on site.

If you need wider door linings, then you can purchase our Solid Oak PSE, which is available in widths up to 205mm and at 2.4m in length are perfect for those bigger door openings you may have in your home. To get enough to suit your opening you just need to order 3 x lengths of the width you want and then 3 x lengths of the 40mm width and these will be suitable to use as your stop laths.

3. Are the Winder Steps and Bullnose tread packs handed?

We get asked this questions quite a lot. We do not sell handed Winder Tread packs or Bullnose Kits, these are universal and are suitable to be used on either left or right handed. They are all provided oversized and can be cut down to the angle on site so that they fit your staircase perfectly.

Unfortunately our Bullnose kits are only one sided. If it is a double sided Bullnose that you require then you would need to purchase two of our Bullnose kits to suit your step.

Winder Step Tread Pack

Bullnose Riser Tread Pack

4. What’s the different between Oak, Accoya and Red Grandis?

These are three timbers we can use to make our external doors and doorsets. The one question we get asked most of the time is what the main difference between them is and which is more suitable for my home. If it is a 44mm thick door you need then you can get these in either Oak, Red Grandis or Accoya. If however it is a 56mm thick door you need then you can only get this in Oak or Accoya, we do not offer Red Grandis in 56mm thick.

So what is Red Grandis and why should you choose this over a Solid Oak door. Red Grandis is a hardwood timber that is highly resistant to warping, is highly durable, it has a natural grain which is similar to Oak and it is a cheaper alternative to Oak which makes it perfect for painting.

Accoya is also highly resistant to warping, highly durable and perfect for painting. It also holds a really long Manufacturers Guarantee which makes it perfect for those homes that need something more durable than a Solid Oak Door. 

5. What guarantees do you offer for your External Doors?

We get asked on a number of times about what guarantees we offer on our External doors and have put a handy table below to show each of guarantees offered on our External Doors, this table can also be seen on every external door page on our website.

All of our guarantees are offered based on correct installation, finishing and maintenance procedures and can be withdrawn where appropriate in instances correct procedures have not been followed.

Oak doors should always be fitted under a porch or canopy that prevents regular exposure to the rain and elements. Where this is not possible then Accoya should always be specified and fitted.

Our External Door Guarantees

6. I don’t see the door I would like on your website, can you make it?

In most cases the answer to this questions is YES! The door styles we offer on our website are the ones we make the most and are the most popular however this does not mean that these are the only doors we can make. With our State of the Art CNC machine that we bought a couple of years ago means that we can make hundreds of different style doors.

If you don’t see the style you would like on our website then just send us an image or link through to our sales email address and we will look into this for you. If we can’t make a door exactly the same as the one in the image then we will tell you what we can do that will be similar to the door you want.

7. Do I need a Lock Block?

This is all down to each individual. Not everyone wants or needs a Lock Block with their Ledged door. They can be used in connection with a handle or Suffolk latch and some may find that a lock block is need to prevent cutting into existing architrave or door frame as much when you are installing your door.

8. Do I need to allow for clearance when I give you the sizes of my door?

 This can all depend on the opening you have and if you want to allow for clearance. In most circumstances we do recommend you allow about 2mm around each edge for clearance, this is to make sure that when you fit your door it is not too tight of a fit and allows for some movement in the doors. If you don’t allow for clearance, this is not an issue all our doors can be trimmed down slightly on site to fit into your opening.

If you are unsure on whether or not to allow for clearance I would recommend ordering your door at the opening size as it is always better to order a door that is too big rather than too small as you can always trim the door down slightly.

When you provide us with the sizes for your custom size door we make the door to these sizes we do NOT take off any clearance so you if you want to allow for clearance you need to make sure this has been deducted off of the sizes you provide us.

9. Do you do made to measure Stair Cladding?

All of our stair cladding is made to standard sizes, we are not able to do this bespoke I’m afraid. They are all supplied oversized to allow you to measure and cut down them down to suit your staircases on site. All of our straight steps are 1000mm in length and the Winder Steps are 1220mm. We do sell each of the components that make up a tread pack separately so if you do need extra parts or longer ones for your straight steps you can purchase these.

10. Are your doors suitable to be used as sliding doors?

In short the answer to this question is Yes. All of Internal doors should be suitable to be used as sliding doors however depending on the track you use, some small changes may need to be made to our doors for them to them to be used.

The majority of sliding hardware kits that you can buy require the door to be a certain thickness and it is normally anywhere between 35-44mm. This is perfectly fine for our Framed and Ledged doors as these are 40mm thickness all the way round as standard so these will work with no issues. Our Ledged doors however only have a thickness of 20mm at the top of the door but don’t worry this can be changed.

All you have to do when you place the order is ask us to change the placement of the ledges when we make the door and we can put the top ledge right at the top of the door which will give you the 40mm thickness you need, we can then put the bottom ledge right at the bottom and the middle ledge in the centre so that it looks balanced on the back of the door. This would be classed as a custom door so it is slightly more expensive.

Our Internal Ledged Door used as a Sliding Door

We understand that we won’t have answered all of the questions you may have as you start you DIY journey but hopefully we have helped make the take a little less daunting for you. If the answer you need is not here then you can look at some of our other FAQ’s, give us a call on 0114 2474 917 or drop us an email sales@theheritagecollection.co.uk and someone from our friendly sales team will be more than happy to help you.