The front door of a house is bound to make an impression on people. As the gateway between the inside and the outside of the house, it prepares people for the home’s interior.
If the door is less than esthetically pleasing, if it has a cracked light or splinters or is badly painted, it will no doubt affect the way the guest views the inside of the house. It might even affect the home’s resale value, at least in the mind of a potential buyer.
Therefore, it’s in the homeowner’s best interest to make sure that the door is as presentable as the rest of the house. Here are five common styles of front doors:
First Style: Basic
Panel doors are familiar doors with stiles and rails, the first vertical and the second horizontal. In between them are panels, which can be either flat, recessed or raised.
Flush doors are made of veneers that are attached to a hollow or solid core. They can be absolutely plain, with no decoration of any type, but this doesn’t present the most pleasing front entrance. Both flush and panel doors can have lights, which are simply panes of glass set into them.
They can also have transoms, which are lights set at the top of the door or above the door.
Second Style: Double Doors With Sidelights
These are two doors arranged side by side. Both are edged with sidelights. The doors themselves can also be fit with lights.
The lights, whether set in the door or in the side panels, can be beautifully decorated with stained, etched, leaded or pebble glass.
Third Style: French Doors With Transom
These doors are also called French windows. They have multiple muntins, which are strips of wood fitted with individual pieces of glass. The transom can be plain, but like sidelights they can be decorated with different types of glazing.
They can also be arched and in some doors the arch connects with the sidelights to add a dramatic touch to the door. Some transoms are able to be opened while some are fixed.
Fourth Style: Sliding Doors
Very modern homes sometimes have sliding doors as front entryways. These are made of two door panels of tempered glass encased in a frame of wood, aluminum or vinyl. They too can have sidelights and transoms.
Fifth Style: Dutch Doors
Dutch doors are good for country houses. They are split horizontally and the two halves can open and close independently.
Doors can be bought at home centers and lumberyards, but these doors are rather boilerplate and can be uninspiring. Some people go to salvage yards and fall in love with a vintage door.
These doors, while attractive, can have all kinds of problems like leaks and an inability to be properly hung. For a truly great looking entrance, a homeowner might go to a door specialist.
A door specialist can let a homeowner know how the door is built, what kind of joinery will be used and what kind of finish and care the door will need. The door maker will also need to know pedestrian things like how thick the wall is, which way the door will open and what kind of hinges and hardware it will need.
Remember, an exterior door not only needs to be welcoming, but it needs to be tough as well.
Ted Goodfellow has worked as a handyman for the past 9 years. To check out information and a great selection of front doors for your home, visit www.Doors4Home.com.
