Would you like to improve the curb appeal of your home, make your home more secure, and increase the value of your home—all at the same time? If so, then you might want to think about learning how to buy a new front door.
Buying a front door for your home will completely change the look of it from the outside. It’ll also make the inside of it feel so much safer than it does now. It’s why you should strongly consider looking around at the different front doors for homes and choosing a front door that you love for your house.
Doing this is sometimes easier said than done. There are so many different types of front doors out there for you to choose from. But by figuring out the right approach, you can go through the process of putting a new front door on your home without too much of a hassle.
Here is how to buy a new front door from start to finish.
Decide What You Want Your Front Door to Be Made Out Of
Once upon a time, almost all of the front doors installed in homes were made exclusively out of wood. That was really the only option that people had when they went to invest in new front doors for their houses.
Today, you can still find wood front doors made out of a variety of hardwoods. These front doors are usually on the heavier side and great for those looking to beef up the security of their homes.
But in this day and age, you can also find front doors made out of a wide range of other materials. This includes:
- Steel
- Fiberglass
- Glass
When you’re in the process of trying to figure out how to buy a new front door for your home, you should always begin by considering these different materials and finding the one that you like the most. Each front door material comes with its own list of pros and cons, and you should make sure you know what they are before picking one over all the rest.
Consider Which Front Door Style Suits Your Home Best
One of the other things you’re going to notice when you’re on the hunt for a new front door is that there are lots of different front door styles for people to choose from nowadays. You can find everything from a solid wood front door with no ornate details on it to a solid glass front door that people will be able to see right through—and everything in between!
Since there are so many styles available, it’s going to be up to you to look at as many of them as you possibly can when you’re shopping for a new front door. You should make a note of what you do and don’t like when it comes to front doors so that you can narrow down your options and find what will work best for your home.
Your front door should ultimately fit in with the style of the rest of your home once it’s installed. Otherwise, it’s going to stick out like a sore thumb and throw off the appearance of your whole house.
Find Out What Color You Want Your Front Door to Be
There are a lot of homeowners who have started to add a pop of color to their homes by painting their front doors. As long as you pick out the right color for a front door, you can use it to make a strong statement.
You should think about doing this from the start by figuring out what color you want your front door to be. Whether you choose to go with a light tan color or something a whole lot bolder than that, you have the option to go in almost any direction you want.
Some homeowners will try to make their front door match with the rest of their home. Others will go off the deep end and really work to make their front door stand out. No matter which approach you choose to take, you should carefully consider what color you want your front door to be prior to picking it out.
Check Out the Different Types of Glass You Can Put in Your Front Door
If you don’t want to have any glass in your front door, you don’t have to. There are some homeowners who prefer to have a solid front door as opposed to one with glass in it.
But if you’re going to have at least some glass in your front door, you’re going to find that you have a bunch of different options as far as this glass is concerned. There are many types of glass that you can use in a front door based on the style of the door and the level of privacy that you want to maintain in your home.
Some of the most common types of glass that you can use in the front door are:
- Clear glass
- Low-E glass
- Privacy glass
- Decorative glass
Again, you don’t have to put glass in your front door if you don’t want to. There are plenty of homeowners who install front doors that don’t have any glass in them at all. But if you’re going to use glass in your front door, it’s important for you to think long and hard about which type of glass you’re going to use in it.
Figure Out Which Kind of Doorknob and Locks You Want in Your Front Door
A lot of homeowners spend so much time thinking about the general appearance of a front door that they forget to think enough about the safety and security that a front door is supposed to provide. You should steer clear of doing this since it’s very important for you to consider how you’re going to use a new front door to improve your home’s safety.
With this in mind, you should spend some time figuring out which kind of doorknob and locks you want to install in a new front door. There are dozens of different options that you can choose from when you’re searching for a great doorknob and locks to go along with it.
There are, of course, plenty of basic doorknobs that have locks built right into them. You’ll turn these doorknobs to the left or right to open your front door when you’re walking in or out of it.
But there are also tons of more advanced doorknobs, like handle latches and thumb latches, that you can install in a front door these days. These doorknobs also have locks built right into them, including many that have deadbolts that are a part of their design.
You can even find some doorknobs that work with electronic keypads so that you can enter your home by punching in code rather than using a key. It’s up to you to decide which of these types of doorknobs and locks will work best in your specific home.
Think About Which Hinges Will Work Best With Your Front Door
More often than not, homeowners will use whichever hinges come included with their new front doors when putting them into place. They don’t spend much time at all considering which hinges are going to work best for them based on their needs.
At the end of the day, the hinges that you choose to use while doing front door installation aren’t going to matter too much in the grand scheme of things. But you shouldn’t let that stop you from considering some of your options.
Hinges come in any number of different finishes. The ones that you choose should complement the color and style of your front door and match up nicely with it.
There are also ball bearing and non-ball bearing hinges that you can choose from. Generally speaking, ball bearing hinges are going to be your best bet since they last longer than non-ball bearing ones and provide you with smoother front door operation.
See If Your Front Door Needs to Include Any Other Special Features
Front doors have come a long way over the last 50 years or so. There are all kinds of special features that you can get when you’re learning how to buy a new front door for your home.
For example, you can add things like dentil shelves and strap hinges and clavos to front doors. You can also add transom sills and mull posts to them to make them more decorative.
And it’s also become more common for people to install storm doors on the outside of their front doors to protect them. If you live in a place like Florida that gets a lot of bad weather throughout the year, you might want to consider keeping your front door safe by installing one of them.
You’ll be able to find out about all the great special features that you can add to a front door by working with one of the best window and door companies in the business. They can walk you through your options and help you pick out the features you need.
Avoid Breaking the Bank on Your Front Door
Before you begin shopping for a new front door for your house, it’s always a great idea to try and put a budget for it in place. You should think about how much money you can afford to spend on a front door so that you don’t break the bank while trying to track one down.
There are some front doors that go for as little as $200. But there are also front doors that could end up costing you more than $10,000 in some cases. It all depends on what a front door is made out of and how complex its design is.
By figuring out what you can afford to spend on a new front door, you’ll put yourself in a position to buy one without overspending on it. You should be able to locate a front door that you love that fits into your budget.
Hire the Right Company to Put Your Front Door Into Place
If you consider yourself to be a handy person, you might like the idea of going out to a home improvement store, buying a new front door, and installing it yourself. But this isn’t going to be an option for most people who have never gone through this process before.
To ensure that you end up with a high-quality front door that you love, you should work closely with a reputable window and door company that can provide you with a great front door and front door installation. Look around for an experienced company that has earned a lot of positive reviews from those in your community.
By working with this kind of company, you’ll guarantee that you’re able to get your hands on a front door that will look great and last for a long time. You’ll also guarantee that your front door gets installed the right way so that you don’t have to worry about replacing it again anytime soon.
You could make the argument that this is the most important part of learning how to buy a new front door. It’ll make the process go so much smoother and leave you with a front door that you love in the end.
Knowing How to Buy a New Front Door Is Very Important
If the front door that is in your home now has seen better days, you should consider replacing it. You’ll be amazed by how much better your home look and feels with a new front door in place.
You should also consider how to buy a new front door so that you know how to go about doing it in the right way. Follow the steps that we’ve listed here to make sure that your front door installation goes as smoothly as it can.
Get more home improvement tips and tricks by reading through the rest of the articles on our blog
