Classic Entry Doors Have Been Around Forever. We’ve Been Installing Them For Decades!
Here at Today’s Entry Doors, we work with folks in the Orange County, CA area from all walks of life and all age groups. We’ve been doing so for decades with great success, and when it comes to Classic or Traditional Entry Doors, the vast majority of these customers are older.
Why?
Because these types of entry doors are styled to be more old school! They present a specific traditional look, and for the older generations they’re FAMILIAR. This style has been around for, well, forever.
Our customers who choose the traditional look want something subtler, without all the flamboyant or decorative bells and whistles. They want a door that matches their older-styled home and looks OUTSTANDING!
Here’s a great example from our Entry Door Galleries that we installed in the Orange, CA area.
What you have here is a classic 60×80 (double 30’’) Jeld-Wen fiberglass entry door system with a mahogany grain, factory-stained Caramel. It’s got special Q glass with a Dark Patina caming and Emtek Saratoga hardware in Oil-Rubbed Bronze.
As you can see, it’s incredibly inviting but solid, straightforward, and minimally accentuated. If you want to see what the epitome of this style looks like, here’s another center-arch design with multi-panel.
This is another Jeld-Wen model from the Aurora Estate line with mahogany skin, factory-strained Chappo. It also sports Q glass, and with Patina caming. While hard to see, it’s complemented by a ProVia DuraGuard screen in blue. We installed this for a nice family in the Westminster, CA area.
Where do you usually find these? In well-established neighborhoods. They tend to give off that ‘Welcome home!” vibe that refreshes the look of the property without drastically changing the overall aesthetic.
Ornate, but simple; refined, but elegant; softer wooden colors, but charming. You’ll typically see curved lines with raised paneling and a hint of Victorian-styling with the glass choices.
What differs is that the top half is Harlow Glass with an Antique Black caming, then a classic two-panel design takes up the bottom. The grain is oak, complemented with a factory-stained Antique Oak. We installed this for an older couple in the Laguna Hills, CA area – feel free to check out our Service Areas section to see if we install entry doors in your neck of the woods.
In Summary: Consult Your Local Entry Door Experts
Interested in updating your home with a high-quality, custom fiberglass classic or traditional door and have questions or concerns? Reach out and Contact Us! Today’s Entry Doors is the premier entry door company in all of Southern California, and we have the answers.
We’re happy to make an effort and talk with you as much as you need. Thanks for your time, and we look forward to hearing from you soon.
The Truth About Craftsman Front Doors: They Fit Any Orange County Home!
Craftsman entry doors have been around, well, forever… and for good reasons.
Even today, they’re a very popular entry door. We regularly help homeowners customize and then install on Orange County homes (we’re full-service). In this article, let’s spend a few minutes going over the fundamentals so you can understand why they’ll NEVER go out of style.
First, what exactly is a Craftsman Front Door? As we explain the differences, we’ll include images from our Entry Door Galleries to give you some great visuals.
Like this one!
These are front door systems you could consider ‘traditional’ that effortlessly blend with more modern looking homes. The one in the image above is a single 42×80 fiberglass model from Jeld-Wen with sleek black paint and six windows of clear glass.
Glass takes up the top third of the door.
Craftsman doors always come in one core piece (but can be made dutch).
Then the bottom two-thirds is a type of panel design.
Usually, there are two panels, but there can be only one as well.
Traditionally they were made of natural hardwoods, but many homeowners today prefer updated materials. We only install Fiberglass Entry Doors that are professionally stained or painted to look like hardwood.
Why Are They Called ‘Craftsman Doors’?
They originate from early 20th-century craftsman homes, which themselves came from the ‘Arts & Crafts’ movement rooted in old English culture of the late 19th century. They tended to be simple, made of natural materials, and were dynamically contrasted from the elaborate Victorian-style homes.
The good news is, they work with really any style of home here in the Orange County area of Southern California. It doesn’t matter whether you have a conventional-looking home or something a bit more artistic in terms of architecture and coloring.
And, they’re quite versatile!
Most of the time, our customers go with a clean-cut shaker look with square panels and no molding (vs. raised panels), but these kinds of doors are very flexible. You can add sidelites. You can get creative with the type of glass you choose, make them dutch, and compliment them with a whole host of customizations.
