Changing the Gate and Door

The door and gate are the first impressions which greet any visitors to our house and a stylish and modern door and gate would surely whet the appetite of what is to come behind the closed door and gates. For us, we didn't want to retain the passe looking doors and we loved the doors that we saw in many private apartments and wondered to ourselves how come that was a rarity within HDB flats. We felt that doors and gates are like accessories to a house and give the house a 'wow' factor.For us, it would be difficult to call one's home modern comtemporary when there is an unsightly HDB wooden door smack in the middle which would break the seamless decor theme of the house.

MAIN DOOR

ORIGINAL MAIN DOOR

NEW MAIN DOOR

To get that modern stylish look, we decided to divert some funds to the purchase of a new main door. However, the standard doors available were not to our liking as they were too traditional with the usual patterned carvings or painted wood design. Thus, we went to a door manufacturer to customise our own door according to our design. We met Jonas from Contat Decor and Transportation who was very friendly and provided good service, explaining to us what went into making a door and showing us all the door parts, material and designs available. Over 3 trips, we discussed with him our requirements and spend time with him discussing the different parts of the main door from the wood lamination to the lockset to the handles etc.

(Above) Chrome and stainless steel pull handle. We chose area of pull handle where we will be grabbing to be in matte finish so that there won't be smudging and fingerprints. The top and ends of the handle where we don't usually touch, we left in chrome to give it a classy look.

We spent about 780 dollars on the entire main door, doorframe and the door parts such as the lockset, handles etc ( we took the more expensive route of equipping the door with YALE branded items instead of cheaper Taiwanese or China sourced locksets for security and reliability ). It was a worthwhile splurge for us as we feel it complements the contemporary modern look of our apartment. You can contact Jonas at 64425270 or email at jonas@contatdecor.com for more details.

For those who are keen on such a door, we have provided the specifications of our main door as follows :
Door material : Single-Leaf solid veneer
Wood type : Fancy Dark Oak 816 ( greyish-light brown coloured )
Standard items : 3 Stainless steel hinges / 1 Magnetic stopper / Installation and Laquer /
1 eye viewer piece
Additional items : 1 set Mah Stainless steel Chrome Plated Door Lock / 1 set Yale 521 Roller Lockcase 60mm / 1 set Yale 70mm T-T anti-drill locking cylinder with 5 anti duplicate keys/
1 set Yale Key Covers / 1 set Chrome/Stainless steel Pull Handles ( 25diameter x 450mm) /
1 piece Etech solid chrome Door Guard ( Below pictured)

(Above)The MAH Door locking knob for the Yale Anti-drill locking cylinder to enable locking and unlocking of the door. Advantage is easy to lock by just twisting knob instead of having to insert key to lock from inside and the door will never slam shut on you with your keys inside the house. However , this means you cannot slam shut the door so you will have to remember to use the key to lock the door when leaving your house. Normal doors will just slam shut.

(Above) Yale 521 Roller Lockcase

In customising a main door, things to consider include :

1)how far the door handle protrudes so that 1)it doesn't clash with the gate handles ( one way is to locate gate and door handles on opposite sides);

2)desired height for mounting of handles and lockset;

3)type of wood grain design in relation to your gate design;

4)whether you will need to build a new door frame so that the new door can fit in;

5) Budget will determine the type of handles and locksets available;

6) Need for a door stopper.

For those who are keen on a large vision eyeviewer where you can view from a distance, a person standing outside the door ,without you having to peer into the eyeviewer, you can contact Jonas. Very quirky and interesting!

MAIN GATE

We changed the HDB aluminium framed gates to galvanized wrought iron ones which are supposedly stronger and better lasting than the usual aluminium gates. Through a recommendation of one of our friend, we sought the services of SPECSMETAL which specialized in quality galvanized wrought iron gates. We liked their strong focus on customising, quality gate parts and prompt service. Their gates are pricier than others but you do get quality products for your money, which is about $550 per gate on average. You can check out their quality focus on http://www.metalfoundry.com.sg/promo.htm

We chose a simple design combo of horizontal bars and wood paneling known as the Zen model. We requested that the gate be sprayed black to blend in with the dark couloured doorframe and main door. We especially like the fact that the gate has padded edges to esnure a quiet and smooth closure of the gates. We also used Gayle's suggestion that the gate be framed as a single piece instead of the conventional 2 piece door design shown below which means that the entrance opening is smaller making entrance more difficult, which does not make sense for HDB flats since HDB entrances are smaller than those in condominiums.In choosing the gate design. we found that adoption of a single piece gate design (see picture of our new gate) which allows for a bigger opening clearance and entrance, enhancing ease of entry through the gate.

ORIGINAL GATE

NEW GATE

As HDB flooring is not level, do note that there will arise a situation where one side of your gate frame will have to be longer than the other side to ensure a straight and level fit. You can see closely that our corridor flooring is not level. This is a HDB design that allows water along the corridor to flow down to the drainage gutter.We also specified that we wanted a clean cut modern straight handles instead of the usual curved patterned designs which are not to our taste. The handles are from VRH, a regional based company well known for their door lock products. The locking system and anti-duplicate keys are sourced from Makoto of Japan.

We specified for horizontal wood panelling (above) on the gate since our main door was slim as vertical lines will make the door look even smaller. If you are changing the main door like us, do look for a gate design and colour that will complement.