How to Choose a Exterior doors
Nowadays it is not difficult to purchase an entrance door. Contemporary market offers a huge selection of manufacturers and factories, and intermediary stores provide us with a variety of options of any price category.
On the other hand, with such a wide assortment there is another problem: how to choose door? The proper ones, of course, we mean.
There are some points that you should pay attention to when you are going to buy an entrance door for your house or apartment. Having learned to understand the basic parameters and concepts, it will be much easier for you to make the right choice, and to avoid a lot of typical mistakes.
Main characteristics of the entrance doors
First of all, let's look at the basic parameters that a quality front door should have:
- Reliability, which is the presence of characteristics that provide protection against huge physical, as well as intellectual break-ins, strong construction and secure lock;
- Access to the external area overview — the presence of a door eye or a glass window;
- Good insulating performance: reliable soundproofing will make the door an excellent protection against penetration of external noise, and heat insulation properties will save in the room warm in winter and cool in summer;
- Appearance. As you can understand, the entrance door to the room is very important either. Its appearance should correspond to the interior of the hallway, and for private houses it is also important to comply with the external architectural style.
Metal or wooden entrance doors
In the production of the entrance door cloths, two types of material are mainly used: wood and metal. The steel doors are considered to be the most reliable ones, as this material is best opposed to any physical strength.
Very often the manufacturers prefer to combine several materials either. The most typical combinations are wood and fiberboard, chipboard or plywood, etc. However, modern conditions are such that wooden doors have practically lost their relevance as the entrance ones and, basically, all modern people want to set steel doors.
But in steel doors, you need to pay attention to certain points. The first thing is the design, of course. — The front steel sheet should be solid without any welding seams. Why? — The matter is that these seams significantly reduce the structure reliability.
Door frame
Another important point, which you need to pay attention to when choosing the front door, is the door frame. It may be ordinary (from welded steel sheets) and complex (seamless profile). The second variant, of course, is much more reliable, primarily due to the absence of welding seams.
A good solution is to lay a rubber gasket around the perimeter of the door. In accordance with the specialists' points of view, this will prevent the penetration of foreign smells and noise from the outside.
Also pay attention to the door frame installation, as everything should be strong and securely fixed.
Fittings (lock, peephole, hinges, etc.)
Door locks, hinges and a peephole also affect the level of your home protection.
The best solution is to have not one door lock installed on the entrance door, but two: cylinder and double-lock. The first protects from intellectual breaking due to the fact that it is very difficult to pick a master key, and the second takes the strength defense, as with it, it would be very difficult to break.
Hinges are one of the weakest places in the door structure, as if desired they can be cut off at the seams or knocked out with a sledge hammer. In order to eliminate this disadvantage, you should use special anti-removable pins. — When the door closes, they go into the nests in the door frame and firmly lock the door. Even if the hinges are cut, the door will be held quite well. Another option is to install hidden hinges, which, in addition, improve the appearance of the door itself.
For the door eye, one of the most important indicators is the maximum possible viewing angle.
When you are investigating the matter concerning, how to choose doors, another important trifle is the installation of lights at the keyhole. It is especially required for entrances. The illumination is provided by the LED light and activated by pressing a small button hidden on the handle.