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Types of Doors – An Overview

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Door Material and Style Options

What's inside this article...

  • Door Material and Style Options
    • Energy Efficiency
    • Interior Doors vs. Exterior Doors
    • Door Styles
    • Adding and Installing a Dead-bolt Lock to Your Front Door
    • Dead-bolt locks come in two types: single-cylinder and double-cylinder.
      • Single-cylinder
      • Double-cylinder
      • Installation needs
      • Tools needed

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:

glass doorPanel 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.

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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.

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colorful door styles

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.

Filed Under: Tips

Comments

  1. Peter Buschman says

    June 29, 2020 at 6:15 pm

    My brother is almost done with his new home and he is looking for door solutions now. I didn’t know that hollow metal doors have a mineral or cement boards added as a core. I will let my brother know about this type of doors and how this could be a solution for him.

    Reply
  2. Levi Armstrong says

    August 17, 2020 at 2:35 pm

    I agree with what you said that it’s important to factor in energy-efficiency and security when choosing a door for your home, which is why my husband and I have been having a hard time deciding on what we’re going to replace our front door with. Hopefully, the door replacement service we’ll hire can help us figure out the perfect replacement door. I just have to start looking for reputable services online later. Thanks!

    Reply
  3. Carl Green says

    August 27, 2020 at 11:05 pm

    It’s good to learn that you should consider adding a flush door if you have a modern home. My wife and I are wanting to renovate our home and we were wondering what kind of door we should get for a modern interior. I’ll be sure to tell her that we should consider adding a flush door to our interior.

    Reply
  4. Megan Alder says

    September 17, 2020 at 4:30 pm

    My husband owns a commercial building, and we want to remodel it to start a business, but we are looking for advice. It’s interesting to know that the most common commercial doors are the glass pane doors. I will make sure that we start looking for a commercial door installation company so we can start remodeling the building’s door.

    Reply
  5. Tyler Johnson says

    September 29, 2020 at 4:15 pm

    I like the sound of those glass doors for a new front door. That sounds like a good way to let a lot more light into the house, which would be nice since I feel like my house is always too dark. I’ll make sure to keep that in mind if I decide to replace my old door with a more efficient one.

    Reply
  6. Zachary Tomlinson says

    October 22, 2020 at 12:03 pm

    One of my relatives is looking for ideas on how he could improve his home’s exteriors. I find it interesting that an entry door could be made out of various materials, such as ones made using wood or sheet metal. I’ll share this with him and suggest that he consider starting his project by replacing its doors.

    Reply

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