How To Choose The Right Front Door

Wood, Steel, Fiberglass? So many options! Here is some insight on how to choose the right one.

A few years ago we did an addition on our house. Even though it was a massive job where we refinanced to a larger mortgage, everything added up and prevented us from doing some of the little things we wanted to.

Like replace the antiquated and quite ugly front door!

But three years later it was time. So off I went to explore the world of new front doors. And my belief that “a door is a door” is just way wrong!

I spent a lot of time reading and learning and realized I had never shopped for a front door before. They just came with the house or previous apartments. I essentially went to door school!

I started online and found a great resource at This Old House.   From there and other online sites, it was then just plain ole detective work, store visits and lots of questions.

I found out there are three major types of doors: Wood, metal and fiberglass.

From what I learned here are the basic advantages and disadvantages of each for a standard 36 x 80 door:

Wood: Looks amazing. It is the most common with the most choices. I turned away from wood because several different sales people explained that you have to routinely protect the wood with new coats of paint or polyurethane. After restaining my deck, I’m wasn’t for another outside paint job.

Steel: Cheaper and sturdiest for protection. But clearly not in the wood category of looks. Plus I figured one errant baseball and the thing would ding like my Honda CRV.

Fiberglass: I had no idea this option even existed. It combines the beauty of wood and durability. Pricing seemed to be in the middle of the previous two options. No maintenance required! I was hooked and found one that passed the looks test.

The next step was the screen door. Again, who knew there were so many options? The only thing I thought was a “must have” was the little sliding piece that keeps the door locked open when you bring things in/out of the house. How 1970s of me! Not only did I learn they have more modern foot-tap versions of that feature but the doors come in a variety of styles. We choose a see-through version simply because we could leave the front door open and give our dog an automatic sunbathing option.

Now onto the doorknob. Again a variety of options, but we made an assumption that all have the same locking systems. Wrong again! The one we bought didn’t have the ability to lock from the inside when leaving. We would have to get used to turning the key every time we left. No way! I learned what we really wanted was a two-point locking system. Now I know why my parents used to yell at me and my sisters to “double lock” the house!

As far installation, you’re on your own. We hired someone!

Check out our before and after!

Athena Snow
Athena Snow

Senior Manager, Public Relations & Giving for Coldwell Banker. Grew up in Sarasota and attended college at Western Carolina University. Athena wanted to wake up in that city that doesn’t sleep so headed to Madison Avenue to start her marketing career. She has been with this awesome brand for more than 15 years and can be found generating buzz about CB in every way possible. Athena helps to grow the brand’s position as the most storied real estate company within the industry and has led many high-profile endeavors; she was at the forefront of the brand’s pioneering smart home campaign, raised $6 million in two years to build 130 Habitat for Humanity homes, and led the Homes for Dogs program in partnership with Adopt-a-Pet.com that resulted in tens-of-thousands of dogs finding their furever home. She currently leads the CB Supports St. Jude program, which encourages the Coldwell Banker network’s 96,000+ real estate agents to make donations to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital for every real estate transaction they represent. In her spare time, you can find her either digging up a new area in her yard for another flower bed or planning her next travel adventure. She's the proud mom of three cats Jolene, Ziggy and Lucy.

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