When is it appropriate to install an additional door, and when is it unnecessary?

Arguments “for”:

Although I myself am not a fan of paired doors, studying this topic, I saw several arguments in favor of such a solution, which, although not completely, then partly changed my opinion.

Increasing insulating properties

If someone constantly smokes in your entrance, opens windows even in winter or likes to make noise, then the second door is an excellent and even necessary solution.

As experience shows, an additional door significantly increases the insulating characteristics of the doorway. In this case, we are talking about the whole spectrum of possible “irritants”: sounds, temperature changes, drafts, foreign odors.

Improved protection from burglars

If the thief is not an amateur, who spontaneously decided to rob the first apartment he comes across, then before “going to do the job”, he will conduct reconnaissance. First of all, this involves studying the apartment locks and selecting the most suitable tool for them. However, the disadvantage of this approach is inflexibility and unpreparedness to meet unforeseen obstacles. With a high degree of probability, faced with the second door, such a thief will prefer to retreat.

Pay attention! To deter a burglar, the second door should have high-quality locks, not consumer goods, which even an inexperienced criminal can open with any tool at hand. It is also important that the locks on the inner door are different from those installed in the outer door.

The ability to hide the unsightly appearance of the outer door

Many apartment owners, moving into it after purchasing, first of all install a simple unsightly door or leave the option from the developer, which is also usually not famous for either performance characteristics or appearance. Although most often residents plan to replace the door later, in practice this process can, to put it mildly, drag on.

In this case, a good solution may be to install a second high-quality door, which will hide the shortcomings of the outer one and at the same time significantly increase the protection of the house from thieves. As mentioned above, a second door with quality locks often forces a criminal to abandon his plans.

A backup option in case of lost keys

A standard door has two locks, and two doors have four locks. Of course, you can lock each of them, but this is not always convenient. Therefore, many people use only one lock on each door, for example, only the top ones.

The main advantage of this solution is that there is no need to replace all the locks if the keys to them are lost. If this happens, the resident simply switches to other locks.

Arguments “against”:

As I wrote above, installing a second door is a situational decision. Therefore, in addition to the arguments “for”, for the sake of fairness, it is necessary to provide facts “against”.

Extra expenses

First of all, it is necessary to remember that a second door means additional costs and an expansion of the repair budget. A good door is not cheap, and installing a cheap one will not bring any benefit.

Therefore, if you are limited in finances for furnishing your apartment, you may want to abandon this solution in favor of a “standard” single door.

The need for repairs

If the second door is installed at the initial stages of repairs, then there should be no problems with the repairs. However, if such a decision was made later, then you should understand that it is impossible to install another door without damaging the nearby finish.

Such an action will inevitably lead to the need for repeated repairs in this place. It is worth considering that many teams and private craftsmen are not ready to take on a small job by the standards of the whole apartment, considering it unprofitable for themselves.

Everyday inconveniences

Above I wrote that many of those who have two doors installed use only part of the locks, but not everyone does this. The daily need to open and close four or more locks is quite annoying for a person.

If you understand that such a routine process can spoil your mood, then it may make sense to abandon the idea of installing a second door.

Reducing the “working” space of the hallway

Many people rashly believe that when installing a second door, the area of the hallway is reduced by a couple of dozen centimeters, which falls on the distance between the doors. However, keep in mind that the inner door almost always opens inward. As a result, you cannot put furniture, shoes or anything else in the area where it opens. For large apartments, this is not particularly important. However, if you live in a studio or a Khrushchev-era apartment, then the irrational use of even such a small area of the apartment can cause a lot of inconvenience.

To sum up, I would like to note once again that installing a second door is a situational, not a universal solution. Above, I have given 8 arguments “for” and “against”, but the significance of each of them will vary depending on the specific case. Therefore, when making the final choice, it is worth relying on the specific problems that you would like to solve by installing an additional door, while not forgetting to take into account possible disadvantages.