Exterior Door Buying Guide

The entryway of your home sets the tone for all who see it.  Entry doors are often more than just front doors. All of our exterior doors can be used as a back door or a patio door. Here are some factors to help you choose an exterior door wisely.

Selecting Your Door Material

All of ETO Doors’ exterior doors perform well and are of the highest quality. The materials they’re made of can impact their functionality, and each one has its pros and cons.

Fiberglass

Fiberglass doors feature the realistic look of stained wood, or a smooth panel surface if a painted door is preferred. These are a popular alternative to solid wood because of their variability in design and price. They are highly energy-efficient, and resistant to warping, cracking, and rusting, unlike wood or steel doors. ETO Doors offer fiberglass doors that not only have aesthetic appeal, but provide a wide variety of panel styles, decorative glass, and finish options.

Advantages to fiberglass doors:

• Easy to install.
• Work well in extreme climates and high-traffic entrances.
• Have similar energy-saving qualities as steel doors.
• It can be made with a beautiful and realistic grain texture to mimic the look of a real wood door.
• Usually, they have the most extended warranties compared to wood and steel doors.
• Made of high-quality composite construction, they resist all sorts of weather, scratches, and dents.

Solid Wood

Solid wood doors are the most adorned for their classic, sophisticated look and high quality. However, all of that comes with a price. These doors can be painted or stained to fit the tone of your home and provide excellent security and durability, although they usually require regular maintenance. Not all wood doors are solid. Some of these are made with a thin piece of plywood or laminate on either side and a thicker piece of hardboard backer behind it. The core construction can change the price and energy efficiency of the door.

Advantages to wood doors:

• Are heavy and sturdy with a more traditional look.
• Wood Doors can be painted or stained for a natural, warm appearance.
• Our designs include modern and sleek, or rustic and traditional.
• Wood species range from inexpensive composites to more costly, mahogany, alder, fir, or walnut.
• Work best when installed in a more protected or shaded area. Over-hang is a must.
• The best wooden front doors generally are more intricate and thicker.
• higher-end wooden door panels measure more than an inch thick, while economy models are less than an inch thick.
• Frame and panel construction counteract the effects of weather or seasonal changes.

Wrought Iron

Wrought iron entry doors offer an added element of design, with curves and shapes formed into the iron.  Combining glass and iron provides a rustic or Mediterranean complement the style of your home. Our iron entry doors are available in any shape and size: arched top, square top, and multiple openings depending on your taste. These doors are generally more expensive due to the detail of the design and quality of the door and can be challenging to install because of their weight.

Advantages of wrought iron doors:

• Also called iron entry doors, they’re built to withstand the elements and are among the safest and most secure options for home entrances.
• Available in a variety of designs that can be customized to include different types of glass and hardware, such as handles and locks.

Types of Doors

Fire Rated Doors

ETO Doors offers a line of fire-rated doors that features the same gorgeous, on-trend styles as the rest of our doors. These ratings qualify them to meet code requirements for apartments and condos. These doors are just as stylish as any other, with added quality and protection. Most of our solid-panel fiberglass wood-edge doors can be ordered as a 20-Minute or 60- minutes Fire-Rated product. That means the doors are tested to withstand a minimum of 20 to 60 minutes of fire exposure at temperatures that reach more than 1400 degrees Fahrenheit! And they don’t split, crack or rot.

Solid Wood Entry Doors

ETO Doors has a large inventory of solid wood doors, ranging from traditional to modern designs, and we can accommodate any opening size. We sell both prehung and slab systems to ensure the best possible value for our customers. Our solid wood entry doors, manufactured from premium grade components, kiln-dried, and color-matched manually before assembly.

French Doors

When it comes to double doors, French doors offer a level of class, quality, and décor that has more appeal than traditional sliding doors. The glass panels let in natural light and create a more spacious feeling. Our selection is vast, with a single glass opening, or 6 to 12 panes. Energy-efficient and low-E glass options are available for our entire French door collection.

Solid-Core Wood Door

Solid core wood doors built with wood veneers glued over a solid center core of engineered wood, gives you the benefits of a solid wood door with some of the practicality and cost savings of a hollow-core door.  They are very durable and somewhat more affordable than a solid or carved wood door. Surprisingly, these doors may be more substantial and stronger than some solid wood doors due to the compressed weight of the engineered wood.

Some solid-core doors don’t use surface veneer at all. They are solid slabs of MDF (medium-density fiberboard) or another engineered wood, shaped and molded to look like a painted frame-and-panel door.

Hurricane Impact Door

Most of our doors are also available as Impact, or Hurricane rated doors. Our impact-rated doors come in a variety of types and designs. These doors have physical properties that make them highly resistant to weather and environmental impacts; they are durable. All ETO doors are designed with safety in mind. However, they also are designed to look great and to allow light into your home. ETO Doors ratings cover all Impact and Hurricane zone, including Miami Dade.

