Door Replacement Cost in London: Internal & Front Doors

Door replacement cost in London

Internal door replacement cost depends mainly on the door style and how well it needs to match the property's existing joinery, rather than on the room it's fitted in. A standard flush door, supplied and fitted into an existing, square opening, typically costs £180 to £350. A panelled door, whether a modern four-panel design or a period-matching profile for a Victorian or Edwardian property, typically costs £280 to £550, and rises toward £650 where the opening is out of square or a non-standard size, common in older properties that have moved slightly over the decades.

Front and composite door replacement costs more, both because the door itself is a heavier, more complex product and because fitting a new external door usually involves adjusting or replacing the frame and threshold to get a proper weathertight seal. A standard composite front door, supplied and fitted with a multi-point locking system, typically costs £900 to £1,600, rising to £1,400 to £2,200 for a heritage-style or conservation-area-appropriate design on a period property.

Internal doors: flush, panelled and period-matching

Flush doors, a plain flat surface without panel detail, are the most straightforward and least expensive option, and suit modern interiors or rooms where matching a period profile isn't a priority, such as a converted loft or an ex-council flat with no original joinery to match. Panelled doors, with raised or moulded panel detail, cost more both in the door itself and in the finishing, since panel mouldings need painting carefully into the recesses rather than rolled flat, but they're the standard choice in most Victorian and Edwardian properties, where the original doors were four-panel or six-panel designs and a flush replacement looks obviously out of place alongside original skirting, architrave and cornicing.

Matching a period profile exactly, panel proportions, moulding detail and door thickness, costs more than a generic panelled door, and is worth doing properly in a period property rather than fitting the closest off-the-shelf match, since an inconsistent door style is one of the more obvious giveaways in an otherwise well-presented period room. Non-standard or out-of-square openings, common once a Victorian house has settled over more than a century, often need the door and sometimes the frame adjusted or made bespoke to fit properly, which is reflected in the higher end of the internal door pricing.

Front and composite doors: security and weather sealing

A front door does two jobs an internal door doesn't: it needs to keep weather out and it's the property's primary security barrier, both of which affect specification more than appearance alone. Composite doors, a glass-reinforced plastic skin over an insulated core, are the standard choice for most London front door replacements now, since they resist warping, rotting and fading better than solid timber, hold their shape in a way that keeps a multi-point lock aligned over years of use, and need far less maintenance than a painted timber door exposed to London's weather.

Multi-point locking, engaging at several points up the door edge rather than a single latch and deadbolt, is now the standard specification for a composite front door and is worth checking is genuinely included rather than assumed, since it makes a meaningful difference to security over a single-point lock. Weather sealing around the frame and threshold matters just as much as the door itself, since a well-specified door fitted into a poorly sealed frame still lets draughts and water in at the edges, which is why front door replacement typically includes frame and threshold work rather than just swapping the door leaf.

Letterbox and knocker positioning is worth checking rather than assuming a new door will simply take the old fittings' place, since composite doors vary in panel layout and a letterbox cut into the wrong position can weaken the door's insulated core or clash with the internal handle height. Where a communal entrance or a front door onto a shared hallway is involved, rather than a single self-contained front door, that's a different specification again, closer to the fire-rated communal doorsets covered in our HMO fire door guide than to a standard homeowner's front door, and it's worth flagging at survey stage which category actually applies.

Door frames, linings and hanging

Replacing a door is rarely just a case of swapping the door leaf for a new one of the same size. Internal door linings, the timber frame a door hangs from, can warp, split or come loose from the surrounding wall over the years, particularly in a period property where the wall itself has moved slightly, and a new door hung in a tired lining rarely closes properly no matter how well the door itself is made. Where the lining is sound, rehanging into the existing frame keeps cost down; where it isn't, replacing the lining alongside the door adds a modest amount of joinery time but is the only way to get a door that closes cleanly and doesn't bind on the frame within a few months.

Hinges matter more than people expect too. A heavier fire-rated or solid period-matching door usually needs three hinges rather than the two fitted to a lightweight modern door, since the extra weight puts more strain on the top hinge over time and can cause a door to drop and start catching on the frame or floor. On front doors specifically, hinges and the multi-point lock keep are set by the manufacturer's specification for that door, so an installer working outside those tolerances risks the door failing to seal properly against the weather even when everything looks correctly fitted from the outside.

Front doors on London terraced houses and conservation area considerations

Many London terraces sit within a conservation area, and in some of these, or where an Article 4 direction applies, replacing a front door isn't automatically permitted development in the way it would be on an unlisted property outside a conservation area, particularly where the style, colour or material visibly changes the street elevation. Rather than repeat the detail of conservation area consent rules here, our conservation area rules guide covers the underlying principles, which apply to front doors in the same way they apply to roofing and other visible external changes. Where a conservation-area-appropriate style is needed, composite doors are now available in period profiles, raised-and-fielded panel patterns and heritage colour finishes that satisfy most conservation officers, so choosing a modern, low-maintenance door doesn't necessarily mean sacrificing the period appearance a conservation area expects.

This is not about fire doors: a quick distinction

Ordinary internal and front door replacement, covered in this guide, is a different subject entirely to the FD30 and FD60 fire-rated doorsets required in a licensed HMO. A fire door's rating covers the whole certified doorset, leaf, frame, seals, hinges and self-closer tested together, and it exists to meet a specific fire safety and licensing requirement rather than a homeowner's choice of style or finish. If you're a landlord or managing an HMO and arrived here looking for fire door requirements or pricing, our HMO fire door requirements guide covers which doors need FD30 or FD60 rating, what inspectors check, and realistic cost bands for compliant doorsets, which are priced and specified quite differently to the doors covered in this guide.

What affects door replacement cost

How long does door replacement take?

A straightforward internal door replacement into an existing opening typically takes a few hours per door, including hanging, fitting furniture and a first coat of paint or primer. A front door replacement usually takes a full day per door, since it involves removing the old frame, checking and making good the surrounding brickwork or render, fitting and sealing the new frame, then hanging and adjusting the door itself. Bespoke or non-standard doors add lead time before the work even starts, typically one to three weeks depending on the supplier, since these are made to order rather than held in stock.

Getting a door replacement quote

A door replacement quote starts with checking the existing opening, square, size and condition of the surrounding frame, before recommending a standard or bespoke door and confirming whether any conservation area considerations apply to a front door specifically. Our property refurbishment London team can price a single door replacement or a whole-property refresh of internal doors as part of a wider renovation, so the two aren't quoted or scheduled separately if you're doing both at once.