Your home is where you return for a reprieve from the stress, worries, and dangers of life. As such, there are two main things, beyond its interior functionality, that you probably consider more than anything else.
First, its appearance is probably especially important to you. Not only does it affect the impression you give off to neighbors and guests, but it also impacts your ability to enjoy your home. It’s a lot easier to relax and feel comfortable in a home that looks nice than one that’s just bland and boring.
Then, there’s security, and we understand that is probably your utmost concern. You don’t need someone entering your house with the intent to do harm or steal everything you’ve worked hard for.
One key part of your home affects both of those aspects dramatically. Your entryway door.
Today, we want to talk about the safety and aesthetic advantages of iron doors specifically. We believe they play their role best for both of those critical aspects.
What does an iron door offer? Check it out.
1: The Front Doorway Requires Added Security
You’d think that criminals, whether they’re common thieves or people with far more sinister intentions, would spend a lot of time finding some obscure way into your house. Well, oftentimes, they don’t. As counterintuitive as it seems, the vast majority of criminals go straight for your front door.
This is why your front door needs improved security. A criminal with malicious intent will typically walk off within thirty seconds of approaching a door that is properly secured and gives them problems. They realize that the longer they spend messing around, the more likely it is that someone will notice, and their crime spree will come to an abrupt end with serious consequences.
For committed criminals who aren’t worried about taking a while or resorting to extreme measures, the need for a highly secure door is even higher. If a criminal does choose to resort to force, you don’t want your door to fail quickly and let them right in. It’s optimal to force them to make as much noise as possible and take as much time as possible. If you’re home, you have a chance to seek help, prepare yourself, and respond. If you’re not, the chance of one of your neighbors or a passerby noticing and calling the police is a lot higher.
An iron security door fits all these requirements.
First, a well-made iron security door with premium locks is going to deter the vast majority of thieves, because it will require far too much effort to get through without making a scene.
Then, the construction material helps in two ways. It’s obviously very strong and durable because it’s made of iron. They can’t really shove their way through it, and even the vast majority of practical tools will have trouble getting through it. Then, you have to consider that if they do start banging on it, using a crowbar, or leveraging other tools, it will make quite a bit of noise.
For security purposes, an iron door is easily the best door for your front entryway. It makes an intruder’s job so difficult that even committed criminals will likely decide to leave it alone, and if they don’t, it’ll hold them out long enough to make a major difference.
2: It Has an Intimidating Appearance
Before you think about that title too much, we don’t mean that your iron door will have some intimidating look that turns off neighbors and makes you the talk of the town. No, we mean that intruders and other people looking to do harm see it, and they already know they’ll have problems with it. Outside of checking to see if it’s unlocked, the majority will simply move on to someone who has a flimsier, easier to bypass, front door.
3: Elegance and Charm
Now, we can get past the more serious stuff and talk about the more fun aspects of having an iron door. Simply put, they look amazing in practically any home.
Hardwood and some fancy composite options are still popular, but the fact is, iron doors are always going to have a sense of timeless charm that will match practically any outdoor décor or exterior design themes.
You can find more modern iron door designs that follow the same general design patterns of traditional wooden doors for a strong, durable door that matches modern homes with contemporary themes, or you can even go for a more traditional iron door that is reminiscent of the Victorian era or gothic architecture. The sheer variety of door designs available is staggering, and as long as you take your time looking through everything available, you’ll find a door that enhances the look of your home dramatically.
There’s also the relative rarity of high-quality iron doors in modern homes.
It’s no secret that homes built today aren’t built to the same standards they once were, and many people are stuck with steel doors that rust, flimsy aluminum options, or wood doors that aren’t exactly “custom quality”. When you purchase an iron door for your home, it immediately adds a touch of class and uniqueness to your home. It’s sure to stand out (in a positive way) among your neighbors.
When your home looks great, it’s easier for you to come home and enjoy it. When you pair that with the security features that give you peace of mind, you create an unbeatable home atmosphere that truly allows you to relax and escape the pressures of the outside world.
If you still aren’t convinced, we made in-depth comparisons of iron doors vs wood, steel, and fiberglass doors that might help you make an informed decision.
What is an Iron Door? What to Look for to Get the Best Results
The name is fairly explanatory, but an iron door is an entryway door made partially or entirely out of iron. However, it gets a lot more complex than that. There are inserts and other factors you need to consider to ensure you get those safety and aesthetic advantages and your door is properly fulfilling its role. Just randomly picking any iron door isn’t going to work for everyone.
