Fiberglass Double Entry Doors Bring Light and Privacy to This Grimes Front Porch

The covered front porch is the centerpiece of this Grimes, Iowa home. An arched beam frames the entry, a stained wood plank ceiling runs overhead and stone columns anchor each corner against the home's stucco walls. At the center of it all sits a pair of front doors, the first thing anyone sees on the way in. 

The original doors had glass only in the upper portion above solid lower panels, and the homeowners wanted an entry that would be more energy efficient and look more at home beneath the porch. Working with Pella Central Iowa and Buresh Home Solutions, they replaced the original pair with a Pella® fiberglass double entry door in a full-light style. Both doors have a Charcoal-stained mahogany grain finish inside and out, along with textured Low-E glass, simulated divided light grilles and matte black hardware.

Energy efficiency and appearance were the two goals the homeowners brought to the project, and fiberglass addressed both. Fiberglass entry doors are built to resist the warping, denting and rot that can keep an older door from sealing properly over time. The door frame is composite rather than wood, so it's designed not to absorb moisture at the bottom of the opening where rain and snow tend to collect. 

The homeowners chose a mahogany grain texture with a Charcoal stain on both sides of the doors and the frame. The grain gives the doors the depth of stained wood, a natural fit beneath the porch's wood ceiling, without the regular refinishing a real wood door needs. The dark finish also keeps the entry in step with the home's dark-framed windows.

The original doors were split between glass on top and solid raised panels below. The new double entry door uses a full-light panel style, with glass running nearly the full height of each door. More glass means more daylight reaching the foyer, and from the street the entry looks lighter and more open beneath the shaded porch. 

One door is used for everyday coming and going, while the other stays latched in place and can be opened when the homeowners need a wider entry, such as when moving furniture. Both doors swing inward into the foyer. 

Simulated divided light grilles divide each door's glass into six panes in a traditional pattern. These grilles are attached to both sides of the glass, giving the look of individual panes while the glass itself stays one continuous insulated pane. They're finished to match the Charcoal doors inside and out, so the grid reads as part of the door rather than an add-on and echoes the grille patterns on the home's windows.

With so much more glass in the doors, privacy became an important consideration. The homeowners chose a textured, obscure glass with a rippled, water-like pattern. It lets daylight pass through but blurs the view, so anyone standing on the porch sees soft shapes and color instead of a clear look into the foyer. 

The glass also has a Low-E coating, a thin, invisible layer designed to reflect heat back toward its source. That helps keep warmth inside during winter and limits the heat that builds up in the entry during summer, which speaks directly to the homeowners' energy efficiency goal. 

Because it's glass in a door that opens and closes every day, it's also tempered. Tempered glass is heat-treated to be stronger than standard glass and is designed to break into small, less sharp pieces if it's ever broken.

Ease of operation mattered as much as appearance, and hardware plays a big part in how a door feels to use. The main door has a matte black Del Mar handle set, and the second door has a matching handle so the pair looks balanced from both the porch and the foyer.

Behind the handle set is a multipoint lock. Instead of relying on a single deadbolt, a multipoint lock engages several points along the edge of the door when it's locked. That adds security, and it also draws the door evenly against its weatherstripping, which helps it seal along its full height. The second door is held in place by flush bolts, which are set into its edge and lock into the frame at the top and bottom.

Matte black ball bearing hinges help each door swing smoothly, and a black threshold and sill finish the bottom of the opening in the same dark tone as the doors and hardware.

Buresh Home Solutions handled the installation, and their approach kept the foyer looking like the same finished space it was before. Rather than replacing the interior casing, the team carefully removed the existing white trim, salvaged it and reinstalled it around the new doors. That keeps the casing consistent with the woodwork throughout the rest of the house, including the trim detail above the doorway. 

To make that work, the new frame needed to meet the interior wall at the right depth. Pine jamb extensions, stained Charcoal to match the doors, bring the frame flush with the finished wall so the original casing can sit tight against it. White and Charcoal wood filler, matched to the trim and the jambs, was included to touch up the finished surfaces so the reinstalled casing and new frame blend together cleanly. On the exterior, the opening was sealed with black sealant, so the joint around the frame disappears into the dark finish of the doors.

The homeowners started with two goals: better energy efficiency and a front entry that looked the part. The finished doors deliver on both and add a third benefit, a pair of doors that open, close and lock with ease. Textured Low-E glass brings daylight into the foyer while keeping it private, the multipoint lock and composite frame help the doors seal tight and the Charcoal mahogany grain finish gives the arched stone porch a front door that suits it.