Doors and windows are significant components in any building project and majorly affect its usability, functionality and aesthetics. Various materials—including wood, aluminium, steel and uPVC—are used to make doors in the modern construction industry. Of these, doors of steel in particular offer distinct benefits that make them a staple in almost every residential and commercial building today. Read on to learn all about steel doors, their types, benefits and limitations and understand the steel door price prevalent in the market today.
Understanding Doors of Steel
Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon and is known in the construction industry for offering high tensile strength. When used to make doors, the material provides high strength, durability and security, and can also be processed to offer other benefits like fire resistance and sound insulation. Among the different types of doors available today, steel doors have become a common element in residential, commercial, and industrial construction projects due to these properties.
Types of Steel Doors Used in Buildings
Steel Door Types Based on Material Composition
Doors can be made of different types of steel, including:
- Cold Rolled Steel: Steel that is processed at room temperature using methods like bending and pressing is called cold rolled steel or cold formed steel (CFS). CFS doors are manufactured to precise dimensions with low tolerances and are commonly used in interior spaces.
- Galvanised Steel: This steel has a zinc coating, which provides enhanced rust protection. However, doors of galvanised steel have a lower adhesion to paint, primer and other finishing coats, thus lowering their aesthetic quality.
- Galvannealed Steel: Such steel has a zinc-iron alloy coating, which gives it good resistance against rusting. Doors of galvannealed steel also offer high strength and good adhesion to paint and other coatings.
- Stainless Steel: This steel includes small quantities of chromium and sometimes nickel, which form rust-preventive coatings on the material’s surface. However, stainless steel doors generally have lower strength.
Steel Door Types Based on Mechanism
Based on the way they open and close, doors of steel can be classified as:
- Hinged Door: This is one of the most commonly used steel doors for houses and consists of 2-4 side hinges fixed to one side of the frame, allowing the door to swing 90-180° outwards or inwards.
- Steel Sliding Door: In this type, the door shutters glide smoothly over each other with the help of two or more tracks that are fastened to the top and/or bottom frame. Such doors with glass panels can maximise natural light in interior spaces even though their effective opening size is smaller.
- Steel Folding Door: Two or more shutters fold into each other, reducing the area they take up when kept open. Side hinges fixed between each shutter facilitate this movement.
- Sliding Folding Door: With tracks, hinges and pivots, the door shutters fold into each other through sliding movements, allowing maximum opening sizes and ease of usage.
- Collapsible Steel Door: Consisting of interlocking vertical bars of steel that slide and fold into each other towards one side, this door is mainly used as a barrier in high-security areas.
- Steel Rolling Shutter: Made of interlocking horizontal steel slats, this steel safety door typically has a pulley mechanism that allows it to be rolled up and is commonly used to protect shopfronts.
- Pivot Doors: Such doors revolve around a vertical member, which is fastened in the shutter, and are used when an opening is needed on both sides of the shutter.
Steel Door Types Based on Design
Based on the type of material used between the steel frame of a door shutter, doors of steel can be classified as:
- Steel Glazed Doors: These steel-framed doors have fixed glass panels, which may be of specific types like high-strength, toughened and insulated, thus helping enhance the flow of natural light in enclosed spaces.
- Steel Grill Door: Such a door is commonly made of steel bars, angles and hollow sections fixed horizontally and vertically within a steel frame. Used as secondary metal doors for homes that require optimal security, they also enhance cross ventilation when the primary doors are kept open.
- Steel Panel Doors: Steel-framed doors can have shutters made of steel panels that may be embossed, laser-cut, perforated, engraved or have multiple layers including insulation materials between them.
Steel Door Types Based on Finish
Based on the finish of the steel used, doors of steel can be classified as:
- Painted Doors: Although cheaper, manually painted mild steel doors are less durable.
- Powder Coated Doors: Powder coating involves spraying dry paint powder with an electrostatic gun to produce an extremely premium and durable finish.
- Doors of Steel with Material Finish: Steel door and window frames that can mimic natural materials like wood and stone are now available in the market.
Doors made of stainless steel are typically left exposed without any external finishes as they have good weather resistance and a naturally aesthetic finish.
Benefits of Steel Doors
Some of the advantages offered by doors made of steel are:
- Strength: These doors have extremely high strength and can bear large loads, especially when compared to uPVC doors. Minimal frame sizes and thicknesses are required to span large openings.
- Security: Mild steel as well as stainless steel security doors are extremely difficult to break through, providing optimal security in homes, commercial buildings and industries.
- Fire-Resistance: Although doors of steel are not fireproof doors, they can be made fire-resistant by applying special coatings or including insulating layers like rockwool and foam.
- Affordability: Although more expensive than uPVC doors, doors made of steel are much more cost-effective than wood and aluminium doors, making them ideal for low-budget building projects.
Limitations of Steel Doors
Some of the issues commonly faced while using doors of steel are:
- Requires Frequent Maintenance: These doors are vulnerable to rust, especially in regions with warm and humid climates. They require frequent recoatings of paint or polish to prevent this.
- Thermal Insulation and Conductivity: Metal doors are extremely good conductors of heat, unless they include special insulating layers and/or good sealing. Therefore, their use can lead to an increased heat exchange between indoor and outdoor spaces, reducing the energy efficiency of mechanical ventilation systems.
- Limited Customisability: While wood doors can be cut and sanded on-site to fit the available openings, steel doors and windows do not offer this flexibility. It is also much harder to shape them into organic shapes like arches and curves, making such elements expensive when required.
- Prone to Damage: Doors of steel can get scratched or dented easily upon impact, and these issues may be difficult to repair, thus making such doors unsuitable for very rough usage.
Steel Doors Price
The steel door price varies widely based on factors like type of steel used, frame size, panel type, finish, brand, quality, location and market trends. However, some of the common prices quoted by reputed steel doors suppliers in India currently are:
- Steel Hinged Door: ₹400 – ₹800/ sq ft (steel frames with steel sheet panels) and ₹500 – ₹1200/ sq ft (steel frames with glass panels)
- Steel Sliding Door: ₹600 – ₹1500/ sq ft (with complete 6-10mm glass panels and steel frames)
- Steel Sliding Folding Door: ₹900 – ₹2500/ sq ft (with complete 6-15mm glass panels and steel frames)
- Steel Collapsible Door: ₹450 – ₹900/ sq ft
- Steel Rolling Shutter: ₹400 – ₹800/ sq ft (for standard designs)
- Steel Grill Door: ₹600 – ₹1000/ sq ft (for standard designs)
Using Steel Doors in Residential and Commercial Projects
Despite a few limitations, steel doors offer several benefits that make them important components in today’s building industry. Brick & Bolt, a design-build company in India, collaborates with the leading steel doors and windows manufacturers to ensure the best quality and pricing in its projects. End-to-end construction services are provided with the aid of qualified construction professionals, who conduct 470+ quality tests for every project to guarantee premium quality. Reach out to Brick & Bolt today to get a free consultation and the best building materials supply for the construction of your dream residential or commercial project!
Apoorva H P Achar