Some Innovations and Features Offered by Various Manufacturers Are Worth Noting

You might just think a door is just like any other, save for some minor detail differences or material types. But believe it or not, there are some innovations and features offered by various manufacturers that are worth noting. Being aware of what they are will give you a broader spectrum of available choices and might help you ultimately decide which kind of door is right for your particular application. At the least, noting what these special features are might help you find a product that you otherwise wouldn't be aware of or might not consider. As you do more research and look at manufacturer websites, look for any new features and innovations they might have. Companies are constantly looking for ways to compete and by developing these new features and technologies, you ultimately benefit through better products. Rot/Decay Resistant Woods Some manufacturers feature special technologies that provide greater resistance to the ravages of the elements. Some Jeld-Wen doors are made with their AuraLast® wood which is treated to resist decay, termites and water saturation. Their technology involves protection 'to the core' vs. a topical treatment. Realistic Faux-Wood Treatment Fiberglass entry doors do a pretty good job of impersonating their real-wood cousins but some companies take extra efforts to make this happen. ThermaTru doors use AccuGrain™ technology to achieve a real wood look on their fiberglass models. Their process uses multiple dies and casting techniques taken off of real wood doors to reproduce a real-wood look. Practical Ingenuity Doors offer style and beauty but they can also be practical and serve more useful purposes than what you'd normally think. Examples include chalkboard doors that offer actual chalkboard panels in the door. Simpson Door offers a model with several options for a chalkboard panel. Masonite also offers an interior door in both wood and MDF that features chalkboard panels. These products offer a convenient place to leave messages, whether it's a reminder to clean the room on your teen's bedroom door or a grocery list on the kitchen door. Other practical innovations involve entry doors that put mini-blinds between the panes of glass. Therma-Tru's PDF® French/Hinged patio doors include blinds inside the glass meaning you'll never have to deal with cleaning the dust off those blinds anymore. Detailed Embossing On A Steel Door The nature of steel doors makes them harder to achieve detailed embossing to get a look like raised panel models. But ThermaTru employs a high-definition embossing treatment in their ProEdge™ and Profiles™ steel entry doors. The result is a deeper and crisper embossing that looks much more like a typical wood paneled door. Ultra-Quiet Doors Looking for a door that will really block out the sound? Look for products with high STC ratings. The QuietHome Door by Serious Materials has an STC rating of 44 for a 1-3/4" thick door and a rating of 51 for a 2-1/4" door. By comparison, hollow core doors have STC ratings around 15 and solid core models are usually around 27 to 30. Environmentally Friendly Doors There are lots of green options when it comes to choosing doors. Jeld-Wen offers products made from Juniper in their Custom Wood Estate Collection. Juniper can be an invasive plant that crowds out other desirable plant species and is often discarded once removed from the habitat. Use of Juniper provides a use for the wood that might otherwise be destroyed. Jeld-Wen also makes doors with no-added formaldehyde outer skins that meet the stringent California Air Resources Board limits. Other options include environmentally friendly interior doors made from sustainable processes using low/no-toxic materials. CMI makes the Craftmaster Green Door that is SCS (Scientific Certification Systems) certified to have no added urea formaldehyde and includes a minimum of 63% recycled content like wood by-products from other wood processing operations. Source: HomeStyleChoices.com