In addition to providing privacy and security, exterior doors can serve as effective weather barriers and sound reducers (see image).

They’re about 13?4 inch thick, 3 feet or more wide, and at least 6 feet 8 inches high. There should always be a secure layer of weatherstripping around an exterior door’s edges to ensure a tight weather seal.

A house’s front door deserves extra attention because it’s the part of a home visitors see first. The main entrance can make an impression that adds considerably to a dwelling’s appearance, and even to the home’s value and saleability. Because of the special importance of front doors, they’re constructed differently in some respects from just “plain” exterior doors. Details such as door caps, exterior moldings and panels, windows or lights in or to the side of the door, and reeded or fluted pilaster trim at the jambs all help make the front door something to be approached by its own sidewalk, lit up from the outside at night, flanked by landscaped shrubbery beds, and  protected by a roof overhang. Read more...