Top Features to Look for When Purchasing a Front Door

It may be a bit of a bummer to realize you need to replace your front door, but it can actually be pretty fun to pick out your new one. 

In fact, buying a new door gives you a chance to upgrade the appearance and curb appeal of your house, and it also gives you the chance to improve your home’s security and energy efficiency. It can even help increase your overall home value.

But you don’t want to just rush into this decision – you need to think carefully about your new door to ensure you get one that is well-suited for your home and needs. We’ll help you do exactly that below, by sharing a few of the most important things to consider. 

Features to Consider When Purchasing a Front Door

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While front doors may seem simple, there are actually a number of things you’ll want to think about when making your choice. A few of the most important features to consider include:

Materials

Often, the best place to start your search for a new front door is by deciding what material you’d like the door made from. There are a variety of options on the market, and each provides a different slate of pros and cons.

• Wood: One of the first materials used to build front doors, wood remains a common and popular front door material. Classic, attractive, and available in an array of colors, wood doors offer a ton of benefits, but they do require proper finishing and maintenance to prevent warping or rot.
• Fiberglass: Fiberglass is a fantastic material for making front doors, as it is lightweight and remarkably durable. Fiberglass doors also require very little maintenance, can be made from eco-friendly materials, and provide great insulation. As a bonus, they often look remarkably similar to wood doors. 
• Metal: Metal doors do offer a few benefits, including moisture resistance and increased security. However, they may rust or accumulate dents over time. They can also be less attractive than wood or fiberglass doors, and they don’t fit with all home styles. 

Some doors also feature quite a bit of glass, but glass is rarely used to create the structural framework of the door. Instead, glass is usually incorporated into a door made of wood or fiberglass. We’ll discuss glass door features more below. 

Energy Efficiency

Though it is often at the bottom of a homeowner’s list of “must haves,” energy efficiency is an important factor to consider when picking out a front door. In fact, front doors are often considered one of the most influential (and often overlooked) sources of heat loss in homes. 

Any high-quality, solid-core door will help prevent heat loss (or the opposite during the summer). However, fiberglass doors provide unparalleled energy efficiency. According to a report by the State of Illinois, a solid-core fiberglass door may provide as much as five times the insulating value of a similarly sized wood door. 

Style

While there are no rules regarding the style of door that will work best for your home, there are some guidelines that you’ll want to consider. Especially if you’re interested in increasing your home’s curb appeal. 

For example, it’s generally wise to select a front door that suits your home’s architectural style. If you have a craftsman home, you probably want to opt for a three-panel door, ideally with a small window at the top. A three-panel door would also pair nicely with a Georgian home, but you may want to opt for side windows or a decorative crown window. 

On the other hand, contemporary homes often look wonderful with modern door designs, featuring things like horizontal glass windows.  

Durability

A front door can be a significant investment, so it makes sense to select one that is well built and likely to look good well into the future. There are essentially three things that factor into a door’s durability:

• Material: Wood, metal, and fiberglass doors can all be durable, but they tend to be durable in different ways. For example, poorly finished wooden doors may be susceptible to rot, while metal doors may become dented or rust. Fiberglass doors do tend to be the most durable of the three options, though they can crack if impacted severely. 
• Finish: Wood and fiberglass doors are typically finished with some type of paint, stain, or sealant before installation (though they may be sold in unfinished form), which helps to protect them from moisture, abrasion, and UV rays. Just be sure that the finish you select (or apply yourself) is of high quality, so that it will protect your doors for many years.
• Overall Quality: Simply put, doors that are mass produced in assembly-line fashion are almost never as durable as doors that are made by skilled craftsmen and craftswomen. Additionally, the most durable doors tend to be manufactured in the United States, while doors hailing from Asia are typically not very durable at all.  

Maintenance

All doors will require some level of on-going maintenance, but the amount of time and effort you’ll have to put in will vary from one model to the next. Generally speaking, a door’s maintenance requirements will primarily vary based on the materials a door is made from and the amount of glass and hardware included. 

Fiberglass doors require relatively little maintenance; simply hose them down from time to time to wash off the dirt. Wood doors, on the other hand, do require regular upkeep, as they not only need to be washed from time to time like fiberglass doors, but they also need to be refinished periodically. 

Door hardware doesn’t usually need to be washed, per se, but you may need to dust it regularly or knock off the occasional cobweb. Glass on the other hand, will require regular cleaning. So, be sure to factor this in when selecting a door – if you don’t want to break out the squeegee every few weeks, opt for a door without much glass. 

Color

The color of your door is another important decision you’ll need to make, but as when choosing the style, there aren’t many hard and fast rules you’ll have to follow. 

Instead, you’ll primarily want to consider your aesthetic tastes and the way the color you choose will fit in with your neighborhood – you probably don’t want to select a color that’ll stick out like a sore thumb. 

There are a few other things you’ll want to consider, such as the way the color will absorb or reflect light. If you live in a warm area, you probably don’t want to select a very dark color, as it will tend to heat up in the summer sun. Conversely, it may be a great idea to opt for a dark color if you live in the north. 

Finally, it’s always a good idea to consider the way your color choice will affect your home’s curb appeal. According to Zillow, black and blue shades tend to increase a home’s value, while pink reduces the amount a potential buyer may be willing to spend by more than $1,500. 

Cost

As with most other major purchases you’ll make, the cost of your front door should figure into your buying decision. However, a high-quality front door will likely last for decades, and it will have a large impact on your home’s aesthetics, functionality, and value. So, it is wiser to focus on value than simply the number on the price tag. 

So, while you probably shouldn’t spend thousands more than you can afford to spend on your door, it’s generally not wise to worry about saving every penny possible. As long as the door you select is priced similarly to comparable models, you’ll likely be happy spending a little more to obtain the highest quality door possible. 

Choose a Knocety Front Door and Get the Value You Deserve

No matter which features you ultimately decide are right for your front door, it is critical that you purchase it from a high-quality manufacturer like Knockety. Each one of our doors is painstakingly made by hand, right inside our US-based facilities.

Take a look at our inventory of front doors and start finding one that perfectly suits your needs!