DSA has a limited quantity of Brazilian Cherry Barn Doors available at discounted prices! Barn doors are a long-time homeowner favorite, due to their space-saving functionality and customizability. DSA’s Clearance Barn Doors are available in 32″, 36″ and 42″ widths, and in 80″ to 100″ heights. Choose from 6 different Plank configurations and 5 different prefinishes. Contact your DSA Dealer or Representative today to order!

• Wood: Brazilian Cherry
• Widths: 32”, 36” & 42”
• Heights: 80” – 100”
• Available Configurations:
  • 1 Vertical Plank
  • 2 Split Plank
  • 3 X Plank
  • 4 Z Plank
  • 5 Lower X Plank
  • 6 E Plank

Available unfinished or in your choice of barn prefinishes

When you’re building or renovating a home, projects can add up quickly. Still, it’s important to know that every investment will continue to pay off for years to come. One of the smartest investments of all is installing a new front door. The exterior front doors are the first thing many people notice when they see your home.

Moreover, replacing your door can increase your home’s curb appeal, value, security, and energy efficiency. How can you tell if it’s time for a new front door? Inspect your entryway for common signs of damage today, and keep reading to find out how to measure for a replacement and what to look out for when choosing your new door.

Why You Should Buy a New Front Door for Your Home

Installing a new front door is one of the best ways to revitalize your property. In fact, by replacing that old, damaged door, you can drastically improve your curb appeal, energy efficiency, and security.  

Maximize your curb appeal and ROI

When planning a renovation or building a new home, it’s helpful to consider the return on investment (ROI). The ROI measures the amount by which the home’s value increases compared to the improvement cost. Completing projects with a high ROI can help you get as much back on your investment as possible when you sell your property. According to Remodeling Magazine, investing in a new entry door has an average ROI of 74.9%. Each year, the Magazine reports the ROI of common remodeling projects. Front doors have topped the list for many years.

The exterior door is an important focal point for visitors, neighbors, and potential homebuyers. Or that reason, your front door is crucial to your home’s curb appeal and perceived value. In addition to ROI and curb appeal, investing in a quality entry door will provide protection and energy efficiency. A new front door is one of the most affordable and important investments you can make. Even if you’re not selling your home, it will provide value to your family for years to come.

Invest in your home security

Security firm ADT reports that the front door is the most common entry point for intruders. That’s why it’s so important to keep it secure. But if you overlook or fail to maintain this exterior door, years of wear and tear may weaken its integrity. For instance, warping is a common defect that can cause the deadbolt to fit incorrectly. Without the full protection of a deadbolt, a burglar could force open the front door with surprisingly little effort.

When should you replace your front door?

Many homeowners inherited their front door when they purchased their home, and it may or may not reflect their personal style. As time goes by, a homeowner may take the door for granted instead of evaluating it regularly for maintenance or repairs.

Here are some clear signs that it’s time to invest in a new entry door:

• Light peeking through – Is there light coming in around the perimeter of your door, or even through cracks in the door itself? Remember, if light is entering your house, other things can get in too. This includes water, wind, dirt, insects, and rodents.
• Hot or cold air coming in – If you don’t see light coming in but feel a draft, there may be a gap around your door framing or damaged weather stripping. It would be best if you replaced the weather stripping regularly to ensure a good seal. However, if you’re feeling drafts year after year, it’s probably well past time to replace your front door.
• Heavy dents – On a well-used door, wear and tear is normal. However, some types of damage go beyond looks. For instance, large dents can indicate compromised structural integrity, especially if located near the door’s perimeter.
• Hard to open or close – If you often struggle to open or close your front door, your door has likely expanded, contracted, or even warped. And when your door no longer fits properly in the door jamb, the compromised seal will allow air, water, insects, and other pollutants into your home.
• Lock is not working properly – A front door that doesn’t lock properly is an obvious security issue. If possible, perform maintenance on the lock as soon as you can. However, if you find you need to replace your entire lock system, consider this an opportunity to install a new, more secure door.
• Exterior rust – Visible rust indicates there is moisture inside your door frame, which is likely causing rot. Indeed, many manufacturers do not fully galvanize their steel doors. As they rot from the inside out, they become structurally unsound, making it easy for intruders to force entry.
• Rotting, flaking, or softened wood – If you see rotting or flaking near the bottom of the door jamb (the casing around the door), this is a surefire sign it’s time to replace the door. You may also notice that the wood is getting soft to the touch. This is another sign of rot and indicates it’s time to replace both the door and jamb.
• Splitting and peeling – If not maintained, wood and engineered wood doors can become cracked, warped, and weathered. This leads to rot while simultaneously attracting termites and other wood-destroying insects.
• Increased energy bills – Front doors that leak air around the frame can significantly compromise your home’s energy efficiency. Leaks force your HVAC system to work harder to maintain temperatures. Also, older front doors lack energy performance innovations that are huge money savers during hot summers and cold winters. If this applies to your home, consider investing in a new exterior door immediately.

How to measure for a new front door

Before you can start shopping for your new front door, you need to know exactly what size door you’re looking for. If you’re set on replacing your door, start by measuring your old door’s width, thickness, and height. Also, measure the thickness of the wall so that you get the proper door jamb width. While doing so, take note of the door swing direction. Finally, stand inside your home, and see which side the doorknob is on. If it’s on the right, you have a right-handed door. If it’s on the left, it’s a left-handed door.

Historic or custom homes sometimes have non-standard-sized doors. Luckily, our DSA Dealers and Custom Design Team can custom-fit or modify our doors to fit a wide variety of homes and design preferences. When you purchase your new entry, it’s best to order your door as a pre-hung package with the weather stripping, threshold, jamb, and hardware included. This confirms that all the components are designed to work well together. At DSA, we test our pre-hung doors for infiltration and thermal efficiency to ensure each DSA homeowner gets an enduring entryway to enjoy for years to come.