For example, the one linked above with the beautiful puppy is a 36×80 model in Cordovan Red with six clear-glass windows in the door and a set of contrasting white sidelites with five windows (also clear).
Or, how about this next one that has a single operable single sidelite in a smokey blue color. We installed it in a gorgeous Huntington Beach home (explore some of our Case Studies).
So, while the overall layout of craftsman doors is going to be the same, in general, you can really mix things up with the color, paneling, glass choices, sidelites, and hardware you choose.
Bottom Line: Talk With Your Local Entry Door Experts
Interested in updating your home with a high-quality, custom fiberglass craftsman door and have questions or concerns? Reach out and Contact Us! Today’s Entry Doors is the premier entry door company in all of Southern California, and we have the answers.
We’re happy to make an effort and talk with you as much as you need. Thanks for your time, and we look forward to hearing from you soon.
Rustic Entry Doors Are A Very Specific Style We’ve Installed In Local Homes For Decades
Here in Orange County and across most of Southern California, there are many what we like to call both “Mediterranean” or “Spanish-themed” homes with white or tan stucco siding and Spanish tile roofing.
Rustic Style is one kind of premium entry door system that works perfectly with them.
We’ve impeccably installed these systems for homeowners for decades and know them extremely well. In this article, let’s talk about the basics of rustic doors and, as we do, show you some examples from our Entry Door Galleries.
Let’s start with this one:
What you’re looking at there is a gorgeous Jeld-Wen Fiberglass Entry Door we installed in the Mission Viejo, CA area. It’s sized at 36×80, with a soft Knotty Alder grain, factory-stained Honey. As you can see, it has a Seville speakeasy grille – which is a decorative grille in front of a hatch window paired with glass you can open from the inside to look out.
They tend to have a stained wood look.
Rustic doors tend to have planked panel designs.
Many will be accentuated by wrought iron accessories, or clavos.
Here’s an example we installed that has both clavos and speakeasies. Some folks just want one or the other, but sporting both is also popular as well.
Those beautiful rustic double doors we installed in San Clemente are from the Jeld-Wen Aurora Estate line, also with a Knotty Alder Grain, factory-stained Caramel. The speakeasy has wrought iron grilles, then the Flat Black hardware is Emtek Greeley.
They look regal, don’t they?
Planked panels are common because they make the doors look very strong. Coupled with our added security measures and those from our high-end manufacturers, they keep would-be burglars away with ease!
Are you familiar with wrought iron? These stout designs are perfect for rustic doors. And there’s so much you can do in terms of customizations, especially when you pair them with gorgeous kinds of glass.
Here’s an easy example.
That is a Therma-Tru model, with Rustic grain, factory-stained Cherry. The glass behind that beautiful grille is Augustine, and then you’ve got the sharp Flat Black Emtek Saratoga hardware. But how about that wrought iron? Stunning. And while it’s blocked from view, their home is a perfect match.
In Conclusion: Contact Your Local Entry Door Experts
Interested in updating your home with a high-quality, custom fiberglass rustic door system and have questions or concerns? Reach out and Contact Us! Today’s Entry Doors is the premier entry door company in all of Southern California, and we have the answers.
We’re happy to make an effort and talk with you as much as you need. Thanks for your time, and we look forward to hearing from you soon.
Add Drama And Texture To Your Home’s First Impression
The spaces above and to the sides of many Orange County area home entryways are wasted opportunities to put your stamp on your home. Those plain slabs of material might surround your door with a clean look, but what do they say about you and your family?
With so many of the homes today looking so similar, your entryway is one of your few opportunities to really make a statement about who you are. And at Today’s Entry Doors, we excel at helping you shout your truth out to the world.
What In The World Are Sidelights And Transoms?
Unless you are in the industry, your first question might be, “What in the world are you talking about?” Well, we’re happy to explain. Here are some of the terms we’ll be using throughout this short guide:
Sidelight – A sidelight is the area to either side of an entry door that fills the rest of the framework in the openings, usually composed of mostly glass.
Transom – A transom serves the same purpose as a sidelight but is located above the door to fill the upper portion of the opening in the framework and is usually all glass.
Active Sidelight – An active sidelight is hinged so it can swing open to create an area for a breeze without opening the door.
