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Post date: Dec 22, 2014 12:41:42 AM
I’ve covered windows in past blog posts. See these:
There is not a lot of style in windows. My architect choses casement windows because they seal well and allow emergency egress - a building code requirement. True there are material, texture, and color choices, both inside and out, but most of the window is glass.
Not quite the same with doors. I have these different locations of doors to select:
- Main entry door
- Glass doors onto the patio
- Garage door
- Interior doors
- Entry from garage to mud room
- Interior swinging doors
- Interior sliding (pocket) doors
- Bifold
The main entry (“front”) door will be the most expensive. I love many of the old wooden doors in northern New Mexico. But part of the reason I like them is because they look old and weatherbeaten. And many of them are old and weatherbeaten, and therefor do not close easily or leak air and are poor insulators.There are many different styles and constructions of entry doors, some of which look nice, some will keep out burglars, some will insulate well, and some look cheap. I have chosen two-panel, arch top, grooved panel doors for both interior and entry doors. The entry door will have a fiberglass skin over an insulating core and be textured like walnut. Pella ‘Architect’ series meets these criteria.
Glass doors to the patio are like big windows. They will have fiberglass frames. The two outer doors will swing outwards and the pair of inner ‘doors’ will be fixed. I'll probably get mine from Pella.
Garage door is somewhat more difficult. Most modern garage doors are divided into horizontal segments and curl as they open upwards. But my architect wants a vertical feel like that of a double set of bifold doors. That means no horizontal seams. Swinging garage doors don’t work well in snowy climates, as they would either need to swing inward - taking considerable inside space - or I would have to shovel the drive before I could open the door.
So we revert to an early style of automated garage door - a big slab that opens upward. There are not many makers of these. Raynor makes one with a steel skin over a foam insulating core (R-12) that has vinyl decor applied on the outside. It looks a bit cheap in the pictures. Maybe I can apply wood decor, or maybe it doesn’t actually look so cheap.
Interior doors can all be of the same style as the entry door: two-panel arch top grooved panel. They are available either smooth or wood texture, primed. There are a number of manufacturers of molded (skin) panel doors: Masonite, Jeld-Wen, Craftwood, TMCobb, all of which make these hollow-, solid-core, or fire-rated.Entry from garage goes into the mud room. Almost nobody except family will see this door. It must have a 20-minute fire rating - which is not hard to find. It does need to be well weather-stripped.
There are three Interior doors swinging off the living room. These should be solid core. the Interior sliding doors may want to be hollow core—because opening a sliding door means moving all that mass with a sideways motion, while opening a swinging door means effectively moving only half the mass and with a pushing or pulling motion.
I need bifold doors for the bedroom closet and the laundry space. These must be louvered for air circulation. Jeld-Wen, Masonite, and others make these.
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