Exterior Doors

Things To Think About

The catagory of exterior doors includes entry doors, patio doors, garage doors, storm and screen doors. Sidelites, which are windows installed in association with an entry door unit for design and decorative effects, are also included.

But the exterior doors we will address on this page will be the first three. There will be other pages devoted to storm and screen doors.

Entry Doors

One fundamental difference between exterior entry doors and interior doors is that entry doors are thicker - 1-3/4 in. compared to interior doors, which are normally 1-3/8 in. thick.

Another key difference is that the components of exterior doors are joined with weatherproof glue, while interior doors may be glued with moisture-soluble adhesives. For that reason, an interior door should never be used as an entry door.

Here's more about Entry Doors.

In addition to thickness and weather resistance, exterior doors are distinguished from other types of doors in the decorative features they offer. Style can vary greatly, and there is a tremendous variety of decorative glass inserts to coordinate with virtually any taste or style of home.

These doors also come in a variety of materials. Composite and hardboard doors generally offer good quality and design at economical prices.

Fiberglass doors typically offer superior insulating performance and low maintenance along with appearance characteristics that are virtually indistinguishable from premium wood doors. In fact, wood stains can be applied to the skins of many fiberglass doors to enhance the richness of the wood-grain textures and patterns.

Steel doors are associated with high security, low maintenance and good insulating performance. Many manufacturers offer an assortment of designs that rival classic wood and fiberglass doors in appearance. Wood doors are the traditional favorite, offering good insulating properties and perhaps the widest variety of sizes in classic and traditional designs.

Commonly found manufacturers include: Benchmark; Jeld-Wen; Pella; Stanley Door Systems; and Therma-Tru Systems, just to name a few.

The size of the door (both height and width) will narrow down the search to either custom or stock sizes. Obviously, stock doors will be considerably less expensive. "Top Profile" refers to the shape of the top of the door - you may choose among square and rounded shapes. Rounded tops will be much more expensive.

Number of "Lites" refers to the number of glass panels featured on the door. "Lite Shape" refers to the geometrical characteristic of the glass panel, (e.g., arch-top, oval, radius-top, etc.)

Color/Finish can be selected from pre-finished doors, which are available in a wide variety of colors. Or you can purchase primed or unfinished doors. Of course, wood doors can also be stained.

Exterior Patio Doors

Like exterior entry doors, patio doors are available in a number of different materials, including aluminum, aluminum-clad wood, fiberglass, fiberglass-clad wood, vinyl, vinyl-clad wood and wood.

But patio doors differ from entry doors in several key respects. Patio doors characteristically have full-length glass panels, and they are available in two operating formats - sliding and swinging.

When looking for exterior doors for your patio, make sure that the clear opening is greater than 30". This will make carrying trays and/or food through the opening much easier. In order to get that dimension with sliding doors, you will need a 6-foot wide door.

Andersen, Pella, and Marvin are the 3 most well known manufacturers of exterior patio doors. But good quality can be found with 7 or 8 other manufacturers as well.

There should be a few samples at the store when you shop for exterior doors. Try them out to see which you like best. The manufacturer you choose won't impact the price very much, but the material and style of the door will.

If you want to open up a wall more than 6 feet, you can purchase an assembly of up to 4 doors, totally 12 feet in width. You can specify how many of the doors are to be sliding, and how many are to remain stationary.

In specifying swinging patio doors, you may also specify the shape of the top profile (which refers to the shape of the top of the door unit - square or rounded). And left or right Door Swing, which determines whether the door panels open outward or inward.

Garage Doors are made from a number of different materials, which affect appearance, weatherability and maintenance requirements. There are a number of different styles of garage doors, and most manufacturers offer optional glass inserts for decorative enhancement.

You can further narrow your search by deciding which of the following factors you prefer:

Door Construction refers to the number of layers of material used to fabricate metal and plastic doors, and has implications for rigidity, impact resistance and insulating performance.

For more about garage door insulation, see this page.

Panel Style refers to the appearance of a garage door - whether it resembles a contemporary style sectional door that rolls up on a track or a traditional carriage-house door that is hinged at the sides.

Before buying, think about the Color/Finish of the garage door, and in the case of wood garage doors whether the unit is prefinished, primed or unfinished.

Here are a few other pages about doors:

Interior Doors.

Sliding Patio Doors.

Bi-Fold Closet Doors.

French Doors

Insulation For Exterior Doors.

If you want to discuss any aspect of these exterior doors, click here.

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