What Entry Door Is Right for You?
Your front entry door has a big job. Your entry door must form an airtight seal, resist water, and keep out the cold. At the same time, your front door is the focal point of your home, so it must always impress.
The style and material of your entry door will affect its look, texture, and care. Wood entry doors are still a classic option, but modern technology has made fiberglass, steel, and aluminum-clad doors a common choice due to their low maintenance.
Modern Glass, colors, and materials can turn your front entrance into a work of art. Upgrading your front entry is a great way to show off your creative flair, save energy dollars, and add value to your home. Your front door is the focal point of your home, so investing in its quality is money well spent.
Here, we will offer advice from the pros for selecting your new entry door. We’ll discuss the standard designs and which features you can customize. No matter which options you choose, your new entry door will be designed for maximum performance and durability.
Entry Door Styles
Entry doors keep us safe, dry, and warm. Your front door choices include style, material, color, and even hardware. Some of the best entry doors are clad in weather-resistant material like fiberglass, aluminum, or steel over a wood frame.
Choosing a front door is more fun than it used to be. Today, we have nearly endless design, materials, and functionality choices. The best type of entry door for your home often adds the most curb appeal, energy savings, and durability.
● Single Entry Doors
Single-entry doors are the standard style you’ve always used. Exterior single-entry doors are a minimum of 36″ wide and consistently solid or insulated. Single entry doors can open to the left or right and always open in.
If your home upgrade includes a new exterior, consider a single entry door containing Glass. Glass compliments any exterior material while providing the indoors with natural light.
● Double Entry Doors
As the name suggests, double-entry doors create an opening twice as wide as a single-entry door when opened. Double entry doors are mirror images of each other and are hinged on opposite sides. Many contain Glass as well, taking advantage of the large surface area.
Double entry doors open about 72″ wide, making them handy when moving something significant indoors, like a piano. Double entry doors look great under a transom window, especially if the transom and door have an arch-top design.
● Modern Entry Doors
Modern entry doors use technology that didn’t exist just a decade ago. Modern entry door designs often include Low-E glass, corrosion-resistant hardware, and exteriors that won’t rust or rot.
Modern entry doors often employ a European design, contrasting beautifully with natural exteriors like stacked stone and river stone. European-style entry doors are sleek and elegant and often provide the highest R-value.
● Archtop Doors
An archtop entry door is an attention-getter and a memory maker. Guests may forget what they had for dinner, but they’ll remember the striking appearance of your new door.
An archtop door, paired with Glass and elegant hardware, is unforgettably striking from the inside and the outside.
● Pivot Doors
Pivot doors are a bold statement in elegance and quality. Pivot doors use a slightly offset hinge design to allow for an opening 8″ wider than a standard entry door. Few entry doors are as memorable as a pivot door, so be ready to answer the question: “Where did you get that door?”
Entry Door Colors
Modern technology allows a door shopper to select almost every facet of the door. Whether you choose wood, aluminum, or fiberglass-clad entry doors, your color options might surprise you. Many more colors are available today than just a decade ago.
Front doors take a beating from birds, wind, water, and UV radiation. One of the many benefits of a clad front door is that the door color is made into the material, so no maintenance is required. You can also select a lighter color to reflect heat or a dark color to absorb it.
Entry Door Materials
Most front entry doors are built starting with a high-quality wooden frame. The frame is then insulated and clad with a durable door material like steel, fiberglass, or aluminum. Wood-clad doors are only covered on the exterior, allowing the natural wood to show on the interior.
Wood
High-quality wooden entry doors are made from a variety of hardwoods. Often, these entry doors are designed to be low maintenance but elegant. European designs, including straight lines and plenty of glass, infGlasse many. Often, these entry doors are designed to be low maintenance but elegant.
Fiberglass
Everything from boats to house siding uses fiberglass for its unique qualities. Fiberglass is more resistant to water damage than wood and forms a better thermal insulator than aluminum.
Fiberglass is the best choice when durability, repairability, and stability are the most critical factors. Fiberglass doors are fully insulated and incredibly stable, so they are very resistant to warping.
Aluminum
Aluminum-clad entry doors are made from a wood frame with wood veneer on the inside and durable aluminum on the outside. Aluminum-clad entry doors are the best of both worlds when you want the natural beauty of real wood but not the maintenance.
Steel
Steel-clad doors are the type of entry you’re probably most familiar with. Steel entry doors are cost-effective, energy-efficient, and very durable. Steel entry doors like these are primed from the factory and ready for the paint of your choice.
Entry Door Hardware
Most agree that the hardware on your entry door is as necessary as the color. Glenview Doors in Galt, California, offers today’s latest hardware design, functionality, and performance.
Modern Eurotech features like double key turns and adjustable DIN direction make these doors more secure and fitting. The hinges on Glenview Doors also include an exclusive, heavy-duty patina coating to retain their performance over years of use.
Glenview Doors even offers these performance features in hinges you can’t see. Glenview Doors offers hidden hinges entirely hidden from view but easily accessible and adjustable.
Entry Door Installation
The quality of your new entry door will only be as good as the fit. Doors must prevent drafts, condensation, and water damage to be effective. An effective seal and fit must be established for any new entry door to do its job.
Our best advice is to ensure a trained, licensed professional installs your new entry door. Your warranty may be affected by the quality of the installation, so always get the help of an entry door expert when making those choices.
The Right Entry Door for You
The modern home design uses contrasting colors, styles, and materials. Using help from a pro, you can design an entry door that fits your design and wallet in minutes.
If you’re ready to dive deep into your new entry door design, schedule an appointment with an entry door pro. They’ll help you select the right style, color, and materials to make your new entry door the talk of the neighborhood.
The Window and Door Shop of San Francisco. You can call us at (415) 282-6192, and we can talk to you about the process and what windows might suit your home best. You can also visit our conveniently located showroom at 185 Industrial Street, San Francisco, CA 94124, to discuss your project with our very knowledgeable and friendly team members. The Window and Door Shop of San Francisco is a proud dealer of Marvin and Glenview windows and doors for Northern California.
