Interview with Pavel Hiršl: Even doors can be a design element

When choosing entrance doors for an apartment or house, several factors come into play. Primarily, functionality and safety are crucial, followed by quality (ideally confirmed by relevant certificates), and increasingly, design is also important for future residents. The variety of surface finishes for security doors is constantly expanding, and while once the options were limited to a few wood decors and RAL colors, today architects and designers have practically free rein. The FunderMax surface allows for custom-made security doors – tailored exactly to the taste of future owners. As a result, even functional elements of a property, such as entrance doors, can serve as a full-fledged design component. We spoke with Pavel Hiršl from SHERLOCK® ASSA ABLOY about what security doors and their manufacturers can offer to architects, designers, developers, and property owners.

What do we need to know first when selecting or recommending entrance doors for a property?
The first distinction is whether the doors will be exposed to external weather influences (rain, snow, intense sunlight) or if they will be entrance doors, for example, from a shared hallway in an apartment building. Based on this, we divide the doors into so-called exterior (outer) and interior in the sense of – inside the building.
Exterior doors are therefore mostly intended for family houses or as entrance doors to apartment buildings. Since they are subjected to various weather conditions, they require waterproof surface treatment.
Interior doors are intended as entry security doors, primarily for apartments. Both types of security doors are equipped with special insulation and internal filling, which improve their thermal insulation properties, prevent heat transfer, potential smoke infiltration, and simultaneously dampen noise.


What differentiates security doors from regular ones?
The fact that thieves, as well as fire, need much more time to overcome them. For example, quality security doors can withstand fire for up to an hour. This is sufficient time for firefighters to arrive. Security doors better protect the residents of the property and their possessions. By the way – doors need to manage everyday use as well as resisting thieves or fire. An average family of four opens and closes the entrance doors more than 20 times a day, which means approximately 200,000 times over 25 years. Quality security doors can withstand this pressure as well.

Why is that? Is there a difference in the construction of the doors?
Yes. The main component of security doors is a hand-crafted solid steel structure, filled with longitudinal and transverse steel reinforcements welded into a sturdy skeleton. Another element is the locking points. These prevent the doors from being pried open. Security fittings with overlays protect the security cylinder from being pulled out, broken, or drilled. We supply security doors in a set with a security frame. Our experts will anchor and cement it into the wall for you. To maximize home protection, we recommend that the installation of security doors be done by a certified company. Because if you buy quality doors but use only PUR foam for their fixation, their resistance will be drastically reduced.

For architects, designers, and especially for customers, the look of the doors is important. What options are available when choosing a design?
Security doors currently also serve an aesthetic function. For interior security doors, we offer a wide selection of surface finishes and color variations. Choices include laminate, veneer, a color range of RAL, or the FunderMax surface. Moreover, each side can be different. From the side of common areas – for example, from the hallway - they can match the doors of neighbors, and from the side of the apartment, they can be fully adapted to the owner’s taste. The doors can be complemented according to the customer's preferences with various frames and decorative strips, which are especially sought after in historic buildings or older brick apartment blocks. They can also be equipped with security skylights, allowing more natural light into the interior. They are an aesthetic and functional element while also fulfilling security criteria.


SHERLOCK® offers security doors with a FunderMax surface. This is more commonly known from the furniture industry. Why did you start using it in door production?
The FunderMax surface is extremely resistant to abrasion, scratching, chemicals, and weather influences. Thus, the doors will retain the same appearance and shade for decades. The door surface also meets aesthetic requirements. In our offering, you will find security doors in modern lacquered white, marble imitation, with a bronze sheen, up to various geometric patterns or textures. We can also create completely personalized doors – based on a photograph or visualization provided by the architect or customer. This offers practically unlimited possibilities for architects or property owners when designing their appearance. The special surface has another unique property: whether matte or glossy, it does not show visible fingerprints.

Are there any dimensional limitations?
In principle, no. We can accommodate the customer and manufacture doors to size. Both in terms of dimensions, security levels, and surface treatments. The hand-crafted solid steel structure, which forms the skeleton of SHERLOCK® security doors, can also adapt to atypical dimensions of door openings. The security frame is also made to measure, adjusting to uneven walls. If a client decides to renovate their home during the lifespan of the doors, there is no problem. The frames are universal, so the doors can be easily shortened by up to 3 cm or replaced with others, for example, from a higher security class.

In the Czech Republic and Slovakia, you have supplied security doors and frames for residential projects. What are today's owners' or developers' requirements?
People want to live more securely. Durable security doors are already a standard. Examples include residential projects such as Javorová čtvrť, Polyfunctional Building Českomoravská, Nová Michle, Ekorezidence Hodkovičky, and Rezidence U Radnice. For these projects, we manufactured and supplied nearly 800 sets of security doors. We offer developers and construction companies comprehensive door supply – from exterior entrance doors, including systems for their opening from individual apartments, to basement and residential security frames and doors. What is really good news? That even in the Czech Republic, the number of property owners who, in addition to price, also consider quality is growing – at least for security doors.

More information at www.sherlock.cz.