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What kind of exterior door should I get?

14 years ago

I know I don't want a fancy stained wood door. I had one on my old house, and ended up having to paint over it as the surface rotted.

An interesting design feature of the home is that the front and back doors are collinear, and I'm leaning towards getting just a plain (double) paned window for both rather than get some fancy glass work for the front. The neighborhood is semi-rural, with the house about 140 ft from a very quite street.

However, I suppose that even with this seclusion, it would be a good idea to have some sort of privacy for when guests come. But I would like to be able to get a good look at someone who is at my porch as well. I was also thinking of getting some sort of curtain for the pane, so that it could be open or closed, but if I were to do this, it would seem that the pane should be transparent, and not fancy.

As for the material, I'm open to all suggestions. I plan on painting the door white, so I would think that getting a fancy wood door would not be a wise choice. I don't care to have vinyl, but maybe fiberglass would be a good choice. Any others I should consider?

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Comments (2)

alabamanicole
14 years ago
My old house has an insulated steel door (painted) with sidelights with glasswork. People couldn't really see in, but I could get up close and look through one section that was totally clear. The door also had decorative glass on the top portion.

For the house I am building now, I'm going to skip the side lights, but the steel door and a nice big peephole sounds about right to me.
creek_side
14 years ago
Take a look a ThermaTru fiberglass doors. They look like wood, but have none of the maintenance headaches. Ours was installed yesterday.

Here is a link that might be useful: ThermaTru
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