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The front door of your home isn't just a place for you to exit or enter. The front door is also a place where air can easily escape or enter in from the outside, making it harder to keep the temperature in your home regulated. Making your front door more energy efficient is how you can avoid this problem. Here are a few tips to get you started.

Close The Door

Natural light brightens a home and makes it feel more inviting. For this reason, homeowners with storm doors will often leave their front door open so that the light can pass through the storm door. Make sure you understand that storm doors generally offer little, if anything, in the area of energy efficiency.

Particularly on very hot days, the sun's UV rays penetrate through the storm door glass and ultimately warm up your home. The warmer your home, the harder the air conditioner must work to cool your home. There are special films you can apply over the glass to minimize this concern. However, the better option is to simply keep the front door closed on extremely hot or cold days.

Add Landscaping

If your front door is facing the southern sky, you already have a strike against you. A door facing this direction often has an increased level of exposure to the sun, causing more heat to circulate around the door and heat up your home.  

Landscaping can help in this area. Plant shrubs near your door or even a tree in the yard that can help block out some of the sun to combat this problem. By blocking out some of the sun, you minimize the level of heat that is able to penetrate inside.

Upgrade Your Door

Take a few moments to analyze the R-value of your current door. The R-value refers to the level at which a particular object is able to resist heat flow. The higher the R-value of a door, the better. If your current door is low on the chart, consider an upgrade. Fiberglass and steel doors often rank highest in this area.

However, if you don't want to choose a door designed in these materials, at least choose a thick door. The thicker the door, the harder it is for air to pass through. It's also helpful to add weather-stripping around the perimeter of the door to eliminate air loss. Make sure you're upgrading to a more energy efficient door option.

With a few small changes, you can make your home's front door more energy efficient. Your efforts won't just keep your home more comfortable, but also your energy costs lower. Talk to a company like Statewide Energy Solutions to learn more.