Door Material and Style Options

Doors can be both functional and stylish, but should be efficient as well. Becoming familiar with your options types of materials will help you select the best door for your home.

The doors a homeowner selects are not just the entry to a home, but can be the finishing touch to compliment the entire home’s decor.

But, keep in mind that good looks are not the only thing that matter. Security and energy-efficiency are important as well. There are many different styles of doors to pick from and most doors fall into five main categories:

Panel Doors: wood panels held in place by wood stiles and rails, made from solid wood, plywood, metal, or glass.

Solid Core Doors: solid lumber core, compressed wood fiber core, or rigid foam board laminated to plywood or metal facing.

Hollow Metal Insulated Doors: shop fabricated and welded sheet metal, mineral or cement board usually added as a core.

Hollow Core Wood Doors: plywood or press board face and honeycomb wood or paper interior core (interior use only).

Glass Pane Doors: these doors are often metal with glass and are more often found in commercial settings, but are making their way into residential housing more and more.

Energy Efficiency

Since homes have several doors to enter and exit, efficiency of these doors is important. Existing doors can be made more efficient by weatherstripping. Weatherstrips have to be made of flexible material in order to seal securely, usually designed for do-it-yourselfers. Some types of weatherstrips are spring metal strips, tube weatherstrips, felt strips, foam strips, and plastic strips.

Interior Doors vs. Exterior Doors

To determine if an exterior or interior door is needed, the homeowner should ask themselves this: Does the door either lead to the outside of the house or need to be weather tight? If the answer is yes, the homeowner should select an exterior door.

Exterior doors are made with seals and gaskets so that cold air and other extreme weather are kept outside the house or building. These types of doors are also thicker than interior doors which is why commercial door repair can be very expensive. If the door in question will go only between heated rooms, closets, or other spaces indoors, an interior door would be appropriate. If an interior door can be used it is generally better to do so since exterior doors are more expensive due to their thickness and extra elements to keep the cold out.

Door Styles

After determining what type of door is needed, the style of the door needs to be selected. Traditionally, six panel pine doors are the most common doors. Hollow core doors have become more popular in the recent years due to their cheaper cost and likeness to pine doors. A more modern home might be appropriate with a flush door.

Adding and Installing a Dead-bolt Lock to Your Front Door

Dead-bolt locks are a great low-cost, simple theft prevention device. Here’s what to look for in a good lock and how to install one in your front door.

Dead-bolt locks are a quick, cheap way to increase the security of your home. Studies have shown they are very effective. The National Crime Prevention Institute says intruders tend to give up and move on if they can’t break-in within 60 seconds. Common door knob locks are easily forced open, and the angled latch makes them easy to pick with anything flat such as a credit card. Dead-bolts are much tougher.

Dead-bolt locks come in two types: single-cylinder and double-cylinder.

Single-cylinder

Single-cylinder dead-bolts are most common. They are the type that require keyed entry from outside the door, but open with a lever on the inside. These locks are more convenient and quicker to open than double-cylinder, but offer less protection.

Double-cylinder

Double-cylinder dead-bolts must be unlocked with a key from either side of the door. No handle, just hole. These locks are more secure than single-cylinder, but take more time to open from the inside of the house. Some experts don’t recommend installing double-cylinder locks on the front door because of the time it takes to escape from a fire or other emergency.

Installation needs

Have faith in yourself, for installing a dead-bolt is a fairly easy job. The job should only take about one hour.

Tools needed

1. wood chisel
2. utility knife
3. drill

To install a dead-bolt into a front door you will need to know how to drill and assemble the parts. You will need to drill two holes into your door, chisel out a mortise and assemble the lock pieces. The lock you purchase should come with step-by-step installation instructions.