designerradiators

French doors are a fantastic feature in any room. They bring in much greater amounts of light to the room and they allow you easy access to the garden. They are certainly one of the more luxurious items in a room.

Unfortunately, they have one significant drawback.  They tend to let in too much cold. In other words, if you take two identical rooms, one with French doors, and one with standard windows, the one with the French doors is likely to be colder.

This means that the room requires more heating. You can buy French doors that have triple glazing and this will help to reduce the amount of heat lost through the doors. You can also add a curtain over the doors. However, the latter option tends to be a poor option because it takes away from the attractiveness of the doors.

Clearly, the solution is to buy a decent radiator that makes up for any losses in heat. In this article, we are going to explore how to choose a radiator for a room that has French doors.

Does the room have space on either side of the doors?

If the room has space on either side of the doors, then the best option for you is to buy two vertical radiators and place them on either side of the door. Not only does this allow you to provide a great amount of heat for the room, but it also creates a beautiful aesthetic. 

It is especially good for use with vertical radiators that have a beautiful appearance – it really makes the doors “pop”. There are so many different vertical radiator options on the market, that you can find some truly exceptional designs that will look fantastic next to French doors.

If the room does not have space on either side of the doors...

However, if the French doors do not have space on either side of the door, you will have no option but to install a radiator somewhere else in the room.  The best place to put radiators is near the window, or door, but if this is not possible, then the next best place is to position them on a north-facing wall or on a wall adjacent to the doors or windows.

In this case, you will need to install horizontal radiators. Horizontal heaters don't necessarily produce a greater amount of heat compared to the vertical heaters, but what they do do is distribute heat much more evenly so that it feels as if they're producing more heat.  The heat is also distributed through the room better and so is much more likely to prevent problems, such as condensation and damp.

An exception to this particular rule is if the French doors are to the extreme side of the room. In other words, the doors do not have any space on one side, but do have a wall to one side (at a 45 degree angle, so a corner).

In these instances, you can place a vertical radiator on one side of the door and a smaller horizontal radiator somewhere else in the room. However, this can often result in bizarre looking interior design. It's great for homes that won't work you look, but if you're looking for something classic, then this isn't something you should consider.

We hope that you have found this article useful.  French doors are often a beautiful feature in the room and the choice of vertical or horizontal radiators can really make a difference in making that feature pop.