I recently had some double glazing companies around my house. Yes I actually contacted three firms and asked to make an appointment for them to visit me and give me a quote. The idea of living in my home through yet another winter with no double glazing galvanized me into this drastic action. As luck would have it, they were all personable and none of them gave the hard sell. What I felt though, at the end of the process was a distinct feeling of dissatisfaction. On particular question from me it seemed I sent each one of these double glazing representatives into a flap. What options do you have to individualize my front door? None of them had any options to show me. Is an individualized front door question that surprising?
What I wanted was the option to incorporate the old with the new, and create my own style. My question was whether it would be possible to incorporate lead lighting within the design of the front door. Leadlighting evolved to meet the practicalities of domestic architecture. Large sheets of glass were not available for many centuries. This limitation resulted in all medieval dwellings being built with small windows. Front doors would always be made of solid hard wood. If the family was relatively affluent they may have been able to afford broad glass. This early glass is 1.5 to 2 mm thick and uneven. Coupled with the irregularity the glass also contained scars, blemishes and greenish tints where it had been flattened out by the glass making process.
Leadlight windows are created with the combination of small pieces of glass and lead cames. A came being a strip of lead that acts as a divider bar. This divider bar is generally formed into an H shape, in cross section. As domestic glazing was traditionally constructed of quarries, these consist of pieces of glass cut into either, squares, rectangles or circles. Most commonly they comprised of glass shaped into diamonds. The diamond shape provided a stronger structure then the former shapes. This shape also provided the glazier with less potential wastage, as a diamond shape is easier to cut out of a crown of glass than any other. These practical considerations have resulted in the archetypal early European architectural look for domestic properties which have survived. The style, diaper shaped leadlighting is very distinctive.
As professionals in selling front doors and glazing I honestly thought that they would have a wealth of knowledge about the subject. I find the history of domestic design a fascinating subject and strongly feel that any use of the old, for example, incorporating diaper patterned glazing into your front door, should be done for a reason. I did some research to find out for myself what was available. I looked on the internet and it didn’t take long to discover this excellent front door site that did just this. I also allowed for personal choice and the mix and match approach I wanted so much to be given access to to personalise my front door.
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