How do you know that it is time to replace your front door?\u00a0 It seems now a days that people don\u2019t use their front door as much as they use to.\u00a0 With garage entries and side doors, most of us don\u2019t even think about our front doors. \u00a0The problem is most of us now a days understand that we need to replace our old single-pane, non-energy efficient windows, but most of us don\u2019t consider our doors. \u00a0If your home has a foyer or staircase leading directly to your front door, your heating and cooling are being wasted more than the average home without a foyer.\u00a0Here are 7 ways you can check to see if it\u2019s time for your home to have its old leaky door entry way replaced.<\/p>\n
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If your door is difficult to open and close, it may be time to replace it.\u00a0 When you feel your door sticking in the winter and easy to open and close in the summer, that\u2019s a sure sign of energy rushing out your door.\u00a0 If the hinges are sinking, that\u2019s another issue.\u00a0 But if its sticking into the door jam, your door probably has exposed areas either down the sides or top or bottom where you can see light.\u00a0 Seeing light from the inside or outside without the door being open is a problem.\u00a0 If you take a lighter a couple inches around those edges, pay attention to what the flame does.\u00a0 It will try to move right outside the door. \u00a0This indicates leaking air.<\/p>\n
Dings and rust on a door shows that the structural integrity of the door may be compromised.\u00a0 Most residential doors off the shelf at a home depot or lowes are laminated 24-26 gauge steel on top of a wood frame.\u00a0 This is not a very structurally sound door.\u00a0 These doors barely qualify as a residential door.\u00a0 Think about it like this- you just pull up to your home after spending two hours at the grocery store.\u00a0 After you put your car in park you pop the trunk ready to bring in your groceries.\u00a0 How many trips do you want to take back and forth to your car? Well if youre like me, you have 5 bags going up each arm and both hands full of about 4 other bags.\u00a0 When you get to the door you give it a little kick to open for the end of your grocery crusade and you notice, you just put a big ugly dent in your front door.\u00a0 Does something that dents that easily seem fit to protect your home from someone who really wants to kick it in?\u00a0 If that same door is rusted, you better believe that the moisture isn\u2019t coming from just the exterior but maybe getting into the interior wood frame as well.\u00a0 Energy efficiency aside, I wouldn\u2019t trust something like that to keep my home and my loved ones safe.<\/p>\n
Just like new windows, a lot of doors with glass packages have double-paned glass.\u00a0 Over time with older doors, the seal between those two panes will fail leading to moisture, mildew and\/or mold between the panes of glass.\u00a0 This is a scary thing to see in a door.\u00a0 With windows, some people let it go longer than they should because their windows are made of inorganic materials which makes it easier to prolong the amount of time needed to replace the window because there is no fear of mold or mildew spreading to the rest of the home.\u00a0 When it comes to your front door, the urgency to replace must be much quicker.\u00a0 Until the past 10 years, all residential doors have had a wood core or frame.\u00a0 If you have seal failure between your door\u2019s glass panes, the mold\/mildew are surrounded by organic material.\u00a0 Especially if your entry way is shaded or doesn\u2019t receive much direct sunlight, this can be a huge problem.\u00a0 The last thing any homeowner wants to hear is mold remediation. \u00a0Just like the windows in your home, when you have a door with moisture between the panes of glass, its time to replace.<\/p>\n
Doors can take a beating over their lifetime.\u00a0 They\u2019re slammed, kicked and exposed to huge tempeture changes.\u00a0 If you have an old solid wood door, it has probably seen better days.\u00a0 Many of these doors have expanded and contracted over so many winters and summers that they have cracks, are warped and are extremely weathered.\u00a0 When you inspect your old wooden door, treat it like a door that is difficult to open.\u00a0 Look for light coming into the room from the \u201csolid\u201d wood door.\u00a0 Many of these doors have stress fractures in the grains of the door.\u00a0 These stress fractures expose the outside elements to the inside of your home or vice-versa.<\/p>\n
