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6 Ways in Which Entrance Doors Can Impact Your Home Financially

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Entrance doors are the centerpiece of the exterior of a home. Behind their obvious functionality and style, however, unexpected financial benefits may lie in wait.

Entrance Doors are the Gateway to Unseen Benefits

Your home is a sealed space, carefully constructed to stave off the elements, while keeping the interior comfortable and safe. There are so many factors in the makeup of a home, that we don’t often assess each individually.

Entrance doors are particularly important. They are representatives of your home, conducting all traffic in and out of your cherished enclave while simultaneously guarding it. An improperly installed, poorly maintained, or outdated door can be an underestimated sap on your finances. On the other hand, give this household component some love and attention, and you’ll be quickly rewarded with some extra change in your pocket.

Here are some ways in which entrance doors may influence your home financially:

 Curb Appeal

Just imagine you are in the market for a house. When the realtor takes you out to look at homes, what’s the first thing you’ll most likely notice? The front door.

In the ever-competitive Toronto housing market, entrance doors can convey a lot about the value of a home. They are often the first impression prospective buyers get, not just of the style of the home, but of how the home has been cared for. A well-installed, maintained, and attractive door will start off any prospective sale on a positive note.

Energy Buffer

Aside from being an attractive asset, entrance doors can also save on energy bills. As energy-efficient technology moves forward, entrance doors are no exception. Doors must now be carefully crafted to meet energy performance standards and compete in an energy conscientious market. A door that utilizes modern technology is an ideal way to keep out extreme Toronto weather and keep costly energy leaks from occurring.

Tax Asset

As a bonus, there are now many government incentives that offer tax breaks for energy-efficient renovations. A new entrance door could mean not just a lighter energy bill, but also a break on your taxes.

Prevent Break-Ins

Nobody likes to imagine the scenario, but home invasions are an unfortunate reality. What’s more, burglars are often bold enough to use your very own entrance doors to get inside. In fact, it is estimated that as many as 34% of culprits enter through the front door. Having a solidly installed entrance door, up to date in durable materials and locks is a simple way to minimize your home’s susceptibility to burglary and damage from an intruder.

Keeping the Outside Out

Water damage and pests are common and costly problems in many homes. Homeowners report spending anywhere from $50 to as much as almost $600 on insect control per year and thousands of dollars on water damage. While it is very unlikely that all or even most of the damage is coming from vulnerable entrance doors alone, this is a simple point of entry to eliminate these problems. Rotting wood, worn flashing, and open gaps can easily be solved with updated weatherstripping, simple adjustment, or refitting a new door.

Home Insurance

When all previously mentioned points are accounted for, insurance companies take notice. Much like a prospective buyer, insurance companies factor in the entrance door as an indicator of the vulnerability of a home. When a door is secure, properly fitted with adequate locks, weather-tight, well-maintained, and installed, it is viewed as a good protector against scenarios that would require an insurance payout and can therefore help to lower your home insurance rate.

What’s Behind Door Number One

Whether style icon, sturdy protector, or energy buff, behind every solid door unforeseen assets, lie in wait.

Windows and Doors: 5 Things that Should Be in the Installer’s Contract

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windows and doors contractMany Toronto homeowners will have replacement doors and windows fitted this year, with the aim of improving the appearance of their properties, but not all of them will be happy with the results they achieve. Disagreements with contractors are one of the major sources of disappointment, which is why it is crucial to have a well-written contract in place before work commences on your home. If you are not sure what terms and conditions should be included in your contract, the suggestions we have included in the guide below are an excellent place to start. If you would like to hire a contractor who always ensures their customers get what they want, please do not hesitate to call us and request a competitive, no-obligation quotation: we have helped many local homeowners to transform their properties without spending an absolute fortune in the process.

