Bankrate.com says that, according to a University of Texas at Arlington study, curb appeal accounts for as much as 7% of a home’s value. So, if your Colorado Springs, CO, house is worth $450,000, approximately $31,500 is for the elements that make up its curb appeal alone!
Your exterior glass doors, whether the front, side-entry, or back door, contribute to your home’s curb appeal. As long as people can see them from the street, they can add or subtract from your property’s value.
So, if your doors have broken panes, hiring door glass replacement experts should be a top priority.
To that end, the experts at Complete Window Care put together this guide on professional glass door repair and replacement. Read on to discover how they boost curb appeal and their many other perks and pros.
The Role of Door Glass Replacement in Curb Appeal
Your exterior doors, especially the front door, can reflect your home’s overall personality and spark assumptions of what lies beyond.
Think about it. When you see a well-maintained, beautiful glass door with clean, sparkling panes, won’t you think the inside is just as well-kept and clean? You likely will.
On the other hand, if you see a weathered, maybe even battered, door with cracks on its glass panes, won’t your first impression be that the inside could be just as unappealing? Very likely.
First Home Impressions Can Make or Break a Deal
First impressions matter, especially if you plan to sell your Colorado Springs home, because, as Psychology Today points out, people form them within only seven seconds.
Since your front door is one of the first things potential home buyers will see, it can put off shoppers if its glass is dull or full of cracks and scratches. They may assume that if you didn’t even bother addressing something so visible in the first place, you likely care less about your property’s “hidden” problems. A door full of warped, tarnished hardware can also make the rest of your home seem ill-maintained and outdated.
Making Your Home More Inviting (Even If You’re Not Selling)
You should still consider professional glass services for your faulty door glass, even if you don’t have immediate plans to sell your home.
One reason is that a defective door, like other problems such as poor ventilation and leaky windows, contributes to poor housing conditions. It can affect your mood and make you feel stressed. After all, if the first thing you see after a long day at work is an entry door with broken or damaged glass, it can make your home less inviting, safe, and secure.
Indeed, per the National League of Cities, researchers have associated poor living conditions with mental health woes, including:
- Stress
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Emotional and behavioral problems
All that should be enough reason to consider investing in door glass replacement. You don’t have to replace the entire door if it is still in good condition. Like old, drafty windows, you can opt for a glass-only replacement service to save on costs.
Enhance Your Door’s Energy Efficiency
According to EnergySage, Colorado Springs residents pay around $129 monthly or $1,548 yearly on electricity alone. However, you might spend even more if you have defective, leaky exterior doors with glass panes. Add drafty windows to the equation, and your energy bills can skyrocket further.
How Defective Door Glass Spikes Energy Bills
Door glass, like window glass, stays in place thanks to materials and components like:
- Glazing compound or caulk, which insulates and weatherizes the door by creating a seal between the edges of the glass and the frame
- Glazing beads, trim pieces like rubber, wood, or vinyl that secure the glass in place with silicone sealant or pressure
- Sash, the frame where the glass sits
When any of those components fail, gaps can form between the edges of the glass pane and the door. The spaces allow outdoor air to enter, making your home warmer in the summer or colder in the winter. Conditioned air from your HVAC system also goes to waste because it can exit through these gaps.
The more outdoor air that enters and the more conditioned air that leaves your home, the harder your HVAC system will have to work. The increased workload forces your heating system or AC to use more energy, resulting in higher energy bills.
Door Glass Replacement to the Rescue
Home glass maintenance and repair specialists can often fix faulty door glass by resealing it with new glazing compounds and caulk. They may replace busted components, such as glazing beads, sashes, and window stays.
However, door glass whose seals have long since failed usually has developed other problems, such as:
- Complete loss of insulating glass
- Oversaturated desiccants (materials that absorb moisture from the air between the panes and glass and prevent fogging and condensation)
- Water leaks and damage
- Cracks due to the glass being loose and rattling around so much in the wind
If your door glass meets any of those conditions, your best bet is to get it replaced. Several types of door glass offer better energy efficiency, such as insulated and low-E glass.
Keep Pesky Pests Away
Gaps in leaky door glass can also let pesky bugs into your home.
Although many buzzers or creepy crawlers are only nuisances, others create unsanitary indoor conditions and can spread diseases. For example, disease-carrying flies and mosquitoes can squeeze through the tiniest gaps in the door glass. If your door glass has cracked and a small section has chipped away, other bugs, such as roaches and spiders, can enter.
Replacing your door glass isn’t the sole solution to preventing pest infestations; you must also seal other cracks and gaps in your home’s exterior. However, it can still help by reducing the number of entryways for bugs to invade.
Help Control Indoor Humidity
Have you ever noticed your windows fogging up? It occurs due to temperature differences between the indoors and the outdoors. It can also affect your door glass.
A Quick Overview of Condensation on Glass Panes
Say it’s summertime in Colorado Springs, and you have the air conditioning on. Glass, especially untreated or uninsulated panes, absorbs outdoor heat and radiates it into your home.
While your air conditioner helps dehumidify the air (remove moisture), it doesn’t completely dry it. As a result, conditioned air still contains moisture, which condenses or forms into water droplets when it hits warm glass panes. The opposite happens during winter: warm indoor air hits cold glass panes, resulting in condensation.
The risk of fogging in door and window glass is higher if the panes’ seals have failed.
Why Indoor Humidity Can Be a Problem
High indoor humidity levels can cause comfort issues and hasten material degradation, such as wood, paper, and fabrics. Even more concerning, they encourage mold growth. You don’t want molds in your home because exposure can lead to poor indoor air quality (IAQ) and allergy-like symptoms.
Remember that molds also love to feast on paper and wood. If allowed to persist indoors, they can eat away at wallpaper and wooden components, such as floors, walls, ceilings, and furniture.
Glass Replacement for Better Indoor Control
Replacing faulty, leaky, and foggy glass with more energy-efficient, better-insulated panes isn’t a complete solution to humidity woes. For instance, if you have plumbing or roofing leaks, you should address them ASAP.
Still, glass door replacement can help reduce the amount of moist outdoor air penetrating your home. Since new panes are also more effective in insulating, they can minimize the risk of glass fogging up and causing a spike in indoor humidity.
Minimize Safety and Security Risks
As mentioned above, faulty door glass that has loosened can crack over time as it rattles around in the wind. However, it’s easier to break and shatter entirely during one of Colorado Springs’ severe weather events:
- Rainstorms
- Thunderstorms
- Hailstorms
Shattered glass can cause severe injuries, so it’s no wonder the National Weather Service recommends staying away from windows during storms. It even points out that, in older homes, there’s a rare but possible risk of lightning entering through the cracks on the sides of windows. The same can apply to glass doors, considering they’re similar to windows.
Also, remember that faulty door glass, especially one that has already developed cracks, is easier to break with just a gloved fist. Criminals can view this as an opportunity to invade your home and steal your valuables.
Minimize the risks of such disasters and reduce glass hazards at home by investing in door glass replacement.
Ready for Your New Door Glass?
Professional door glass replacement is an excellent way to enhance your home’s curb appeal and value. With new, better-looking, more energy-efficient panes, you can make your home feel more inviting and boost its efficiency, safety, and security.
So, why not invest in door glass replacement today?
Our family-owned and operated company, Complete Window Care, delivers high-quality replacements, including insulated, tempered, low-E, and laminated options. Mike Smith, one of our owners and our primary door and window technician, has over 18 years of industry experience, and our other team members, Richard and Amy, also have over a decade of service expertise. We serve customers in Colorado Springs and the surrounding areas.
Speak with us today and request your free estimate!