If this is the case, you get a B for effort.\u00a0 You can rest easy knowing at least you\u2019ve identified the problem.\u00a0 But there is a better way to help to keep that energy inside of your home.\u00a0 You do not have to replace the entire door and you don\u2019t have to ruin your monogramed wedding towels that you received from your Aunt in New York.\u00a0 Many doors these days have a spring loaded threshold.\u00a0 Check if there are screws at the surface of your threshold.\u00a0 If there are 3 or 4 screws along the surface of your threshold, you maybe able to rise it up to your weatherstripping on your door to help solve the problem.\u00a0 If you cant raise it and\/or you raise the threshold, but the weather stripping is just too old and worn out, you can replace that too.\u00a0 I recommend buying whats called a triple fan sweep for your weather stripping.\u00a0 You can buy new weather stripping at most hardware stores and installation takes no more than 10 minutes.\u00a0 Replacing that weather stripping will save your money, add to your homes comfort and save those beautiful towels that you loved enough to stuff at the front of a door.<\/p>\n
If you have water damage, you know that the wood has to be replaced.\u00a0 Most people with this problem know that if the wood is breaking apart and soft, its not secure enough to support the door structure or to keep your home safe.\u00a0 Obviously, you must replace your entry door if this is a problem you\u2019ve had.\u00a0 The same thing applies with insect damage.\u00a0 If your exterminator told you that about 50% of the woods structure is compromised, your R-Value (energy efficiency through solid objects) has been significantly diminished.\u00a0 Not only is your home easier to break into, but you\u2019re also inviting more pathways for water or insects to future damage your entry way and you are wasting your heating and cooling.\u00a0 Loss of R-Value is significant when it comes to a door because that is your thermal barrier (unless your door is made entirely of glass).\u00a0 Replacement is a must in this situation.<\/p>\n
When it comes to your door, the aesthetics are extremely important.\u00a0 Realtor.com and Remodeling Magazine both say that beyond your roof and landscaping, the front door is the first thing that prospective buyers either compliment or hate when they\u2019re showing a home.\u00a0 Lets face it, styles change dramatically every 10-20 years, if not sooner.\u00a0 A lot of us cannot believe we used to wear the clothes we wore when looking through our high school yearbooks.\u00a0 Sometimes the dramatic approach we took with our Aquanet up-dos\u2019 and overalls with a strap unhooked is identical to the dramatic approach people took with their homes.<\/p>\n
8. Is your door hardware tarnished, missing screws, and out dated?<\/p>\n
Making a memorable first impression is tough if your front door has ho-hum hardware. Even worse is a tarnished, pitted entry set with a peeling lacquer finish, like the one below.
\nTo give the door more polish, shop round for a new replacement. \u00a0Update your entry door with a bold new door handle, escutcheon, kickplate and knocke<\/p>\n
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Front doors seem to take the most abuse when referring to our dramatic style choices.\u00a0 There is a good reason why too.\u00a0 The front door sets the tone for the entire experience of the home.\u00a0 One could say that it\u2019s a persons first impression of a home.\u00a0 If you have classic shakes\/wood siding, beautiful true grids on your windows, classic landscaping all around, it\u2019s probably time to get rid of that 3 diagonal glass flat 1970\u2019s door. Replacing your front door can be one of the biggest bang-for-your-buck investments that you can buy to improve your home. \u00a0 You can increase your energy-efficiency while adding dramatic beauty to your curb appeal.\u00a0 If you\u2019re wondering if today is the day to replace your entry door, ask yourself the questions above.\u00a0 If you decide it\u2019s time to replace your front door, we can help. Contact us today 678-528-7115 or visit us at aladdinhomepros.com<\/a> for help determining the best front\u00a0entry door<\/a>\u00a0for your home. \u00a0 Like always, it\u2019s your number one investment, take care of your home with a beautiful, quality front entry way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" How do you know that it is time to replace your front door?\u00a0 It seems now a days that people don\u2019t use their front door as much as they use to.\u00a0 With garage entries and side doors, most of us don\u2019t even think about our front doors. \u00a0The problem is most of us now a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1185,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-resources"],"yoast_head":"\n