The more energy efficient your doors are, the less heat you lose, the lower your energy bills will be
The British Fenestrations Ratings Council (BFRC) recently launched a Door Energy Rating (DER) scheme similar to Window Energy Ratings (WERs), which transformed the UK double glazing industry when introduced in 2006. The BFRC rates products from A to E, with ‘A’ being the most energy efficient. The DER rainbow energy efficiency label is easily recognized by consumers because it is similar to rainbow labels already seen on white goods and light bulbs.
Door-Stop International supplies 4,000 installers in the home improvement industry with composite doors and completed a great deal of background work prior to the BFRC’s DER scheme launch. So far, it not only has the highest officially ‘A’ rated door, but is also the only company to offer consumers energy rating certificates for its entire range of doors.
Managing Director Nick Dutton says; “The more energy efficient your doors are, the less heat you lose, the lower your energy bills will be. The energy efficiency of every door varies depending on the glass surface area, which type of glass is installed and all the other components. So when you choose a new entrance door now, the rainbow label will make it really easy to compare energy-efficiency as well as looks and cost.”
There are many factors to balance when buying entrance doors but as a general rule, timber, aluminium and PVC-U doors are less energy-efficient than heavily insulated composite doors. Old style PVC-U panel doors provide much less insulation, are less secure than composite doors and may also suffer from problems of warping, or ‘pinking’ where the PVC-U changes colour over time.
The launch of the BFRC’s Door Energy Rating scheme is very timely because a recent independent survey commissioned by DGCOS (Double-Glazing and Conservatory Ombudsman Scheme) found that 61% of the 1224 homeowners questioned cited ‘reducing energy bills’ as the most popular reason for replacing windows and doors. This factor is reinforced by a report form Palmer Market Research which discovered that UK sales of newer, better-insulated composite doors have risen by 30% this year, while sales of PVC-U panel doors have dropped 20%.
Nick Dutton concludes: “Our ‘A’ rated doors mean you are on to a winner, so ask your installer to visit www.door-stop.co.uk or call 01623 446336. Together, we are blazing a trail in giving energy-saving consumers what they want.”
Perhaps this is why Door-Stop was a double finalist in The 2011 National Business Awardsthis month and earmarked as a company that was ‘thriving, not surviving’ in a recent article in The Sunday Telegraph.
Established in 2008, Nottingham-based Door-Stop manufactures more than 1,000 trade composite doors a week, delivering them on its own transport to installers all over the UK. More than 90% of Door-Stop’s sales are made via its unique online ordering system on www.door-stop.co.uk. You can order online in under a minute, while the doors are delivered nationwide in a market-beating 3 days (whatever day you order) compared to an industry average of 10 days. Comprehensive marketing support makes it easy for installers to sell, and includes a 68-page brochure; drop cards; installer-branded websites; a web ‘quote engine’ plug-in and a unique U-value certificate to prove compliance with the 2010 Building Regulations, which covered doors for the first time. Door-Stop has also just introduced the UK’s first energy rated doors, under the BFRC’s DER scheme, launched September 2011
A double-finalist for the 2011 National Business Awards (for the Customer Focus and Online Business of the Year categories), Door-Stop closed its third financial year in April 2011 with a GBP 17 million turnover, 30% up on the previous year.
Door-Stop Directors Nick Dutton (MD), Malcolm Le Masurier and Nick’s father Gary Dutton OBE used to run Synseal Extrusions Ltd, the UK’s leading PVC-U extrusions company.
Issued on behalf of Door-Stop International Ltd by MRA Marketing
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