Why do Front Doors Open Inwards?

If you walk along a high street – you’ll find a range of push or pull signs showing you what way to open the shop door. This can sometimes be quite confusing; you might see some people trying to push a pull door or vice versa. But when it comes to front doors to your home, they almost always open inwards. But do you know why?

Interestingly, it’s generally the case that public buildings have doors that open outwards for safety reasons. If there was a large group of people trying to get out, there would be a struggle to get the door open. This would be a problem if there was a fire, and everyone needed to get out quickly. This is also why fire exits open outwards, to make evacuation as fast as possible.

There are actually a number of reasons front doors open inwardly, some of them are practical, and some of them are for your safety & security.

Securing Your Home

In older style doors, having the door open outwards would mean that the hinges would be on the outside. This would mean that the door could easily be unattached and opened by a burglar with the right tools. Whilst there are hinges that can be hidden in the door, it’s become the norm to have them inward opening.

Protecting You From the Elements

Having a door that opens inwards is also helping to protect you from all the different types of extreme weather. If there’s a strong wind, a door swinging open outwards could easily be caught in a big gust and knock into people or objects. You may have experienced this sort of thing when you open a car door in windy weather.

There are also other types of weather that would cause problems with outward swinging doors. If there’s heavy snow, this could mean that your door is incredibly difficult to open in these conditions. A build-up of snow or even flood water would mean you could be trapped in your home.

Safety and Practicality

Just like public buildings are designed to open outwards in case of a fire, the front door of your home is designed to help you. Doors that open inwards are much easier to break down by fire crews to get into your property. If there was a fire, an inward opening door could be broken down much quicker than an outward swinging one.

The practicality side comes when you answer the door to a friend or family member. If the door opens outwards, you might be knocking them out the way when you answer the door! Therefore it’s also not the most practical setup to have.

Can You Get Outward Swinging Front Doors?

You can have outward swinging front doors, even though they are not common in the UK. The only time you would need to be careful is if your home opens up onto a highway, as there is legislation that means you’d need to get in touch with your local authority in order to make sure you could have it swinging outwards.

If you’d like to get a new door installed for your home, then we can help. SCI have a wide range of high-quality Composite, French, Patio, and bi-fold doors that will transform the look of your property. It will also help to make it draught-free, as well as increasing the value of your property. SCI also has a wide range of obscure and stained glass options that help put the final finishing touches to the look of your property.

We’re are proud to say that we are a leading door installer in the South East, covering Surrey and South London. If you’d like to contact us for a quote, then please get in touch.