Prehung Or Slab Entry Doors: Differences

Shopping for doors on ETO Doors involves choosing between two major door types: slab doors and prehung doors. Remember that all our doors can be purchased prehung or slab.

A slab door is the cheapest, with some assembly required. Slab doors are just the door itself; they don’t come with doorknobs, hinges, or a surrounding frame. On the other hand, a pre-hung door comes with all of that already attached, ready to go into the doorway (making it the more expensive option).

Here are some factors that may influence your decision to choose a pre-hung door vs. a slab door:

• When there is no existing door frame.
• If the existing door frame is damaged or warped, it may be difficult or impossible to hang a slab door.
• When doing new construction or extensive remodeling, if the door frame is open and exposed, it’s easier to install a pre-hung door.
• Primarily for exterior doors, keep in mind that pre-hung doors come weathertight. Unless you are an expert at installing doors, it’s difficult to replace a slab door and make it weathertight.
• Pre-hung door units can be cumbersome and hard to manage. Interior pre-hung doors are generally easier to manage than the exterior, but be ready for a challenge. Pre-hung exterior doors most often need at least two healthy people to install.

How to Properly Measure for Your Door

Replacing a door can be a tricky business; they are certainly not one-size-fits-all. To know what size door you need, you should measure your current door, if you have one.

Tips for Measuring Doors (fitted into existing frames)

• If you have an existing door, measure the height, width, and thickness.
• If you have a frame with no door, then take the measurements from the inside of the frame where the new door will fit.
• First, measure the height of the actual opening on both sides.
• Now measure the width of the door at the top and bottom.
• You should also measure the thickness of the door that will be installed.
• Always take multiple measurements to ensure accuracy.

If your measurements aren’t the same each time, use the larger of both sets of measurements as the size you need. Doors are available in standard sizes, so you want to choose the closest match to your measurements. For example, if you have measured 1975mm (77¾”) high x 758mm (29.85″) wide x 36mm (1.4″) thick then the standard door size to select is 1981mm (78″) high x 762mm (30″) wide x 35mm (1.4″) thick.

Tips for Measuring Doors and frames

• First measure the height of the actual brickwork sizes
• Now measure the width of the actual brickwork at the top, middle, and bottom.
• Use the average of each set of measurements to ascertain the overall structural opening.

When ordering a frame, it is usual to allow a fitting clearance, or a tiny space, to make sure it fits in the opening without having to use intense force. This ensures that the frame goes in perfectly square so that the door can be installed properly. This clearance is generally around 10mm (0.4″). Deduct the required clearance from the structural measurements you calculated above. This is the measurement you should use when ordering doors with frames.

Door Style Guide

Craftsman Door Style

Craftsman doors are hugely popular for many homes as they have a simple, sleek style. These doors are made from wood or fiberglass and often feature straight lines and panels aligned both horizontally and vertically. They sometimes feature glass panes at the top and two or three rectangular raised panels across the bottom. Craftsman doors are usually rather affordable, but still, add something more than a fundamental plank of wood.

Modern Door Style

Choose from our range of quality modern exterior doors, designed to enhance your home and complement your curb appeal. With a wide range of stylish doors to choose from, you can select by color, style, and material. The use of straight lines and minimalist design creates a fantastic contemporary look, with a variety of stylistic options.

Rustic Door Style

If you’re looking for aesthetics, rustic style is always a classic. Its simplicity makes it easy to use for almost any style home, while the long vertical slats and aged look add character and class. These doors are often made of wood and are useful to contrast on a stone or brick exterior wall.

Arched Door Style

Arched doors are perfect for adding a unique touch to your entryway; this eye-catching architecture draws attention and makes a statement. These doors are a commitment, but they can have a variety of designs and incorporate other styles such as rustic or traditional. Don’t worry about finding the right size, and we can customize any door to suit your needs.

Contemporary Door Style

Exterior contemporary entrances and doors are the perfect match for today’s modern homes, ranch-style homes, and even country-style homes.

Mediterranean Door Style

Mediterranean style doors have a wonderfully unique look, with the use of cast iron to create beautiful designs on the glass panes. These often are a more traditional style, but are certainly eye-catching, and have great functionality. We boast of a fantastic selection of Knotty Alder Exterior Mediterranean Doors.

Dutch Door Style

Dutch doors are a single door that is split in the middle to allow the top half to open while the bottom half remains shut. Dutch doors have a unique style with the ability to let in natural light. The two halves are usually latched together to ensure durability and to use the door as one unit. They typically have a standard doorknob or lever on the bottom half and can house a deadbolt on the top half for more security.

Adding Transoms or Sidelites

Transoms and sidelites are great additions to exterior doors if you want to let in natural light and make your entryway more appealing. Transoms are glass panels installed above the door that is available in rectangular shapes, ellipses, or aches. Sidelites are tall glass panels on either side of the door. Both items come in a variety of glass types and designs to add a decorative touch to your exterior door