Reducing Energy Costs - Energy Efficient Doors

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Energy Efficient Doors

Energy performance ratings for windows doors and skylights

Energy-efficient doors can also lower your energy bills. If you have an older home with the original doors, replacing the doors may save you money in the long run by lowering heating and cooling costs. If you are building a brand-new home and want to go green, purchase the most energy-efficient doors on the market.

When shopping for doors consider their energy performance ratings. The ratings will tell you about the doors' ability to retain heat (or lose heat) and how much sunlight they will allow into your home. Doors can retain or lose heat directly through glass panels that are part of the door and through the radiation of hot or cold air into a home. In addition, if air can leak through and around the door, then the door is less efficient.

Also, when shopping be sure to ask a salesperson how the energy performance ratings of doors relate to your home design and the temperatures in your climate.
Energy performance also depends upon the type of door you need (e.g. front door, patio door, sliding door, etc.)

An exterior door usually has a steel cover that surrounds polyurethane foam insulation. The door's weather stripping is often made up of a magnetic strip like you would find on a refrigerator door. A steel exterior door will need no additional weather stripping if it is properly installed and has a good fit.

If you are shopping for glass patio doors, be aware that glass is a bad insulator. Most contemporary glass doors feature a plastic insulator to help with efficiency. If you live in an extreme climate consider investing in a glass door that has several layers of glass, low emissivity coatings and the low conductivity gases between the glass planes. While these doors will cost you more up front, you will earn your money back over time by having lower energy bills.

Sliding glass patio doors are less efficient than swinging doors. The reasons for this are:

• Sliding glass doors have a looser seal than swinging doors.
• Air will leak around the weather stripping of a sliding glass door.
• The weather stripping around a sliding glass door deteriorates as the door ages, although some models of sliding glass doors allow you to replace the weather stripping.

When installing energy-efficient doors you may want to hire a professional. Installing a door involves removing any existing doorframe before putting in a pre-hung door. (Most exterior doors have a pre-hung frame.) The doorframe must fit squarely to ensure a tight seal and to allow the door to swing correctly.

To help prevent air from flowing around the door seals, expanding foam caulk is necessary to seal the doorframe. The caulk should be applied carefully to prevent the foam from forcing the frame out of the square. This is particularly true with a wood frame.

You may also need weather stripping. Every year check to see if your weather stripping on the exterior doors has worn away and needs replacement.

Finally, a word about storm doors. Purchasing a storm door can save money if your current door is not new but is still in working condition. However, it does not make sense to spend money on a storm door if you are buying a brand new insulated door that features the latest energy-saving technology.

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