Choosing the right door for your home has a massive impact on a variety of things you wouldn’t expect. Curb appeal, security, and even your energy usage and comfort, are all tied to the doors you choose to install in your home.
However, the average homeowner probably doesn’t put a lot of thought into the details behind doors. They are fairly mundane on the surface level, after all. So, we’re going to highlight 10 key tips that can help you choose the perfect door for your needs without dedicating too much time to it.
1. Consider Your Budget First
Before we get into tips you likely haven’t thought about, it’s important to state how crucial knowing what your budget is is.
Household doors can range from just a couple hundred dollars for very basic options, all the way into the thousands. Some doors can easily cost more than an older used car.
As you look through this list of tips, consider your needs as a homeowner and your budget, and think of what you can afford to do without or where you might be able to cut corners. If money isn’t an issue, feel free to look for the best of the best.
You’ll find that, if you don’t have this in mind and just look for something that checks off all the boxes perfectly, your new door might end up having a price tag you simply can’t handle.
2. Consider the Visual Theme of Your Home
Every home has a distinct visual theme and architectural design. You might have a contemporary home, a post-modern art spectacle, or a rustic home reminiscent of simpler times. Even the right color choice can completely transform its look and feel, so the door you choose should complement that style.
This is important for curb appeal. If you have a rustic home and install a sleek carbon door in a bold, mismatched color, it creates a visual disconnect that can lower your home’s overall appeal. Imagine French doors, known for their timeless elegance and classic charm, being placed where they don’t belong—it would feel out of place and disrupt the home’s aesthetic. You definitely want to avoid that.
This isn’t a difficult tip to follow, though. Most doors can easily fit in with standard modern home designs, and you don’t have to be a professional designer to understand when something doesn’t fit.
Also read: The Best Interior Door Styles: Choosing the Right Fit for Your Home
3. Choose an Energy-Efficient Door
This is one tip that most homeowners won’t consider. What does a door have to do with your energy bill? Well, it’s a major hole in your home’s insulation.
A modern door made with the right materials seals the opening, keeping your home well-insulated and preventing air from escaping. This means your air conditioner, heating system, or whatever you use for climate control doesn’t have to work as hard to maintain a comfortable temperature. With an energy-efficient door, you not only save energy but also reduce strain on your HVAC system and lower your utility bill.
In contrast, if your door doesn’t insulate well, it will let air in and out, making your HVAC work harder, increasing your energy bill, and wearing out appliances faster. Without proper weatherproofing, doors can cause drafts, leaks, and energy loss. To keep them efficient and durable, here are the top five tips for weatherproofing your exterior doors.
4. Sturdiness is Paramount
This will have to be balanced against a couple of other factors, but you do want to ensure that your home’s doors are as secure as possible. Even the best lock in the world won’t help if the door is made of cheap plywood that can easily be broken around the lock mechanism. A solid door, paired with a reinforced strike plate, adds an extra layer of security, making it much harder for forced entry to succeed.
You want to choose a door that is sturdy, solid, and capable of withstanding would-be threats that aren’t worried about making noise to get into your home.
5. Quality and Durability Are Key Details
Doors aren’t cheap, and you don’t want to have to constantly do upkeep tasks or worry about getting a replacement. So, it’s best to focus on buying something that is high-quality and durable the first time around. If you do, you can have the same door for decades, a lot of the time.
Key factors to consider include resistance to natural elements, durability against damage like gouges and scrapes, and overall longevity under regular use. For example, fiberglass and steel doors are both popular choices, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. Understanding these differences can help you make an informed decision, but above all, prioritizing quality and durability will ensure your door stands the test of time.
6. Compare Multiple Manufacturers and Retailers
When searching for the perfect door, don’t settle for the first option you come across. Instead, explore multiple manufacturers and retailers to compare prices, materials, and available styles. This allows you to find high-quality doors at the best price while also considering post-purchase benefits such as warranties, customer service, and installation services.
7. Choose a Source with a Wide Variety of Inventory
When you do find a good source, you want to make sure they have plenty to offer. Your personal tastes, trying to get as many of the positive aspects on this list, and being able to stay within budget all depend on it.
Your source should have a wide variety of doors available with customization options to help you make the right choice instead of bending your choice to what the retailer or manufacturer offers with a limited selection.
8. Consider Post-Transaction Perks
This isn’t the most important factor, but it is definitely something to consider. After you find a great door, you want to make sure that the company you buy from offers some convenient services and stands by their product.
Look for guarantees and warranties, whether or not installation services are offered, and similar perks.
9. Do Your Research
Before you start looking at doors, one of the best things you can do is turn to blog posts and online guides to help you see what other homeowners are doing. See what the latest trends are, what the market looks like, and hear about the experiences of others to help you make your decision.
10. Buy Online
Finally, while you should definitely check out your local retailers if that’s an option, there are some major advantages to buying your door online. You get access to companies around the world with dramatically different inventories and prices, unique perks, and more.
Find the Right Doors for Your Home with Door Digest
If you’re looking for the right doors for your home, following these 10 tips is going to give you a great foundation to base your decision on. However, there are plenty of other details to look at, and you’re invited to Door Digest for all the information you need to choose the right door for your home.
