Discover the transformative power of four door designs that will increase light in your home, creating an inviting living space.
Natural light helps make your home feel bigger, brighter and more welcoming. Using natural light as opposed to lamps and overhead lighting can also help reduce your energy bills. And, even more importantly, regular exposure to natural light delivers a host of health benefits. The healing power of sunlight has been shown to help enhance mood, boost productivity and regulate sleep.
So how do you get more natural light in your home? There’s no need to knock down walls or add windows. With minimal time and effort, you can make small, dark spaces appear lighter, brighter and airier. For instance, swapping traditional doors for doors with glass can significantly improve the flow of light throughout your entire home.
Which one will you choose?
Start by choosing a front door with glass. Glass allows natural light to enter your main entryway, which can sometimes feel dark and confined… particularly if the space is small. Brightening this area of your home creates an instantly welcoming ambience.
Masonite VistaGrande Flush-Glazed exterior fiberglass doors allow up to 18% more light than doors with traditional glass frames. For even more natural light, consider adding sidelites, a transom or both.
Another great choice for a front door is a Masonite Belleville exterior fiberglass door. Belleville doors come in a wider variety of designs to complement any home and offer many decorative glass options to match classic architectural styles.
Both VistaGrande and Belleville doors are available as part of the Masonite Performance Door System. Beyond simply filling your home with natural light, the Masonite Performance Door System was designed to do what doors are meant to do – keep the outside out and the inside in – but do it better than any before. When tested against the leading competitor, the system was found to be 64% better at keeping air and water out. That means no more drafts coming in from under your door – or heat heading out. And no more precious A/C escaping during that summer heat wave.
Incorporating interior doors with glass throughout your home will help spaces feel bright, open and inviting.
French doors are a great choice for spaces that may feel dark and closed off with a traditional panel door. For example, if you have a home office, incorporating a French door to help boost productivity by allowing energizing natural light into your workspace.
Wood doors are incredibly customizable, which means you can find a French door for any style of home. Choose a wood door with vertical bars like the Masonite 5 Panel Equal Lite (C55) interior wood door if you have a modern home or the 10 Lite Square top interior wood door for a classic home.
For smaller spaces, try adding a sliding barn door with glass. The flow of natural light helps the area feel larger while the sliding function of the barn door helps maximize every inch of square footage. It’s the perfect solution for small laundry rooms and en suite bathrooms.
Nearly any interior door with glass can be converted into a sliding barn door. For an easier option, choose Masonite Barn Door Kits with hardware. They come with everything you need to make over a space in about 90 minutes. These kits include a predrilled barn door slab, installation instructions and all the necessary components such as mounting board, track and rollers, stoppers and guides, screws and bolts and even a handle.
Patio doors offer a seamless transition between an indoor living area and outdoor patio space. Since patio doors feature full glass panels, they allow an abundance of sunlight to flood your home.
For maximum natural light, choose Masonite VistaGrande Flush-Glazed Full Lite exterior fiberglass doors. VistaGrande doors can be customized with grids to complement classic or Craftsman features without compromising the flow of natural light. If you have a modern home or simply prefer a beautiful, unobscured backyard view, opt for VistaGrande doors with clear glass.
Discover more details about doors with glass by reviewing these FAQs:
Single-pane glass, the kind that is typically found in sliding glass doors, tends to be less efficient because glass is a poor insulator. That’s why all Masonite exterior doors feature double-paned glass connected with warm edge, non-metal spacers.
Metal spacers are prone to failure as they do not flex when the glass bows as temperatures change. This unresponsiveness leads to seal failures, resulting in condensation and poor performance.
Our warm-edge, non-metal spacers are flexible; they move as the glass bows in or outward. This results in years of superior performance throughout all seasons, resulting in greater energy efficiency. Doors with our warm-edge non-metal spacers have been shown to prevent up to 14 degrees of heat loss.
Front doors with glass are not as appealing to intruders as you might think. Most burglars typically look for a quick and easy way into your home, such as an unlocked door or open window.
Tempered glass, the type of glass used in front doors, is thicker than the glass used in windows and often double paned. That means front door glass is considerably harder to break… six times harder, in fact, than window glass. And, if tempered glass does break, it is incredibly noisy when it shatters. There’s nothing quick, easy (or quiet!) about breaking through a front door with glass.
If you live in an area that is prone to severe weather such as hurricanes, it’s important that your front door is impact-rated to protect against strong wind and flying debris. Masonite offers several options for High-Velocity Hurricane Zones (HVHZ), including front doors with glass.
Our coastal products include steel and fiberglass options with impact-rated glass that has been tested against stringent insulated glass standards.
Here’s what you need to know about exterior door replacement.
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