An elegant installation of heritage internal doors manufactured by Aluco and installed by our long-standing partner, Thames Valley Window Company Ltd. This detached house in Cobham has been extensively renovated and improved creating spacious interiors and light-filled rooms, thanks to the slimline aluminium and quality glass behind every Aluco internal door.
Expertly manufactured from our bespoke our internal door collection, the project comprises a selection of single doors, French doors and French doors with side panels. All manufactured by us, from premium grade aluminium and the finest colour finishes. They now separate the hall from the gym, the study, the living room and the dining area. Each opening still closes, latches and locks where it needs to. What has gone is the solid wall.
The proportions come from the steel doors and screens of the 1920s and the Art Deco period, when slim sections and large panes were used to carry daylight deep into a plan. That is the discipline behind the Internal Collection. Slim aluminium sections, generous glass, 25mm glazing bars, and nothing on the frame that does not need to be there.
Heritage internal doors through a Surrey ground floor
The largest element is the full height screen at the end of the hall, opening into the dining area. A pair of doors sits centrally, with fixed side screens either side and a transom light running the full width above.
Because the screen is made as a single assembly rather than a door with panels added around it, the vertical lines run through from floor to ceiling and the transoms also beautifully line through the entire door and screen set.
Elsewhere in this installation are single and double doors connecting other rooms, within plastered and lined openings. Single doors serve the study and the route through to the kitchen and dining space. A further full height screen carries a single door on the study side, with the lounge visible beyond it. Every leaf in the house shares the same glazing bar arrangement and the same rail heights.
Handles are Black Maya levers throughout, on colour-matched black hinges, so the ironmongery reads as part of the frame rather than as something added to it. The door handles, operate standard door latches with no additional locking required.
All doors have zero thresholds allowing the floors to continue from room to room with no visible step.
A bespoke glazed wine cellar under the stairs
The detail that shows what our Aluco internal system can achieve, is not a door in the conventional sense. Under the main flight, the void has been turned into a glazed wine cellar, enclosed by a bespoke Aluco assembly cut to the rake of the staircase.
Completeuy bespoke we drew and created a sloped door and screen set. This is designed so the bars align with the run of the stair. Getting that right is a survey and fabrication exercise before it is anything else.
A raked frame has no square corner to work from, the glass to size.
This wine store screen has thicker transoms, in the same RAL 9005 matt black finish and the same handles as the doors around it, so the cellar looks part of teh project rather than a separate entity. This is work we do regularly. Alongside our internal and external ranges, we make bespoke pieces such as wine cellar doors, understairs enclosures and shower screens, drawn to the opening rather than adapted to it.
Why heritage internal doors need a purpose made internal system
A good deal of what is sold as steel look glazing in the UK is an external door system with the weather seals taken out. It works, but it carries the section depth, the drainage details and the frame bulk of a product designed to keep rain out of a building. Indoors, that bulk is in the way.
The Aluco Internal Collection is designed as an internal system from the start. The sections are solid chambered aluminium extrusion, welded by hand at the corners rather than mechanically jointed, then dressed and powder-coated. The result is a continuous frame face with no visible joint at the corner, which is the detail that separates a purpose-made heritage door from a converted one.
Glazing here is clear laminated safety glass, single glazed. Internally there is no thermal requirement to satisfy, so a second pane would only add weight and force a deeper section. Single glazing keeps the sightlines tight and the leaves light on their hinges, while laminated glass gives the safety performance these locations require.
Heritage internal doors made in the UK, made to the opening
Every Aluco door, screen and bespoke assembly is made to order in the UK.
The wider renovation also included black flush casement aluminium windows, slimline sliding doors to the garden and a Pirnar entrance door, all specified in the same matt black so the interior and exterior read as one decision.
Aluco products are available only through our approved installer network. If you are considering heritage internal doors in Surrey, or a bespoke piece such as a wine cellar or under stair enclosure, speak to your nearest approved installer about survey, specification and lead times.
Project details
Location: Cobham, Surrey
Property: Tudor style detached house, fully renovated
Products used: Aluco Internal Collection heritage steel look internal doors. Several doorsets comprising single doors, double doors and doors with fixed screening, plus a bespoke glazed under stair wine cellar enclosure
Glazing bars: 25mm
Glazing: Clear laminated single glazing
Colour: RAL 9005 Matt Black, powder-coated finish
Ironmongery: Black Maya lever handles, colour-matched black hinges
Supplied and installed by Thames Valley Window Company Ltd, our Approved Aluco Installer for Surrey.