Here are the main things to look at.
Build Quality
First and foremost, if you want an iron door that provides all the security benefits we talked about, it has to be made properly. Glass inserts are common, but they have to be placed properly. We’ll talk more about that soon. However, the door itself needs to be made to a high-quality standard to ensure that it is strong enough to handle abuse. That’s one of the main ways an iron door stands out against other options in terms of security.
This also impacts how much maintenance the door will require, which can impact its security level dramatically in the long term, as well.
If the door isn’t coated properly, or the metallurgy is wrong, it can rust out very quickly, and then you just have a rusty piece of junk.
Opting for a door that is well-made from the get-go is the best option, and it will save you a lot of headaches in the future.
Design
It goes without saying that not every door design will match every home. If you want your iron door to match your home’s aesthetic and enhance it, you have to be picky about which door you buy.
You have a large selection of iron door designs to choose from. You can opt for something that is more modern and conventional to match most homes made within the last twenty years. These are doors that are heavily designed around square elements with plenty of large glass panels, most of the time. There are also more intricate designs that cover most of the doorway in iron with shapes reminiscent of flowers and other natural features. However, you can also opt for designs that are clearly a combination of those two. Those doors meet in the middle for elegant and traditional designs.
This is a purely personal decision, but it can make or break your home’s exterior appearance. If you’re looking at iron doors, take your time. Go through every design you have to choose from, and then compare it to the exterior of your home. Some designs simply won’t work with certain homes in an aesthetic sense. Unfortunately, unless you take a bunch of pictures and get close to your supplier, it’s difficult for the supplier to guide you properly.
Functionality
This is one thing that most people don’t think of with doors. They just expect them to open and function in one way. However, it’s a bit complicated with iron doors.
Do you want one that opens to the left, or do you want it to open to the right? Maybe a larger doorway with highly intricate double doors is more your style? All these are things you need to determine. They’ll actually have minor impacts on your home, as well. They can affect how you move furniture in and out, and a lot of smaller details are determined by the functionality of your door. For example, if a door opens to the outside, it’s harder to shut it on a criminal once you open the door not expecting them.
This also has a massive impact on the exterior appearance of your home. The way the door opens, whether it’s a single door or double, and more all have an impact on how much the door enhances your home’s appearance or drags it down. You have to take time to look at your door frame, choose the right dimensions, consider the exterior design of your home, and more before you settle on one of these traits.
Future Customization
Having an iron door is great, but being able to update your locks to the latest technology is absolutely essential. The door material doesn’t mean much if the only locks it can accommodate are 30 years old and most thieves are equipped to bypass them. You need a door that is made with a standard setup to accept new locks as they come in. Unlike a wood door, you can’t simply adjust an iron door to accept something that is oddly shaped.
This isn’t a problem if you’re buying a new door from a reputable seller, but it can be a problem if you shop around too much and find something made to extremely unstandardized dimensions.
Finish
The finish of your door is extremely important. Iron doors don’t just immediately rust like most people think they do. In fact, they develop a patina if the metal is exposed, and that greatly reduces how much rust can be produced and how quickly it develops.
However, the door still needs to be coated properly and easily recoated by the end user. A powder coating is relatively standard, and it tends to be one of the more resilient coating options available, and it will last for years. You’ll still need to paint the little spots that become exposed annually or semi-annually, but it’s a lot easier to maintain than a door with a subpar coating that simply wears off in a year or two.
Door Layout
Iron doors typically aren’t solid iron all the way through. They’re usually filled in with glass inserts that add a touch of elegance and visibility to the door. This creates a unique problem. You want a door that has its glass inserts laid out in a way that complements your home, but you don’t want those glass inserts to become a security issue. Glass that can be broken and easily provide access to the locking mechanism is not optimal. Pay close attention to this when buying your door.
Where to Buy Iron Doors
Iron doors aren’t difficult to find, but they’re not all made equally. Some suppliers cut corners and provide subpar doors, and others simply don’t have a lot of options to choose from even when they have high-quality materials.
Wholesale Iron Doors solves that problem and takes both the safety and aesthetic advantages of iron doors into account when manufacturing doors.
You’ll find a multitude of iron door varieties in our stock (such as double iron doors, single iron doors, and even custom iron doors), all of them are made to the highest quality standards, and you’ll love our prices. Check out Wholesale Iron Doors, today.