Quality Exterior Doors Impart Elegance to the Home

As part of your exterior home checking while hunting for a new home, check the maintenance of the exterior doors. The inspection should include checking to see whether there is any visible warping of the doors. If the quality of the door is excellent, to begin with, warping should not occur. Professionals can correct minor warping. Otherwise, you may need to replace the door completely. If you wish to upgrade, or change, the exterior doors completely, it will give a completely new and elegant look to the exterior of the house you propose to buy.

While carrying out your home checking, check to see if all the locks work properly. It is necessary for your security that all the external locks work properly. A dead bolt is certainly preferable to any other type of lock on the exterior doors. A peephole is a good security device to identify callers before opening the door. If the exterior doors do not have a peephole, you might consider having one installed.

Over time and with regular usage, the locks could become stiff and not work perfectly. In most cases, regular oiling could do the trick. In the worst case, one may need to replace the exterior door locks. In the similar manner, inspect all the brass handles on the exterior doors. Brass handles lend a charm of their own, and if exterior doors do not have them, you may need to change them. Please be careful about these aspects while you are conducting home checking.



Garage Doors and Safety

It is a requirement by law that garage doors have certain safety features. Normally, most garages are attached to the main house and feature a door in between. Normal building codes specify that there be a fire-resistant construction between the garage and the house. Any door between the garage and the house also needs to be fire rated and self-closing. Most house owners prefer to have an oak panel door leading from the garage to the house. This is OK as long as the door is fire rated.

Another safety feature for garage doors, as required by law, is self-reversing for child safety. The addition of an electric eye became mandatory around 1993. Prior to this, self-reversing happened when an object resisted the downward movement of the garage doors. Ensure that the garage door has a self-reversing feature that is functioning properly.

If you are trying to purchase a house, ensure that the home inspector includes checking of the required safety features in the door between the garage and the main house. This would help you to have peace of mind once you purchase the house of your choice.