Uneven Pair – Any combination of an entry door and a sidelight that allows the sidelight to act as a passive door. They are, in essence, an uneven pair of doors with the sidelight also able to open and create a larger opening.
There is one item that absolutely must be understood before you start planning a new look for your home’s entryway.
Your entryway options are determined by the size of the framework around your opening. This means you can’t create a wider or taller framework to accommodate adding sidelights or transoms.
Whatever combination you choose, your entry door, transom, and sidelights must fit in the framework as it sits.
For example, suppose you have two 30” wide doors that are unusually tall at 96” right now. In that case, you could replace them with a single standard 36” door (at the average 80” height), a transom 16” high, and two sidelights a little under 12” each (to account for the door’s frame) for a new and exciting look.
And if you made one of the sidelights an uneven pair sidelight, you’d still have a nice wide space (47+”) to move furniture and appliances through with ease.
Explore The Possibilities
With all the options available, size, style, glass types, hinged or no, the possible combinations are nearly limitless. And with our mobile showroom, making your choice is no more difficult than a walk to your curb.
Transoms
Transoms sit above your door and travel all the way across as an integral part of the entry door system. All of our transoms are created with your choice of our many decorative panes of glass.
Sidelights
While paired sidelights tend to add the most impact to the look of your entryway, many homeowners have elected to install just one sidelight to the left or right of their entry door.
Sidelights are all about the glass. While cross braces can complement an architectural theme, open glass panes will make your neighbors take notice. There’s something about the clean, artistic look of decorative glass panes (especially with light shining through at night) that draws the eye.
Active Sidelights
Adding a hinged side to one of your sidelights increases their utility with no effect on their aesthetic appeal. It is best to limit your entryway to only one active sidelight to prevent bowing of the pillars holding the door.
The Benefits Of Sidelights And Transoms
While sidelights and transoms offer a chance to transform the look of your home’s entryway, that isn’t all they offer.
Glass inserts let more natural light into your home without the potential security risk of a large glass panel in the door itself. Transoms are an especially secure way to let light in and are only a risk if your local thief is the acrobatic type.
Sidelights can offer more than just increased light when they are active. You can open just the sidelight to let in the cool afternoon breeze that is one of the best features of Orange County life.
And if you are worried about letting bugs into your home, we can fit retractable screens into the system to keep those noseeums outside where they belong.
Plus, with all the glass types and designs available, your sidelights and transoms can give you the amount of privacy you require. From clear glass, to decorative, to frosted or obscured, the choice is yours to make.
If you are interested in adding a little pizzazz to the entryway of your Orange County area home, contact us at Today’s Entry Doors for a free consultation.
What Are The Best Exterior Doors For A Cold Climate?
Brrrr… who left the front door open?
Was that you?
Or, is it so chilly in this article today because your old entry door needs an upgrade?
When considering what kind of exterior door to get as a replacement, we’re here to help. After over a decade of focusing on nothing but exterior residential doors and installations, we know how important it is to consider the way the summer & winter months impact your entry doors over time.
While we don’t live in the Northern sector of Energy Star’s climate zones (in the image below), many of the benefits of exterior doors designed for cold climates are popular everywhere!
Before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s talk a little about how doors are rated in terms of energy efficiency — their ability to stand as a bulwark between your indoor environment and the harsh elements outside.
A quote directly from ENERGY-STAR on this very subject:
“Many doors don’t have any glass, but even doors with lots of glass like a sliding patio door have lower glass-to-frame ratios than windows or skylights. This means doors can provide more insulation than a window or skylight can. Performance criteria for doors are based on the amount of glass they have (called glazing level) and ratings certified by the National Fenestration Rating Council (NFRC).”
Key Takeaway: The two most important determining factors of what makes one door better for colder climates over another are:
insulation
glazing/glass.
Great, are you ready to get a bit nerdy?
Here is the actual breakdown for doors on U-Factor ratings as well as Solar Heat Gain Coefficient (SHGC) from Energy Star for your reference:
Pro Tip-the lower the U-Factor the better insulating the door (similar to a high R-Factor in an insulated wall).
For Southern California a low SHGC means less loss of your interior cooling from the sun’s heat.
The three tips they give homeowners to help them navigate towards entry doors for the northern climate zones are as follows:
Install entry doors with high-quality, multiple panes of glass. The double or triple-paned insulated glass will reduce heat loss.
