Your home's
exterior is the first feature your guests see and the front door says a lot
about your home’s particular style. Its finish and material gives visitors
their first glimpse into your taste. It’s practically impossible to rectify a
bad impression made at the front door.
Tract-home
builders have known this for years; even in the cheapest house, they’ll never
cut corners on the front door. They know that a strong impression of quality
here subtly colors a visitor’s perception of the whole house.
There are lots of subtle ways to demarcate a front entrance.
Another
traditional strategy places the door in a recess, on a projection, or under a
roofed porch.
An entryway is
the focal point of a home's facade and the front door, its most prized asset.
Dressed with a
fine lockset and handsome knocker, the door extends a friendly welcome while
also discouraging intruders and shutting out the weather.
Entry doors must
be tough enough to withstand wind, rain, scorching sun, and would-be intruders,
yet handsome enough to make a good first impression.
It's the first
thing we grab when we arrive and the last thing we touch when we leave. So it's
easy to understand why many of us still like our doors to be made of wood.
Nothing else matches that material's warmth and satisfying weight or offers so
many design options. Steel doors are stamped; fiberglass pops out of a mold.
But a wood door can be custom crafted in virtually any shape or size and
incorporate whatever molding profiles, panel configurations, glazing options,
or carvings that you please.
Is a Wood Door Right for You?
Is it
protected from rain?
A wood door holds
up best, and requires less maintenance, in a covered entryway. To be effective,
that roof should project at least half the height of the door, including its
sill and any overhead windows, such as the transom shown on the right. If the
roof is 10 feet above the door's landing, for example, it should project 5
feet. Also, the roof's width should be at least 1½ times the door’s width.
Is it
exposed to the sun?
Doors that bake
in the sun for more than 4 hours a day will quickly lose their looks without
routine care. Clear-coated doors must be recoated every one to two years, and
painted ones require a fresh coat every five to six years.
Is the
sill high enough?
It should clear a
porch landing by 4 to 6 inches to prevent built-up snow or pooled rainwater
from causing rot.
Is fire a
concern?
Check your local
building codes, particularly if you live in a place prone to wildfires. A few
doors are rated to withstand 60-minute infernos.
How cold
does it get?
Standard
1¾-inch-thick wood doors have an R-value of about 2.5, close to that of a
double-pane window. That's far lower than a foam-filled fiberglass or steel
door, but with tight weather stripping you can boost its ability to stop air
infiltration.
Talk Like a Pro When it comes to your Door
- Width comes first. Give your door dimensions in feet and inches; first the width, then the height.
- Use the lingo. A door 3 feet wide by 6 feet 8 inches tall, the most common size, is called a "three-oh, six-eight."
- Know your right from left. Doors, like people, come left-handed and right-handed. A right-hand door has its hinges on the right side when you look at it from the outside. A left-hand door has its hinges on the left.
What is the First Impression from each of these doors?
