Choosing The Best Weather-Resistant Doors

Table of Contents

1. Identifying Your Needs[+]
   1. Wood
   2. Fiberglass
   3. Steel
2. Other Considerations[+]
   1. Humidity
   2. Energy Efficiency
   3. Locks and Door Strengthening

Doors are a necessary component to maintain the perfect atmosphere in your building. After all, it’s impossible to stay warm in the winter or refreshed in the summer if your entrance is wide open. Your choices on the market for a door are endless, so you might find yourself in a tough spot when choosing the right door for your property.

This article will help you decide on the type of doors that best suit your needs in handling harsh weather conditions.

Identifying Your Needs

Typically when searching for a weather-resistant door, you’ll see Wood, Steel, and Fiberglass doors as your main options. Let’s go over what each brings to the table regarding features.

• Wood

Wooden doors remain a primary choice for many, and here’s why. Hardwoods like oak, cherry, and mahogany are naturally resilient against damage. In addition, the United States has abundant forests, making wood a relatively low-cost commodity. The toughness and affordability might make it your prime choice, but wood doors also have other benefits.

Wood also makes for good insulating material. Going for a wood door makes your AC or heater unit not work as hard since it’ll keep the indoor temperature stable. However, wood isn’t the best insulating material. If thermal isolation is essential for you, perhaps a fiberglass door would be a better option.

• Fiberglass

The construction industry typically relies on an “R-value” to gauge the efficacy of materials that resist heat conductivity. The higher the R-value, the better it is as insulation. Fiberglass doors typically have an R-value of 5 to 7, while wood doors only have an R-value of 2 to 3.

Fiberglass is also resistant to damage and typically comes with long warranty periods. If you’re looking for a door that’s relatively low maintenance, easily painted, and have the best insulation, fiberglass doors would be the way to go.

• Steel

One thing that fiberglass doesn’t do very well is to withstand heavy impacts. If you live in an area that often experiences hailstorms or typhoons, a fiberglass door might start to crack when the weather gets rough. For these applications, steel would be a much better choice.

Steel’s durability also makes it an excellent choice to increase security on your premises since it’ll take a lot of force to bring down a steel door. For this reason, you should also have Steel – Weather-Resistant access doors installed on your property so you and your utilities remain protected in the harshest of environments.

Other Considerations

While you’ve already read the main features that each material brings, a few other factors may sway your decision-making.

• Humidity

  If you’re living in an area that frequently experiences high humidity, you might not want to get a wood door. Wood doors typically swell in high-humidity areas. As a result, the doors expand, making it hard or even impossible to close. If you decide to shave off the door edges to account for the swelling, you’ll end up with a substantial door gap when the door shrinks in lower humidity.

Aluminum, steel, and fiberglass doors are less susceptible to this problem, and they’re sure to retain their shape and size regardless of weather conditions.

• Energy Efficiency

Door gaps also present another problem — air leaks. Air leaks are the reason for drafts that bring chilly air in when you’re trying to keep warm. It’s also why your AC unit can’t keep the building cool enough since all the cold air is seeping out.

Because of this, you should ensure that the door frame is also of high quality to have a good sealing entrance. Lastly, you should add weatherstripping around the door’s gaps and frame to seal off your interior and exterior fully.

• Locks and Door Strengthening

When you’re planning to install a new door, you should consider its security requirements. For example, you might want to install ‘door reinforcement plates’ if it’s going to be an exterior door. These plates increase the door’s strength and make it harder for it to be bashed open.

While no security measure is perfect, it’s vital to remember that you’re creating layers of security. If criminals see that you have some security measures in place, it’ll increase their chances of getting caught, so they’ll look for easier targets to steal.

Conclusion

We want to feel safe, cozy, and energy efficient indoors. For this reason, choosing the perfect door for your building is crucial, and you should consider the characteristics of each door. Hopefully, this article helped you decide which door to get and achieve the perfect indoor environment you’ve always wanted.

Thank you for reading!