Fiberglass doors with a tight-fit polyurethane foam core are among the most energy-efficient door materials on the market.
New models have tighter-fit framing systems that include quality seals and improved weather stripping.
To dig a bit deeper let’s look at a visual snippet from one of our manufacturer brochures — Therma-Tru. Below is the 2020 Energy Star Qualification Chart of three door models from their Classic-Craft, Opaque & Lip-Lite Fiberglass line.
The numbers in the graph show you what the energy efficiency ratings are like for different kinds of glass. The blue color denotes northern climate zones:
The good news is that when you work with professionals, their product specialists can walk you through this information in person based on what’s best for your home and budget.
Right now we’re just showing you some of the numbers involved.
Don’t let the wall of figures scare you. Just keep the Energy Star climate zone ratings in mind for Northern Climates and get a rough idea for the types of glass that deliver ideal ratings. Along with mini blinds and grids, the choices are straightforward:
Note the much higher numbers for their Particleboard Core options. We do not install these, but it gives you an idea of what the efficiency ratings are for different materials.
This is why at Today’s Entry Doors, we only install the most energy-efficient fiberglass doors available for our customers. They’re the best of both worlds.
Whether you live in a cold climate or a more tropical one…our manufacturers have delivered everything you could ever need.
The Primary Benefits Of Fiberglass Doors In Cold California Winters & Across The Country
You Get To Enjoy Far Superior Insulation Value
Whether you opt for a fiberglass entry door insulated with polyurethane or particleboard, you get vetted and verified performance.
Why do they typically provide close to 5X the insulation effectiveness of solid wood or wood-core entry doors? Because of their layers:
The frame of the door (stiles & rails) is specially manufactured from powerful, moisture-proof composite material. This is to erase any chance of mold, mildew, termites, and rotting.
The core, which can be insulated with a variety of materials. The most common is polyurethane foam, which is better sound proofing for doors.
The skin is high-impact, compression-molded fiberglass.
You Get More Cold Weather (Moisture) Resistance
How do iron or steel doors hold up in cold weather with minimal maintenance?
How about all-natural wood?
When it comes to rain, wind, and hail, the modern fiberglass doors we install are near weather-PROOF. This is due to their totally uniform design without any cracks, breaks, or seems for the weather to get into.
You Get Comparable Levels Of Strength To Wood & Steel
There’s literally no limit to what money can buy, but in most residential contexts, these three materials ALL perform well. The advantages of fiberglass are that if/when their strength is truly called upon, fiberglass isn’t going to dent. It resists scratches. It doesn’t rust, rot, warp, bow, peel…and so on.
You Get Outstanding Warranty Coverage Even In Harsh Zones
At the end of the day, because of the quality of these entry door slabs and framing systems, you get the absolute best coverage possible — LIFETIME. What’s important is to work with a great installer like Today’s Entry Doors with a long history of successful service.
Wrapping Up: Well-Insulated Entry Doors With Specialized Glazing Are Ideal For Cold Climates
The only thing that can outperform those is a custom-made or tailor-made entry door. At Today’s Entry Doors, we can help you with those as well…that is if you live in our Orange County, California neck of the woods. Otherwise, now you know what kinds of doors to look for in cold climates: well-insulated with appropriate glazing, ideally multi-pane, and from one of America’s top manufacturers.
Your Doors Play A HUGE Role In Your Home’s Energy Efficiency. Here’s How:
Energy efficiency is key to so many different aspects of your home, and that includes your entry doors. The good news is that as time moves forward, so do advances in energy efficiency. Entry doors use materials that are more energy efficient, manufacturers and installation crews use methods that are more energy efficient. So now there are more energy efficient entry doors for your home that can come in the styles you want than ever before. Curious about entry door energy efficiency and what you can do about it in 2021? Here’s everything you need to know:
Keep Your Fiberglass Entry Doors Looking Great For Longer. Here’s How:
When you invest in beautiful, energy-efficiency, and high-performance entry doors you want them to last as long as possible.
Right?
And last they can, as long as you maintain them. While modern manufacturing has performed miracles in comparison to the entry doors of yesteryear, time and weather still take their toll.
If your home is like most others, the doors are being used throughout each and every single day! So durability is a serious concern. Read more
