What makes a good entry door

You will occasionally have to refinish or repaint a wood front door. From naturally energy-efficient wood panels to durable fiberglass and steel panels, there are many benefits of a new front door , such as dependable performance and inspired designs. Each material type has its own set of benefits to help complement your home.

Wood front doors are made from a naturally energy-efficient material and provide a classic feel for the entrance to your home. Pella wood front doors are made with an ethically sourced, sustainable mahogany frame. The front door panel floats in the frame, which allows the door to adjust to outside weather extremes. Choose the warm elegance of a Mahogany or stunning Rustic Walnut front door panel.

Choose from solid-panel or wood front doors with glass for the perfect look for your home. Wood front doors offer the most personalization options — if you can dream it, we can build it. You can choose from a Mahogany-grain, Oak-grain, Fir-grain or smooth fiberglass panel.

Grained fiberglass has the warm, rich look of wood without the maintenance requirements, at a more budget friendly price. Panels are installed with a composite frame, which is a low-maintenance option to help protect your home from drafts and leaks while providing exceptional energy efficiency. With the choice of solid panels or panels with glass , you can create a beautiful look for your entryway that will withstand the elements for years to come. The smooth surface creates an even color when painted.

And the steel panels give your home a quality appearance that is easy to maintain. Available in solid panels, steel front doors add design intrigue to your home while maintaining a maximum level of privacy.

Steel front doors come with an innovative and low-maintenance frame system that is rot resistant and provides years of exceptional energy efficiency and performance. Front doors with glass are made from wood and fiberglass. Allow natural light into your home while creating drama.

Pella front doors are available in a variety of obscured glass options, allowing you to find the right balance of light and privacy for your home. Low-E insulating glass comes standard on all glass-paneled Pella entry doors, providing thermal protection for exceptional energy efficiency. With effective insulation from both heat and cold, a Pella glass-paneled entry door is a great choice for all climates.

Upgrade to beautiful decorative glass choices for a touch of personal style or added privacy. To determine which front door material is best for you, determine which factors are the most important to your home and compare how each material performs. Fiberglass and steel front doors will require the least amount of maintenance, while wood front doors will require maintenance from time to time.

Each material and its frame system has been optimized to help make your home more comfortable. If you desire a front door with a glass panel, choose a wood or fiberglass front door. Wood front doors offer the most options for personalization, while steel front doors offer the least options for personalization.

No matter what material you choose — wood, fiberglass or steel — you can trust in a Pella front door. They are the 1 preferred entry door brand by homeowners. Emily Grant is a marketing copywriter with several years of experience communicating complex window and door ideas in easy-to-understand language. She graduated from Iowa State University in , where she studied Marketing with an emphasis in Branding. Emily started her career as an intern at Pella Corporation before joining the team full-time after graduation.

In her free time, Emily enjoys spending time with friends and family, traveling and searching for the best coffee shop. The entrance of your house sets the scene for everything to come.

To make sure that you get the right door, there are a few things to keep in mind, so when embarking on an entryway project, there are several things you should consider before you start.

We have highlighted these areas as four key concerns when selecting an entrance door. The safety and security of the property owner or tenant should be your primary aim when selecting an entrance door. Any high-quality entrance door — regardless of the material — is specifically designed to resist impact and to retain its tensile strength even under duress. However, the jamb or frame can rupture around the locking area in the case of trauma, causing the lock to fail.

There are a couple of solutions for ensuring you have the maximum security for your family and home. There are a number of security sliding doors that offer triple locks for added security and are made from extra strong material that will resist any attempts to get through. With this in mind, it is worth investing in a good-quality lock and a new door jamb to prevent forced entry. Robust dead bolts and double-entrance doors for a house can also help to boost security.

With rising energy prices and increasing concern around climate change, an entrance door needs to be as energy efficient as possible. Ensuring that your home is cool in summer and warm in winter reduces excess power consumption and wastage, by minimising how much heat or cool air escapes your living spaces through the front door. Choosing an entry for a property is all about making an impression, so what do you and your family want to achieve?

Perhaps it is a sleek and modern aesthetic that you have envisioned or it is an intricate design with decorative glass that you want. Advances in technology have enabled manufacturers to produce stunning, magnificent and suitably striking models. Wood Provides the high-end look that other materials try to mimic. Pros: Solid-wood doors were best at resisting wear and tear in our tests. They're also the least likely to dent, and scratches are easy to repair.

Cons: Wood doors remain relatively expensive. And they require regular painting or varnishing to look their best. Manufacturers offer dozens of options for panel and glass designs, grille patterns, sidelights, and transoms. The more elaborate the design, the more the door will cost. Here are the door features to consider when shopping. Adjustable Threshold This helps keep any door weather-tight over time.

Otherwise, you may eventually need to add a new sweep to the bottom to seal out rain and drafts. Glass Glass inserts are attractive, but they add to the cost. If you're buying a door with glass near the doorknob or with glass sidelights, consider a double-cylinder dead-bolt lock. You need a key to open this type of lock whether you're inside or outside, so a burglar can't simply break the glass and reach in to open the door.

Some municipalities ban double-cylinder locks since they may make it harder to get out in an emergency; check with your building department, and always leave a key within arm's reach of the interior lock. Glass inserts also cut the door's insulating value, though double- or triple-panel glass reduces that effect.

Rails and Stiles These are the horizontal and vertical parts that brace a wood door. Solid-wood rails and stiles may eventually bow or warp. Look for rails and stiles made of laminated wood covered with veneer, which provides the greatest resistance to warping.

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