Nelson Clan: Hello! My name is Nelson Clan from Long Doors and I'm here to talk about what to look for as materials in a replacement door. The first thing you want to consider is that you want to get a steel door or a fiberglass door. Now I usually recommend to my customers a fiberglass door if you want to show the wood-grain, if you want a wood-finish door, because the fiberglass shows the grain of the wood very crispy and each of the different fiberglass finishes they look just like the wood that they're imitating. Oak doors some like oak and walnut doors some like walnut and they're very, very attractive.

The steel doors have smooth finish, it's a painted finish like an automotive finish. It's very long-lasting and doesn't fade or crack, and also looks really nice over a long period of time.

Once you decide what materials you want your door to be made of then the next thing to decide is what kind of lock you have. Now locks may look-alike but on the inside they could be different.

Some locks have plastic parts or they're very to pick or they will just have soft metal and they will bend and break. A quality lock will stand up to a forced entry. It will have a device to keep you out with a credit card, it will have strong parts, it'd be very difficult to pick, and it leave you much safer and secure in your home.

Now that you picked out the locking mechanism made sure that you've got a secure door, the next thing to consider is how do you make your door energy-efficient?

Well the first thing you want to do is having insulated door, so that no heat travels through the door. It's very important that it have a thermal break that heat doesn't transfer from the front to the back of the door and vice versa, so that you don't lose heat through the edges of the door. And it's very important that it be sealed correctly that have good quality weather-stripping that goes all-around, that has seals over the threshold and that no air leaks through the door and you don't lose heat, or cool, or energy, and lose money. You have to spend more on your bills because of the door is not energy-efficient.

One of the most fun aspects of getting a replacement door is picking the design or the aesthetic of the door because it is going to be different from what you have. Maybe you'll have some fancy glass or special color or real nice wood finish. There is a lot of different considerations and lot of different choices of what you can make your door look like.

One of the most important aspects of getting a replacement door is making certain that you have a good installation. A professional installer someone who does doors all the time rather than a contractor who may do a door one day and a kitchen one day, and a bathroom one day, you want someone that really does doors full-time and knows how to do a quality install. You want a door that's put in correctly, so it will last long time and it will function the way you want.

So those are some of the things you should consider when selecting a replacement door.