7 Things to Consider before Buying a New Front Door
How to Choose the Perfect Entry Door for your Home
One of the easiest ways to make a big improvement on your home’s exterior is with a new front door. Replacing a drab or aging front door with a new one professionally installed is one of the quickest, most affordable, and most impactful upgrades to dramatically improving your home’s curb appeal.
Buying a new door comes with a lot of options, and it can feel overwhelming. From color to material, you have an incredible amount of decisions in customizing the perfect front door for your home. To help make those decisions easier, we provide this guide to getting the perfect door for your home. Get expert help from the Kansas door experts at Cheney Door Company.
Keeping in mind what features you want most from your new front entryway – whether it’s security, style, convenience, or energy efficiency – we’ve compiled some buying tips to help make sure you purchase the perfect one for your needs:
- Materials
- Surface Style
- Windows
- Single vs. Double
- Color
- Kansas Weather
- Installers
Materials to Consider when Buying a New Front Door
What material would you like your front door to be? Today’s options for residential front doors include steel, fiberglass, and wood.
STEEL ENTRY DOOR
Steel is an excellent option if you want a durable door that holds up over time. It is also an excellent choice for providing security to your home. Steel doors typically cost the least and do not need to be painted every few years.
FIBERGLASS
Fiberglass provides insulation with no maintenance required but can cost more than steel doors. They are an excellent choice for harsh or humid climates.
WOOD DOOR
Wood has many options, including oak, pine, and cedar. And beyond deciding the wood type, you can choose from various finishes. Wood doors have a beautiful natural look, but the downside is that they show wear much more quickly than other materials. The sun and rain and eventually cause wood doors to warp and bow.
Solid real wood doors typically cost the most. But there are many front door options with an interior that is steel or fiberglass, but the exterior is wood. Typically when discussing door material, it is the surface material that is referenced. It is also that surface material that most affects the door’s durability, appearance, and cost.
The best way to find what material will work best for your home’s entry door is to see it in person. You can visit our Wichita showroom filled with various front door options. You can chat with one of our residential door experts as you review the material options side-by-side.
Door Surface Style
Another option for a front door is how that material is shaped. A flush door has a completely flat surface like a table.
Most front doors have some kind of paneling, as seen in the left image. Paneled doors, a more traditional look, were initially created to help minimize cracking and warping of wood doors.
There are also types of doors with a decorative option, as seen in the image to the right.
Entry Door Windows
Windows can play a massive role in the look and design of your new front door. From a small crescent window at the top to a window that takes up more space than the door material itself, you may find deciding on a window to be the first and most impactful decision on what your new door will look like.
If you enjoy a large amount of light in your entryway inside your home, a large window made from insulating glass in your front door may be a good idea for you. You can get doors with windows built into them or install transom windows, windows that sit just above an exterior door.
There are also additional window features you can add to your total new entry door space. Sidelites are narrow, vertical windows on one or both sides of an exterior door.
What do you do when you want natural light to filter through your entry door but don’t want the whole neighborhood to see inside your house? You get privacy glass, or in this case of the photo below, decorative privacy glass!
The ProVia Signet door here lets light come through the sidelites, transom, and the door itself with decorative glass that offers privacy between your family and the outside world. The ProVia Signet doors are great examples of highly durable fiberglass doors with a stunning woodgrain finish. Cheney Door Company is proud to be a provider and installer of ProVia doors and ProVia windows.
Double The Beauty with Double Doors
You may also decide to make a renovation to upgrade your single-entry door with double doors, also known as french doors. There are many benefits to double doors for your entryway. For starters, they provide easy access to your house. They also create a more formal and elegant entrance that is perfect for entertaining guests or having the family over on weekends.
Front Door Color Choice
How to choose the right color for a new door? Much comes down to a matter of personal preference. You may find it quite lovely to have a door that provides a pop of color, such as a bright red or yellow front door. Or you may want your door to blend into your home’s exterior paint, whether exactly matching it or being a complementary color that blends well together.
Simply having a bright red door will not necessarily mean your door will “pop.” Consider the exterior of your home. As you can see in the below photos, both are red doors. But the image on the right shows a door that blends in with the home’s reddish wood exterior.
Check out our page on Entry Doors for many more examples of beautiful new front door installations.
Front Door Factors for Kansas
Kansas winds are strong. The best way to protect a beautiful new front door is with a storm door. Storm doors are designed to withstand wind and weather with their sturdy construction while also providing a barrier against the elements.
With our selection of storm doors, you will be sure to find one that’s just right for your needs! You can look through various storm door examples at our website, or you can stop by our showrooms at any of our three locations to see them in person.
New Front Door Installation
Typically, new doors are installed by professionals in about two hours. Paying amateurs or handymen less experienced in installing entry doors is likely to increase how long this installation takes. So if you’re paying some person an hourly rate, what was supposed to be cheaper labor does not always equal a cheaper cost. Plus, you may end up with a door that does not completely hang right or never shuts properly.
Cheney Door Company has been servicing homes across southcentral Kansas for 50 years. We have the experience and the track record of installing high-quality doors by professional installers.
What can you expect with a professional front door installation from Cheney Door Company?
- Installation is a relatively easy process
- The installation will be done quickly, with no need for major construction inside your house or garage. This means that you don’t have to spend hours and days without an entrance; the work can take place over one day
- There won’t be any messy clean up following the job–the installers are professionals who leave behind nothing but a beautifully installed door in its new location
While there is never a wrong time to get a front door installed (except perhaps when a record-breaking cold-snap or heatwave sweeps across Kansas), typically the best time to get a front door installed is during milder weather such as early spring or fall.
A lot of materials went up in cost in 2021 due to issues with the pandemic. In fact, costs were about 25% more in June of 2021 compared to the previous year. Fortunately, we are seeing prices level back out.
You do not have to be left worrying about how much a new front door will cost. Contact Cheney Door Company provides a free quote for new entry door installation and will be happy to walk you through your options including costs.
Call us at Cheney Door Company in Wichita at (316) 262-2098. For our Salina office, call (785) 820-8366, and in the Hutchinson area, call (620) 669-9306.
New Front Door: Benefits for Years to Come
Overall, the cost of a new high-quality door is going to pay off. With improved energy efficiency, ease of use, and peace of mind for the security of your home and family, a new front door is more than about improving the look of your home (although it does that, too!). Plus, it is an investment that will pay off for years to come.
Choosing a new front door for your home is a big decision. It is important to take into account the style, material, and color choice. If you are unsure what would work best for your home or need help narrowing down the options, call Cheney Door Company today. Our team of experts will walk you through all of our available products and provide expert installation services so that beautifully designed doors can be added to any space quickly and easily.
Our installation experts have a beautiful new door that is just perfect for you. Contact Cheney Door Company today to learn how you can get started on a new front door for your home!