What Are Custom Doors And Why Would You Want Them For Your Home
Modern and classic designs in doors and windows can add value and beauty to your home. It is easy to find manufacturers and retailers who sell both pre-built doors. Choosing custom doors makes it possible for you to personalize your home with unique designs in wood, paint, stain, hardware, and other details. But are custom doors the best option for you?
Simply Doors and Closets installs thousands of custom doors every year. In order to help consumers decide if custom interior doors are right for them, we created this article.
This article will explain the following important information about Custom Interior Doors:
- What Are Custom Doors
- 5 Unrivaled Benefits of Custom Doors
- How Custom Doors Are Measured and Installed
- How Long It Takes To Get Custom Doors
What Are Custom Doors?
You finally built your dream home or maybe you moved into a new home and want to get the most out of it. Either way, one way to turn your home into your dream home is by adding custom doors. Custom doors are doors made to your exact specifications. No one else has anything like it. You can get them to match your home or to complement your design decisions—like your cabinets, metal roof, brick, or stone.
How Custom Doors Are Made
Custom doors are made to order by the manufacturer. They are designed to fit the specific dimensions of your home. Custom Doors are crafted to complement your property's existing architecture while still imparting an individual style—whether that be through paint, fabric, texture, or another style accent.
Custom doors can be configured to include a variety of design features such as arches, glass, window panels, and more—all to help you obtain a finished product that is tailor-made for you.
How Do I Design a Custom Door?
While you could have unique custom doors created for your home from scratch, most customers will be pleased by choosing from the style and models their local custom door installer has to choose from. Every bit is customizable from the style to the wood to the finish to the hardware.
Once your custom doors are created, they will probably last a lifetime.
Here's a breakdown of some crucial steps in designing custom doors:
1. Budget
Custom doors can be expensive, but the professional workmanship, craftsmanship, and longevity of the product are well worth the investment. It is very important that you consider the cost in terms of the whole project. Consider what it will cost in the long run in terms of energy efficiency, which factors in heating and cooling costs. Also, think about the improved bottom line if you choose to sell your home in the future.
2. Do Your Research
It is important to do your research to find out which manufacturer will be best suited for your custom door project. Make sure they are located close to home (or the job site). Never skimp on quality. Many custom door manufacturers blend craftsmanship with modern technology to ensure that their customer's needs are met. And though that's not a bad thing, you should know the difference between a good custom door and a great one. Moreover, it’s also a good idea to check on a company's track record and reviews.
3. Choose Your Material
Custom doors can be made from a number of materials and different types of wood. It is important to see these materials in person to understand their look, feel and weight before you make a decision.
Custom doors are an exciting addition to any home. They don't only present the chance to really show your personality and improve the value of your home.
Simply Doors and Closets assisted a family in Alexandria, VA in the Old Town North neighborhood with installing custom doors in their home. This family decided after several years of living in their home in the 22314 zip code near Canal Center Plaza & Sculpture Garden that they wanted to upgrade their home with all new custom doors throughout. They choose our Manhattan designs and their new doors look gorgeous.
5 Unrivaled Benefits of Custom Doors
Just like every other piece of your home, doors play an important role in how you feel about the way your home looks. When someone walks in through your front door, it is important that your home feels warm and inviting, and your doors help set the tone. With custom doors, you can choose the size, style, finish, and color of the door you want, and make your home a little bit more unique. Let's take a look at some of the top reasons why custom doors might be a smart choice for you.
1. Beauty Combined with Unrivaled Quality
You can't expect your doors to last forever if you buy them from a local home improvement store, but by choosing custom doors, you are guaranteed both beauty and durability. Since you will be ordering custom doors, you can choose the type of material, its quality, style, and any extra details that you might want in your door. You can even come up with a design that is unique, and in a style that suits your home, helps establish a professional appearance, and increases your home's value.
2. Exclusivity
There is nothing quite like the feeling of knowing that you have something that very few people have. We all love to feel important and special, and when you choose custom doors for your home, you certainly can achieve that. If you have ever wanted to set your home apart from the rest of the neighborhood, custom doors will help you achieve that.
3. Energy Saving
Many doors attach directly to the frame of the door, and the two work together to form tight insulation that can help your home be more energy efficient. This means that the reduction in the cost of your monthly utility bills could be as much as ten percent. Custom doors reduce energy loss and improve the overall insulation of your home. In times when utilities are increasingly expensive, you can't afford not to look into custom doors—and you will really love the added beauty that comes with that!
Increasing energy efficiency is a great feature of custom doors. A family in Arlington in the Arlington Ridge Neighborhood worked with Simply Doors and Closets to get new custom doors installed in their home because they were tired of how drafty their old home on 23rd Rd S was in the 22202 zip code near James W. Haley Park.
4. Custom Fit
The doors that were installed by the builder of your home or doors that you purchase off the shelf from a big-box retailer will never perfectly fit your door frames. They were not designed specifically to fit your home. Eventually, the door will not fit perfectly in the frame and you’ll be back to having a door that sticks or doesn’t easily close all the way. Custom Interior Doors are custom measured, manufactured, and installed exclusively for your door frames.
