A new front garage door opener replacement santa rosa ca has the power to transform your home and create a great first impression for visitors. However, it pays to do your research properly beforehand – picking the wrong size or style could prove an expensive and time-consuming mistake.
There are several aspects to bear in mind when choosing a door, including size, design, construction, material, budget and accessories.
Off-the-shelf doors can be found in a variety of standard popular sizes. These are generally classified by width, and range from 30″ to 36″. If your frame doesn’t conform to a standard size you may be able to trim the door to fit; many wooden doors can be reduced by up to 12mm along each edge.
In some cases you might be better off buying a complete door set, which consists of a frame and matching door. This can be a particularly good move if you have an older property, where the original frame may have warped or even cracked over time. Alternatively, you may decide to pay a bit more and have the door made to measure.
As the front door will set the tone for your entire home, it’s important to choose a design and colour in keeping with the overall architectural style. An ornate panelled and glazed door would suit a Victorian or Edwardian house, for example, whereas clean, minimalist lines are often the best choice for modern homes. This applies to other fittings such as door handles and letter boxes too.
The way the door has been constructed plays a part as well. Less expensive dowel doors are made from kiln-dried wood that has been assembled using fluted dowels (small wooden pegs) and adhesive. Premium M&T (mortice and tenon) doors are manufactured from specially selected kiln-dried timber and put together using traditional mortice and tenon joints and adhesive for superior weather-proofing properties.
The most popular type of natural material used in external doors is timber, particularly oak, pine and hemlock. Solid timber is prone to cracking and warping over time, so nowadays most wooden doors are manufactured from engineered timber. This is made by gluing together small sections of wood to form a multi-layered construction which is stronger and more stable than solid timber. The components are covered in wood veneer afterwards – a process which ensures matching colour and grain across the door panels.
