About Energy Efficient Exterior Doors
An entrance door helps keep your home comfortable by keeping the weather out. Preferably, an exterior door provides long-term durability without a lot of maintenance. In addition, exterior doors should be well insulated without ozone-depleting foam.
Notes on Exterior Doors**
Door Insulation: Many doors use polyisocyanurate or polyurethane, a type of rigid foam insulation that is produced with HCFC’s that deplete stratospheric ozone. It is best to use high-density expanded polystyrene (EPS) that contains no ozone-depleting chemicals.
Weather-Stripping: While insulation will improve energy performance of entry doors, the ability of doors to block air leakage is the most important energy feature. Most doors lose far more heat as a result of air leakage not heat loss through the door itself. Therefore, entry doors should have durable, high-quality weather-stripping.
Painting & Staining Using paints and stains on your exterior door will prolong its life. However, conventional paints can have high VOC and dangerous emissions. Therefore, only paints and stains that are non-toxic with low- or zero-VOCs and other emissions should be used.
| Steel |
Storm Doors |
Solid Wood/Engineered Wood |
Steel Doors
CSI Division: 081300 | Residential Category: Metal Doors
Steel is one of the most recycled materials in the world. Steel exterior doors are created to consistently resist rust and corrosion and are typically low-maintenance.
What Makes It A Green Product
- These are often the tightest entry doors because they can rely on magnetic weather-stripping systems that seal the door very well.
- Can be easily recycled.
- Steel products are generally made from at least 25% recycled content but us readukt available with 100% recycled material.
Negative Environmental Considerations
- Some steel doors are given a vinyl coating for greater weather resistance. Vinyl should be avoided.
Storm Doors
CSI Division: 081169 | Residential Category: Metal Storm Doors
A storm door is a separate door that protects the primary door from direct exposure to the elements.
What Makes It A Green Product
- These doors can improve energy performance both by reducing prime exterior door air leakage and by improving the overall insulation value, or R-value, of the door system.
- Many storm doors include pop-out glazing panels that can be replaced with screen panels for summertime use. This is a very important feature since a screen door can help bring cool breezes into a space, reducing the need for mechanical air conditioning.
Solid Wood/Engineered Wood Doors
CSI Division: 081400 | Residential Category: Wood Doors
Solid wood doors are attractive and so are regularly chosen as the formal front entrance door, but often don't insulate well and are quite unstable, swelling when moist and shrinking when dry. This can lead to leakiness in the winter and reduce the lifetime of paints and other finishes used to protect the door from sunlight and rain. To combat these problems engineered wood can be a great alternative for your entrance door.
What Makes It A Green Product
- Wood should come from properly managed forests or be certified by a third-party organization. Certified wood is widely available.
- Recovered and Salvaged wood is widely available and should be used provided all appropriate documentation is presented.
Negative Environmental Considerations
- Wood doors don't insulate well and are quite unstable, swelling when moist and shrinking when dry, which can lead to leakiness in the winter and reduce the lifetime of paints and other finishes used to protect the door from sunlight and rain.
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