Upgrading Your Home's Doors

(CBS)  Replacing any of the doors in your home is an affordable way to quickly upgrade the appearance and decor.

Replacing front entryway doors can add curb appeal and improve energy efficiency. But before you run off to the store, take a few minutes (and careful measurements) to consider all the options available in both exterior and interior doors.

The Early Show contributor and host of "Today's Homeowner," Danny Lipford, discusses the various materials, benefits and costs of each type.

Exterior Doors

Wood

Wood doors come in an almost endless variety of colors and styles with either a small or large amount of glass. While wood offers the benefit of natural and traditional beauty, it is best used in an entryway that is somewhat covered to protect the door from too much exposure to the elements.

• Price: From $150

Metal

Metal doors offer the benefit of being very affordable and extremely durable. However, they cannot be stained, only painted.

• Stanley Sta-tru Plus Entry Doors: From $199.00
  www.stanleyworks.com 800-521-2752
  
  
• Therma-Tru Metal Door System
  Price: Retail price pre-hung with frame, hinges and sill: $129
  www.thermatru.com 1-800-537-8827

Fiberglass

A more popular choice in exterior entry doors today is fiberglass. Fiberglass offers all the beauty and versatility of a wood door along with the added benefit of tremendous durability. Fiberglass has little expansion or contraction with weather changes and ensures long-term easy operation of the door. Fiberglass doors come in many styles and can be stained or painted.

• Therma-Tru Classic-Craft Oak Door System.
  Price: For Door only $850
  www.thermatru.com
  1-800-537-8827

Pre-Hung Doors

A pre-hung door comes with a frame. Lipford recommends buying one if your door jam isn't in good shape. For example, exterior doors often have water damage or weather stripping in poor shape. In that case, buy a pre-hung unit. You may need a professional to install it because it's less user-friendly, but if you're very handy you can probably do it yourself. Pre-hung doors come in both interior and exterior models.

• Stanley Sta-tru Plus Entry Doors
  Price: Pre-hung $199.00
  www.stanleyworks.com
  1-800-521-2752

Interior Doors

Smooth Wood

A smooth wood door is the most basic type of interior door and certainly the most affordable. They are generally hollow making them lighter and therefore easier to hang. Once hung, they can be stained or painted to match your interior decor.

• Price: From $25.00
  Homedepot.com

Paneled Hardboard

The next step-up from a smooth wood door would be a paneled hardboard door. This door is somewhat more affordable than most wood doors, however it can only be painted, not stained. And is therefore, slightly less versatile.

• Price: From $30.00
  Homedepot.com

Paneled Wood

As with any wood door, a paneled wood door offers both beauty and versatility, allowing you to either paint or stain it as you are upgrading or enhancing the decor of your home. You will, however, pay slightly more than you would for hardboard door in a similar style.

• Price: From $75.00
  Homedepot.com

Glass Doors

Many areas of your home can be enhanced by replacing an existing door with a glass door. These doors can be ten-lite, fifteen-lite or full-view glass as well as etched, leaded or beveled.

• "Versailles"
  Price: Door only $387
  Ambiancedoors.com
  1-866-855-9220

Once you decide to replace a door, you need to choose the new door's style, whether you will use the existing hardware or replace it with new, and then, of course, take accurate measurements.

The following are the steps Lipford followed to replace a door on The Early Show:

1. Remove hingepin from hinge

2. Remove door from frame

3. Remove doorknob and 1/2-hinges from side of door

4. Place new door on top of old door on either a workhorse or flat on the floor

5. Line up the doors and trace the hole for the doorknob and area for hinges

6. Chisel out the recessed area for hinges

7. Drill new holes for doorknob

8. Attach hinges

9. Hang new door in frame

10. Paint or stain

11. Let dry and then install doorknob.

If you choose to replace the hinges with new ones, simply remove the entire hinge from the existing frame, then follow the remaining steps.

Whether replacing an interior or exterior door, the steps are the same. However, if you wish to completely upgrade your front entryway you may wish to hire a contractor as the process can be somewhat more involved, depending on how much you wish to change the doorway.