Ensuring the Installation of Your New Windows and Doors Goes Smoothly

The easiest way to make sure that you are not disappointed with the work carried out on your property by the contractor you hire is to sit down and write a custom installation contract together. When doing so, be sure to cover the following 5 important points:

  1. Start Date – The date your replacement windows and doors are fixed should be stipulated in the installation contract to ensure that there are no misunderstandings. Whilst a good contractor will minimize any disruption that the installation process causes to you and your family, you will almost certainly need to be present when the work is carried out so it is important to know exactly when this will be.
  1. Scope of Work – Both you and your contractor should be in complete agreement regarding the scope of work that is to be carried out. The best way to ensure this is the case is to specify all the relevant details in your installation contract: which windows are being replaced, how many doors are included in the price you have been quoted, whether any remedial repair work will be required, etcetera.
  1. Completion Date – Just as important as the date the work is expected to commence, the anticipated completion date should always be included in the installation contracts for replacement windows and doors that Toronto homeowners draw up with their chosen contractors. This will often be the same as the start date but larger jobs may take more than a day to complete so it should be stipulated to avoid any possible confusion.
  1. Penalty Clauses – In the event that your contractor is unable to comply with the terms and conditions laid out in your agreement, it should be clear what penalty they must pay to compensate you for any inconvenience their incompetence may cause. In the majority of cases, penalties consist of fines that are deducted from the total cost of the installation work for your new windows and doors but you may choose any form of penalty that both you and your contractor feel is fair.
  1. Insurance Cover – The financial consequences of hiring a contractor with inadequate insurance could be catastrophic, which is why it is vital to ask your installation company to specify the extent of their cover in any contract you draw up together. Comprehensive liability insurance is something that all reputable contractors will have.

For more advice on what to include in your contract or to make an appointment for a member of our team to visit your home and prepare a detailed quotation for your evaluation, call or email us at any time. We supply and install top-quality replacement windows and doors across the GTA.

Design Possibilities with Vinyl Windows

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vinyl windows design possibilitiesNot so many years ago, vinyl windows were only manufactured in a handful of styles and almost all of them featured plain white frames. This meant they were only really suitable for contemporary homes with modern exteriors. However, the replacement windows industry has changed almost beyond recognition in the last couple of decades, with a huge variety of styles and colours now available to homeowners across the world today. No matter what type of property you happen to own or which part of the Greater Toronto Area you live in, we are sure you can find quality replacement windows that are perfect for your needs and within your budget. Below, we discuss just a few of the design possibilities that modern double glazing units have to offer local homeowners who wish to improve the appearance of the exterior of their houses.

How Vinyl Windows Can Transform Your Home

If you would like to get a better idea of what you can achieve with modern windows in terms of exterior design themes, consider the following possibilities.

  • Wood-Style Frames – One of the reasons that older replacement windows were unsuitable for traditional properties was the fact that white vinyl frames simply looked incongruous in such settings. However, modern vinyl units with realistic timber colours and grain effects are almost indistinguishable from windows with real wooden frames, making them an excellent choice for owners of handsome period properties in Toronto and the surrounding area.
  • Large Picture Windows – Gone are the days when manufacturing limitations meant that vinyl windows were only available in a selection of standard sizes. Today, you can order custom fabricated units in almost any size you desire and large vinyl picture windows are a popular feature of many exterior design themes for local residential properties. If you live in a house that is located in a remote suburb, with panoramic views over the surrounding countryside, this style of window is sure to be a great addition to your home.
  • Coloured Frames – Owners of homes with coloured exterior cladding have traditionally opted for windows with wooden frames, owing to the ease with which they can be painted any colour that is desired. However, modern vinyl windows can be manufactured with frames of any conceivable colour, making them an excellent choice for this type of application. Furthermore, because the pigment in each unit is actually part of the frame itself, they never need painting once they have been installed. With just a minimum of maintenance they will look fantastic for many years to come.
  • Tilt & Slide Units – If you wish to redesign your home to maximize ventilation and minimize cleaning difficulties, sliding sash units that can be tilted inwards are the perfect solution as far as windows are concerned. Vinyl windows of this nature are a great choice for contemporary properties and are sure to add real value to your home if they are properly fitted by a reputable team of experienced installers. To ensure that your home remains a bug-free zone during warm summer evenings, these units can be equipped with precision-fitted insect screens before they are installed.

While vinyl windows are suitable for many types of properties and exterior design themes, they may not always be the best choice. If, for example, the windows in your home are extremely unusual in both shape and size, you may find that timber-framed units designed specifically for your property are considerably cheaper than their vinyl counterparts. For a professional opinion on what would be the best choice for your home, call and speak to a member of our team today.

