Front Doors - How to Choose the Perfect Front Door for Your Home

Your front entry door helps visitors form a first impression of your home. It’s no surprise that the front door is often referred to as the portal to the “soul” of your home. Choosing the right door can help your home truly represent you and your unique style.

How to Choose the Perfect Front Door for Your Home:

Choose the Door Function
Decide on a Hanging Option
Measure for Door Width
Select the Glass Style
Pick a Paint Color and Finish
Choose Your Hinge Finish
Decide If You Want a Sidelight
Select Your Deadbolt and Door Handle
Plan for Installation

Paying special attention to each of these steps can make sure that your front door suits your home’s personality and makes the right statement. By carefully selecting the right exterior door, you can take your home to the next level.

What Is an Entry Door?

Your entry door is one of the first things a guest sees when they come to visit. With so many different combinations of styles and materials, you can easily personalize your entrance with an exterior door that suits both you and the architectural style of your home—taking your home from drab to fab in a simple weekend.

Selecting the right front entry door is important for many reasons. Visually, it plays a crucial role in setting the entire style for your home. It gives your home curb appeal and makes a great first impression. You also want to select a door that provides strength and security. Careful consideration should be given to the material of both the door and the frame.

How to Choose the Perfect Front Entry Door for Your Home

Look for an entry door that speaks to your style and gives a great first impression of your home and your family. Your home deserves more than a generic door hanging on the discount rack at your local home improvement store. Follow these steps to choose one of the beautiful custom doors from Rustica:

1. Choose the Door Function

The type of exterior door that you need largely depends on the function of the door. Entry doors, while commonly referring to front doors, often include patio doors, storm doors, garage doors, and sliding doors. It’s important to first define the door’s function. For simplicity, we’ll focus on front doors since they have the biggest impact on your home.

What is the best material for a front entry door?

The best material for the door depends on its function. For most front doors, you want to select a material that is resistant to sun, wind, and rain, while also providing a level of security. While many doors are made of metal and fiberglass, most custom home builders and DIY remodelers prefer genuine, high-quality wood grain.

What are the best front entry doors for security?

If security is a primary concern, steel entry doors are common as they tend to be more secure than other options available in the market.

2. Decide on A Hanging Option

The next step in choosing the perfect door is to decide whether you will get a slab door or a pre-framed or pre-hung door. A slab door is a good option if your door frame is in good condition and you aren’t adding any elements like sidelites. A prehung door should be considered if the existing frame is rotting or damaged.

This is also the time to decide on the style of door. You may want a door that swings open, making a French door an attractive option. Another choice could be to capitalize on the current trend of double doors, giving your front entrance a grand, distinguished look.

3. Measure for Door Width

When selecting your replacement entry door, you need to decide whether you are going to use your existing frame size, or if you are going to add in sidelights. If you want to avoid reframing, be sure to measure the door width. Typically, you just need to measure the width of a single door to make sure it fits.

What Size Door is Right for Your Entry?

The right size door for your home depends on its architectural style. Evaluate your space and choose a proportional door size. If the home has a small front porch, then a smaller door without sidelights may be appropriate since they could extend beyond the width of the porch. On the other hand, if your home has a grand entrance you may want to consider going with a wide-scale visual and choose a set of double French doors.

4. Select the Glass Style

While a solid door can provide more security, having a glass front door is a great way to invite more natural light into your home. Plus, with a glass front door, you add another level of texture and style to your front door design. Glass can be incorporated into the style of your door in a number of ways, including in the door directly, the sidelights, or both.

When designing your glass front door with Rustica, you’ll choose between several different glass styles. The glass option you choose can affect the amount of privacy you have and the amount of light that comes into your home through the glass front door. For example, clear glass will let in natural sunlight, whereas frosted glass will let in a soft, diffused light.

For more privacy, consider one of our textured glass options for your glass front door, such as palm or crested. Textured glass, also known as obscured glass, patterned glass, or decorative glass, features a textured surface on one or both sides of the glass pane. This texture not only adds more character to your glass front door, but also increases privacy. With a textured glass option, the glass distorts or “obscures” the image behind it. Textured or decorative glass is a great option for those who want a glass front door with extra style and natural light without sacrificing privacy.

All of Rustica’s glass front doors use tempered glass as the glass type, which is different from the glass style you choose when designing your glass door. Tempered glass is incredibly strong, hard to break, and shatters into dull cubes when broken. Therefore, it is the standard glass type for exterior doors exposed to the elements and outside forces. It increases the safety and longevity of your glass front door. The glass will be tempered no matter whether you choose clear glass or patterned glass for your glass front door.

Lastly, you can choose whether or not you want your glass front door to have a window grille. These metal grid patterns add historical and architectural relevance to your front door design. Some of our glass front doors already have a window grille pattern, in which you can further customize the metal to your preferred metal type and metal finish.

5. Pick a Paint Color/Finish

Carefully consider the paint color or finish of your entry door. If you want a natural look, you should opt for a solid wood door. Cheaper alternatives include wood veneer, giving your door the look of solid wood, whether it is wood, steel, or fiberglass-composite.