Where to buy your new door

Make the best investment in your home! DSA works with a network of trusted dealers and home professionals extending to the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States to make sure that each homeowner receives a professionally fitted, customized, and installed DSA Door. Our teams of skilled artisans hand-assemble, sand and finish each door to the highest quality standards. To find your dealer, click here or visit DSADoors.com/Dealer today!

As you are probably aware, there are many different types of materials used to make front doors. As a designer or builder, you can choose a traditional wood door, or one constructed from steel, aluminum, fiberglass, or other materials. You can also choose solid wood or engineered wood, which has a high-end wood veneer over a lower-grade wood core.

At DSA Doors, we manufacture Master-Crafted solid wood doors. Drawing on centuries of tradition and decades of experience, we know that a solid wood door is one of the best investments a homeowner can make in their home. In this article, we’ll discuss the various benefits of a wood door and give you some tips on protecting these classic front doors from the elements.

DSA Doors provides wood doors of superior craftsmanship and quality. Not only do we have dozens of models to choose from, we can also create custom designs to suit any project.

The Benefits of a Wood Front Door

Looking to buy a new front door? Are you a builder working on a project and want to source top rated wood doors in a variety of classic styles? Whatever the case, the benefits of having a solid wood front door don’t change! See below to find out why heavy wood doors are better than fiberglass, steel, and many other options.

Wood Doors Offer Strength & Security

Safety is an important concern for many people looking to move into a new home or purchase a front door. Solid wood doors are incredibly strong and resistant to break-in attempts. Averaging around 150 pounds, solid wood doors do not budge easily. In fact, many types of wood used for doors are so hearty that they’re difficult to even dent. As a result, it takes a lot more than a kick or shove to force it open.

Of course, to remain strong, you need to protect the door against weather and wind. Depending on your location, you may even need an impact-rated DP-50 or DP-70 door. Fortunately, all DSA Doors are subjected to extreme testing conditions that simulate hurricane-force winds to ensure their safety and reliability.

Wood Front Doors are Durable & Repairable

Fans of aluminum and fiberglass doors often tout how inexpensive they are. Unfortunately, as in most cases, you get what you pay for. Metal and veneered doors are not easy to repair once they’re damaged. In many cases, they often need to be replaced outright. However, solid wood doors can be sanded and refinished multiple times.

In addition to being repairable, DSA Doors are constructed for maximum durability. In fact, our proprietary 11-ply floating panel core and finger joint laminated rails protect against warping and splitting for years to come.

Wood Doors are Customizable & One-of-a-Kind

Every wood door is a one-of-a-kind masterpiece. From traditional wood door styles to custom models and beyond, wood’s warm, natural aesthetic is perfect for welcoming guests and upgrading a home’s curb appeal. And since wood doors have been produced for centuries, there is a wide range of designs and options available to choose from. In addition to design options, wood doors can be re-stained when updating the style of your home, something that’s impossible with almost any other material.

At DSA Doors, we have over 30 Standard Door collections to choose from. Our Custom Design Team can help you design your perfect door from scratch. During this process, you can choose every element, from the type of timber to the panel design. You can even add custom glass.

Wood is Sustainable & Energy-Efficient

Sustainably sourced wood is one of the most environmentally friendly materials currently available. After all, it is not only a natural carbon sink but also 100% natural and truly renewable. Another benefit to wood doors is that they are extremely energy efficient. Sure, they may need some additional insulation around the edges, but that investment will pay for itself 1000x over throughout the life of the entryway.

DSA Doors exclusively uses sustainably sourced timber, which is managed in an environmentally, socially, and economically beneficial manner. We also feature innovative door collections with CLPF construction, which replaces our solid hardwood cores with an energy-efficient foam core for the highest thermal performance.

All our doors have a complimentary low-emissivity (Low E) double-coating on the glass to further increase thermal efficiency. This minimizes the amount of heat and UV light that comes through your glass without minimizing the visible light entering your home.

Looking for high-quality wood entry doors? Check out DSA Doors’ full catalog of models, including Traditional Doors, Coastal Doors, and more.

How to Protect a Wooden Front Door

Every homeowner wants to preserve the look of their property for generations to come. There are two main factors to consider when purchasing a wood door.

Sun Exposure

One of the biggest factors in wood door maintenance is sun exposure. To reduce the damaging effects of the sun, we recommend installing a protective overhang on all wood doors. In fact, if possible, we recommend this for all exterior doors. However, DSA’s Wynstellar Collection, which features high-performance acetylated Accoya wood, does not require an overhang and is a good choice for exterior doors subjected to harsh climates and conditions.

Keep in mind, the overhang needs to extend at least half the distance from the base of the door to the bottom of the overhang. So, if your overhang is 10 feet from the base of your door, it needs to extend at least 5 feet to provide adequate protection. Manufacturers typically require a suitable overhang in warranty documentation. 

Proper Maintenance

The other way to preserve your wood door is through regular maintenance. One of the most important aspects of this is keeping up with your door’s protective clear coat. If the clear coat degrades, your door’s stain and wood become vulnerable to the elements.

Depending on your weather and overhang coverage, you should try to maintain the door at least once a year. However, you should make sure to act quickly whenever you feel the clear coat is wearing off. You don’t need to be an expert, either. Simply clean your door, lightly sand, then apply another clear coat. You can apply 2-3 coats for maximum protection, letting each coat dry before applying another.

To order your Master-Crafted exterior wood door, reach out to your local DSA Dealer today!