How to Tell Good and Bad Replacement Windows Design Apart

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good and bad replacement windows designAll men may be created equal but all replacement windows are not. While there are a number of reputable replacement window manufacturers out there, there are an equal number of cut-throat discount manufacturers who know how to produce a window that looks like a quality product but begins to exhibit problems almost from the moment it’s installed. But how do you tell the difference between the quality window and the fraud? It’s a question that’s kept plenty of Toronto homeowners awake at night and we’ll do our best to answer it in this post.

How to Identify Quality Replacement Windows

There are a number of different things to look for when attempting to identify a quality replacement window. Below we’ll get into a number of them.

  • The Vinyl Itself: Both “virgin vinyl” (aka that which is newly made) and recycled vinyl are virtually maintenance free. So you need to find some other way to determine quality. With vinyl that way is simple: measure the thickness. Most replacement window retailers will provide a cross section of the window. Take a good long look at it and, if possible, measure the thickness of the vinyl. You’ll want to go with the window that uses the thickest vinyl.
  • Check the Corners: There are 3 common methods used for creating corners in vinyl replacement windows; fusion welding, screws or chemical welding. Fusion welding uses heat to fuse the corner elements together into a virtually unbreakable joint. A replacement window that uses thick vinyl that is fusion-welded is a quality window. Screws and chemical welding do an adequate job but over the long-term they’re prone to cracking and leaking.
  • Look for the EnergyStar® Label: EnergyStar® is a government-backed initiative that rates the performance of appliances, building materials and the like and then displays the results on labels that are attached to the items. Some discount manufacturers, knowing their product will do badly with regards to an EnergyStar® rating simply bypass the process. If you’re contemplating a particular set of windows make sure they have the EnergyStar® label.
  • The Warranty: Of course, someone who produces an inferior product is not going to offer much in the way of warranty so you should always inquire about the warranty details before you buy. How many years of coverage do they offer? What type of warranty are they offering? (Just on the windows or on all aspects of the product?) Can you transfer the warranty to someone who buys your house? If the vinyl is painted on the outside does the warranty cover the painted finish? More is always better with warranties.
  • You Get What You Pay For: This is usually true whether you’re talking about cars or replacement windows so windows that are unbelievably cheap are probably not going to last long. Also if you see 2 windows from different manufacturers that seem comparable but one is considerably cheaper than the other, beware: they had to make up the difference somewhere. It may just take you a bit longer to discover where they cut corners. So don’t jump at a certain window just because on the surface it seems like a great deal.

Vinyl windows will make a huge difference in the way you experience your home and the amount of money you pay for heating and air conditioning. If you purchase quality. If you just go for the lowest price or neglect to look for the above quality indicators you may wind up with windows that will have to be replaced themselves in just a few years. Contact Toronto Doors and Windows for more information about high-quality vinyl replacement windows.

 

New Window Installation? Don’t Neglect the Safety Aspect

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window installation safetyYour window installation serves as an entry and exit point in your home, not only for people but also for air, light, smoke, sound and so on. As such, they create an interesting conundrum for Toronto construction professionals – they must provide security and safety, yet they need to be highly accessible. They need to stop an intruder but allow for an easy escape in case of fire. They aim to optimize the entry of light and minimize the escape of heat. Then there is the whole seeming incongruity of children’s safety – they need to be safe from falls and shattering glass while being able to easily open windows as an escape route or for ventilation.

What Features Can Be Implemented to Make a Window Installation Safer?

There are, thankfully, several ways to make windows safer and more secure for adults and children alike. These methods aim to maintain a high level of accessibility and convenience while ensuring that your home is safe from the elements and potential intruders. These strategies and devices can be applied in many different kinds of buildings, whether you live in a country house or a high-rise apartment in downtown Toronto. If you’ve been wondering how to improve the safety and security of your window installation, here are a few tips:

