The front door will be a central point of your home, providing a happy welcome to visitors. Nevertheless, your Mississauga exterior doors should be energy efficient; otherwise, that happy welcome becomes wasted energy.
This Mississauga exterior doors guide will help you comprehend how energy-efficient entry doors can make your home comfortable.
1. What Does It Mean to Have an Energy-Efficient Entry Door?
The make-up of a door has much to do with making it energy efficient, which can include:
- The core and material: Fiberglass or steel door units insulated with a polyurethane insulation foam core may provide over four times better insulating value than a solid wooden entry door.
- Weatherstripping: An exterior door encompassing magnetic strip weather stripping assists in enhancing energy efficiency of the home.
- Door Lite: Entry doors that have a window, or so-called door lite, should consist of at least 2 panes of glass panels, low-emissivity coating, or low-conductive gas between the glass panes, in order to achieve higher energy efficiency.
2. Are Door Materials of All Types Energy Efficient?
Mississauga exterior doors are differentiated according to the material of the door slabs. The various materials possess varying R values that ascertain the ability of such materials to prevent heat leakage into the house. The more the value, the superior the performance. The performance of various door materials is as follows:
a) Fiberglass and Vinyl Doors with R values of R5-R7
When the entry doors Mississauga have a solid wood core with a rigid foam polyurethane insulated core, these entry units reach up to seven times performance compared to a solid wooden entry door.
They have the least maintenance and minimal energy consumption entry doors in the market. The doors’ skin is not a good conductor of cold and heat, that is why the temperatures of the doors remain constant as the door’s core keeps cold and hot air away.
b) Steel and Aluminium Doors with R value of R5-R6
Metal exterior doors are very highly rated, and also conductive to heat. In a case where your structure is south-facing, you will realise that you will experience more transference of temperatures in your house.
The metal Mississauga exterior doors ought also to be carefully selected and must include the ENERGY STAR(r) symbol on them so as to ensure the doors have the best insulating door core.
c) Wood Doors with R Value of R2-R3
It is a shock to many homeowners to know that solid wooden entry doors are the worst at retaining heat because they allow outside temperature to get into your home.
In case you like a wooden appearance, then you can use faux wood made of fiberglass, which can be stained to resemble the appearance of a real one. In case you are insurmountable about wood, then you should select the thickest door possible; this will enhance the R-value of the door.
3. How Energy Efficient is an All-Glass Door?
The dimensions of the sliding glass entry doors are a contributing factor to the high amount of heat loss, as opposed to other door units that are insulated. Thus, to be energy efficient, sliders ought to have a minimum of two layers of glass as well as low-emissivity coverings, or low-conductivity gases filled in between the glass panes.
Always look at National Fenestration Rating Council stickers to locate ratings of air leakage. You must also consider the usage of systems that have a single fixed panel instead of two running panels because they will experience minimal air leakage.
In the case of front or garden Mississauga exterior doors, the widest glass insert may also affect energy conservation. Here, either a fiberglass or steel door unit with an energy-efficient glass insert will be best since they offer the same abovementioned qualities.
4. How To Make Doors Efficient
You can make your doors energy efficient through:
- Framing: Wooden, metal, and composite framing are a requirement in a bid to reinforce the door slab. They are, however, able to affect the energy efficiency of your door depending on their conduct and absorption of temperatures. Vinyl door framing is the most energy-saving as it is very resistant to changes in temperature.
- Weatherstripping and door sweeps: Between pockets and gaps of the entry door, we have to have weatherstripping and sweeps that would make the frame and the entry door more securely sealed.