If you choose to paint your door, you should go with either a light or dark color as they are more eye-catching than a medium shade. Whichever color paint you choose, make sure to use a latex exterior paint that provides protection from the elements. If your door is steel or metal, try to find a paint that provides some level of rust protection.

6. Choose Your Hinge Finish

We all know how important it is to have the right barn door hardware and sliding door hardware for interior barn doors and pocket doors. The front door is no exception—in fact, it’s arguably the most important door of your entire home. The finish you choose can drastically change the style of your entry door. A flat black or oil rubbed bronze provides a charming rustic vibe, while a chrome, French antique, pewter, or nickel finish gives this exterior door a more modern feel.

7. Decide If You Want a Sidelite

The next step is to decide if you want a sidelite, which is a narrow window beside the door. Sidelites (or sidelights) can be installed on one or both sides of the door. Think about what works for the size of your entrance and the style of your home. One of the main reasons that homeowners choose sidelights is to let natural light into the home. Keep in mind that if you do not currently have sidelites, you will likely need to enlarge the opening and reframe when installing your new front door.

8. Select Your Deadbolt and Door Handle

The door handle contributes to the style of the door and provides aesthetic balance. You want your door handle and deadbolt to complement each other, as well as the hinges and the door itself. While you can always choose a traditional lever or knob, don’t be afraid to go bold and pick something that stands out. When selecting your deadbolt, consider choosing a mortise lock that is installed directly into the door, as it provides an extra bit of security to your home.

9. Plan for Installation

Once you’ve decided on your entry door options, it’s time to start planning for the installation. The installation costs and time required depends on the type of door.

Replacement Front Door Slab - Depending on the condition of your existing door frame, you may be able to simply replace your door with a new one that fits.

Pre-Hung Front Door Replacement - Another option is to select a door that is already attached to the frame. This would simply require you pull out the existing frame and door and replacing it with the pre-framed door.

Front Door with Reframing - Adding sidelites or installing a door that's a different size will require some construction. You’ll need to enlarge the opening and measure for a new frame. You may want to consult with a contractor for assistance.

How much does a contractor charge to install a front door?

The cost of installation will vary depending on which kind of door you select. On average, installing a front entry door costs between $100-$1500. If you choose the DIY method, you can save substantially on labor. There are many resources online that can teach you how to install a front door. However, depending on your skill set, it may be worthwhile to pay a professional to avoid any problems. A professional can minimize the headaches that can come with home improvement projects. Contractors typically charge around $70-150 per hour, but this will vary depending on your location and the complexity of the project.

How long does a door installation take?

The time it takes to install an entry door depends on the type of door. Pre-hung doors and door slabs are much easier to install and can take anywhere from one to five hours. Intensive reframing projects can take up to a day or more. The installation of sidelites can take an additional 3 to 4 more hours.

Front Door Materials

The material that you select for your entry door will have an impact on its durability, security, and overall appearance. The most common materials for exterior doors include wood, steel, and fiberglass-composite.

Wood - A wood door is aesthetically pleasing, especially if you are going for a natural look. Rustica’s anti-warping lumber is the highest quality in the industry. When it comes to making a first impression of your home, nothing tops a genuine, high-quality wood door.

Steel - If want a highly secure door, you may want to consider steel. Steel doors can be a good option in areas with high humidity and lots of rain. However, steel doors are susceptible to rust. If you choose to paint a steel door, you may need to repaint every few years due to chipping and scratching.

Fiberglass-Composite - Fiberglass-composite doors are another option. They are secure and are unaffected by rust. However, many fiberglass doors are not as energy efficient as other materials, offering a lower level of insulation. Cold weather can cause some fiberglass doors to crack, which looks unsightly and lets in cold air.

What are the best exterior doors for cold weather?

While aesthetics is important, you want to make sure your front door is functional as well. The extreme weather that the exterior is exposed to can affect its energy efficiency. This is especially true in homes that battle cold weather in the winter. Many doors are insulated to help keep the elements out. When deciding on a door that will be affected by cold weather, you should consider the type of seals on the door.

Compression Seals - Doors that are compression sealed have a flexible PVC gasket on all four sides. When the door closes, these flexible gaskets compress creating a tight seal around the door. This helps prevent drafts and keeps your warm air inside during cold weather.

Magnetic Seals - For better energy efficiency, then consider doors with magnetic seals. These seals are used primarily on steel or metal doors. However, this can make your front door look and feel like a refrigerator door.

Thermally Broken Frame - Thermally broken frames have an insulated, reinforced polyamide bar installed into the frame. It’s an effective insulation method commonly used with aluminum doors.

Do Front Doors Open In or Out?

Most homeowners have their front door swing inwards, and there are a few intentional, important reasons for this swing direction.

Security

To start, having an inward swinging door means the door hinges are inside the home. This is a critical safety element because one way to remove a door is to simply unscrew the hinges. You can imagine the burglar risk that outdoor hinges pose, which is one of the main reasons the vast majority of front doors open inward.

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