  • Make Use of Safety Devices in Homes with Children – Windows on higher floors present a serious health hazard to children under the age of 10, due to the risk of falling. Such accidents are entirely preventable by taking the right safety measures after installation. Use window guards, window stops, and wedges to stop your child from falling out of the window accidentally. In terms of the windows themselves, double-sash windows are considered safer, as they open from the top, rather than the bottom, making it unlikely that a child playing on a ledge would be able to fall. You may also want to agree on house rules which forbid tomfoolery around windows altogether.
  • Use Safety Devices to Prevent Your Windows from Shattering – If your household has a problem with flying projectiles and boisterous play, you would be right to be concerned about the long-term survival of your windows. There are a number of products you can use to protect glass from hurtling pots, pans, and children’s toys. Even if breakage is inevitable, you can prevent shattering by using safety film and safety screens, which will help avoid injuries and unwanted drafts. If you are worried about the safety of a window installation in a child’s bedroom on a high floor, you might want to look at installing grid-like safety screens, which allow in light, but won’t allow the window to be broken.
  • Use Bars and Shutters to Guard Against Intruders – More severe measures are necessary to keep out those who would actively try to gain entry, as opposed to stopping people from accidentally falling out. It’s no secret that there are neighborhoods in Toronto where home invasions and property crime are a serious problem. These safety devices are often enough to put off potential intruders. If you live in a rural area, shutters can be a good way to protect your home from curious bears and other animals.

Installing safety and security features on windows might not be the most aesthetically satisfying improvement you make to your home. The use of window bars is widely loathed when it comes to assessing curb appeal, yet they continue to be installed across the country, suggesting that they are doing their job. Be sure to remember that you put the safety of your family first when it comes to your window installation.

Best Entry Doors for Security? We Compare a Few of the Options

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security entry doorsSecurity is an important concern for all of us, whether you live out in the sticks or in the inner city of Toronto. We all want to avoid becoming the victims of a home invasion, and we are aware that the best way to do so is by securing our homes against unwanted intruders. The entry doors are usually at the heart of our home security strategies. It’s vital that our doors are sturdy and secure, not only in order to stop an intruder from gaining entry, but to prevent the attempt in the first place. Coupling the right entry doors with extra security features is the best way to protect your home from burglars.

What Are the Best Entry Doors for Home Security?

When it comes to choosing doors for a property renovation, security often takes a back seat to aesthetic considerations. People are more likely to choose a certain door because they believe the material or style is a better fit in terms of its appearance. While nobody wants to end up with an ugly door, it is vital that you weigh security considerations at least equally with appearance. In order to do this successfully, there are a few things to look out for:

  • If using timber, choose the types which offer more stability – timber doors are by far the most popular choice for new constructions and renovations in and around Toronto. Not all timbers, of course, are alike. Some are more prone to twisting and warping than others, causing potential security risks. This applies to both softwoods and hardwoods. To overcome these issues, you can opt to go with laminated or stabilized oak, which is usually made of smaller, glued sections. Alternatively, go for Accoya – a heat treated timber developed in the Netherlands.
  • If you’re not keen on timber, consider PVCu – More stable options than timber tend to be more expensive, but it’s often worth paying more for the added dimensional stability. PVCu doors are built around a steel frame, and are then fitted with multipoint locks. The material itself isn’t particularly strong, so these features serve to reinforce the doors.
  • If security is a major concern in your neighbourhood, consider steel doors – Steel entry doors don’t tend to add to curb appeal, except for giving the impression of ultra-tight security. Of course, a steel door, just like any door, is only as strong as its frame. Nonetheless, it sends a message of security consciousness that is likely to deter any potential intruders. Steel doors can be painted easily, allowing you to give them a modicum of homeliness.
  • Consider fibreglass as another option – These doors are usually considered to be a step up from PVCu doors, as their woodgrain effect is much more realistic. Both fibreglass and PVCu need a subframe of timber or steel. The hollow part of the door itself can be insulated, which is a big advantage for conserving heat energy, especially in the cold winter.

Don’t be afraid to discuss your needs in detail with your contractor. You should be able to achieve exactly what you want in terms of aesthetics and security with your home’s entry doors. Technological advances and wider availability of materials mean that tradesmen can tailor and custom-make doors specifically for your home and the purposes you want. Of course, this is the most expensive option of all, but you could ask around for tailored ideas and then look for corresponding existing doors already on the market. One thing is for sure when it comes to your home’s doors – they should give you and your family the security you deserve.