5. Digitally Measured
Custom Doors offer an advantage that off-the-shelf or stock doors cannot, they are digitally measured. The digital measuring technology that is used to measure for custom doors captures and records dimensions accurate to within 1/1000 of an inch. No matter if you are looking for double doors, closet doors, barn doors, bathroom doors, and any other type of interior doors, custom door experts can digitally measure your home to ensure your new doors fit your home exactly.
How Are Custom Doors Measured and Installed
The process for measuring custom doors is not complicated, but it is meticulous. Top-notch technology is required to deliver a final product that chain stores can’t match. Using 3D measuring technology and five simple steps, custom doors can be measured and installed in your home faster than you think.
Step One: Consultation
You’ll begin the process of installing custom doors in your home with a 15-minute consultation with technicians and interior designers to discuss your needs and budget to ensure custom interior doors are right for you.
Step Two: Visitation
Next, you’ll visit a showroom to work with a designer to pick out materials, configurations, colors, and a variety of other customizable elements. It is important to visit a showroom to see the product in person and allow a designer to work with you to choose the perfect doors for your home.
Step Three: Measurement
Every home and every door frame is unique. In step three, an expert technician visits your home to use advanced 3D technology to scan your doorway’s unique dimensions. This technology can capture and record accurately to 1/1000 of an inch. These digital measurements will be used to manufacture your doors specifically to the specifications of your home.
Step Four: Manufacture
Custom doors are made according to your design and the exact dimensions of each doorway. Only the highest quality materials are used. Much of the process is done by hand so it can take months to complete.
Step Five: Installation
In the final step, an installation team comes to your home and fits each of your new doors into the appropriate doorway. Since your custom interior doors are custom measured exactly down to a 1/1000 inch, they will be in and out in no time. No mess or fuss.
Unbeatable technology allows for perfectly measured customized doors, saves you money without sacrificing quality, and allows for a fast installation that makes you feel like the installers were never there.
A family in the North Ridge neighborhood in Alexandria near George Mason Elementary School had been having problems with their doors for years. Soon after they moved in they noticed that a number of their interior doors didn’t close properly and often got stuck closed. This family worked with Simply Doors and Closets to install new custom doors on the bedrooms and several other doorways in their home in the 22302 zip code on Crestwood Dr.
How Long Does It Take to Get Custom Doors Installed?
The process of getting custom doors installed in your home can be quite lengthy so it is important to be prepared prior to starting your journey. There are steps you can take to make the process easier on yourself—in terms of both time and money. Ideally, you’ll want to get the process of getting custom doors started at least a couple of months in advance of when you actually need them installed. To help you understand how this process works, here are the most important factors that result in the time needed for this process.
With the recent supply chain issues, the time required for custom doors to be manufactured has lengthened. Your custom door installer will keep you informed about the timetable for your new doors to be delivered and installed.
A family in the Chain Bridge Forest neighborhood in North Arlington VA recently had their custom door installation delayed by a month due to supply chain issues. Simply Doors and Closets worked with them and kept them informed throughout the process so they were always up to date on when they could expect their doors to arrive at their home in the 22101 zip code on Calla Dr near St Peter’s Episcopal Church.
Factors That Determine How Long It Takes to Install Custom Doors
1. Size of the Door
First of all, the size of the door obviously plays a large part in how long it takes to get them installed. If you’re going with a very large door, this can delay the process since every step in the process takes longer when a door is larger.
2. Weight of the Door
The same goes for a heavy door—this can take a great deal of muscle power to get it into place and a greater period of time to manufacture.
3. Structural Integrity
Since a lot of homes will be older, contractors make a point of making sure the structural integrity is still solid before getting started. After all, who wants to take the risk of your house coming down around your ears just because you were trying to get custom doors installed? You want to make certain that everything is in place and secure before the process begins.
4. Location
Having to work around other things in your home can add time to the process as well. Keep in mind that repairs to existing doorways can also add to the amount of time needed for this process.
Are Custom Doors Right For You And Your Home?
As you can see there are a number of factors to consider when thinking about getting custom doors installed in your home. Custom interior doors may not be the right solution for everyone, however, for homeowners who are sick of doors that stick, doors that don’t close all the way, doors that compromise security, doors that aren’t energy-efficient, and doors with other issues that come from off-the-shelf or stock doors then custom interior doors are an option to be considered. They will contribute to a home that functions better, looks better, and is worth more when it is time to sell.
Near Justice High School in the Lake Barcroft neighborhood in Fairfax, VA a family finally decided to get the custom interior doors installed in their home that they had been thinking about for years. Being inside their home during the pandemic emphasized the issues they had with their stock doors. They had finally had enough. Simply Doors and Closets installed custom doors throughout their home in the 22044 neighborhood on Juniper Lane.
If you are considering custom doors for your home and have any questions that have not been answered by this article, you can read more about custom doors on our blog located here. Or if you would like to speak with an expert about custom interior doors, how they are measured, how they are manufactured, how they are installed or anything else about custom doors, feel free to call the experts at Simply Doors and Closets and ask to speak to a member of the team.
