Hold Frost at Bay with a Thermally Broken Door

The mercury falls. Cold weather envelopes your home. As powerful as your door's metal framing may be, it can't do much to ward off the cold. In fact, it makes things worse. That metal frame acts as a conductor, meaning it sucks the heat out of your home and transfers it to the great outdoors.

The result?

Heat loss adds zeroes to your energy bills and makes you less energy efficient.

Thankfully, there is a solution to this age-old problem. A thermally broken door helps to keep your house nice and hot, no matter how cold it gets outside. Better yet, these doors are just as effective for cooling your home in hot weather as they are at tackling the problem of extreme cold.

But you have questions.

What are thermally broken doors? Are they even necessary, and how are they made? We answer those questions and more as we explore PINKYS' thermally broken iron doors.

What Are Thermally Broken Doors?

Let's start with the basics - what is a thermally broken door?

As the name implies, a thermally broken door uses thermal break technology. A relatively new innovation, this technology allows us to split a window or door frame in two, so we can insert thermal breaks between the halved pieces of the frame.

A thermal break extends throughout the door, into the jamb, and even surrounds any windows built into the door. For exterior doors, this smart technology can stop heat transfer, meaning more of the heat you generate in your home actually stays inside your house. Combine a thermally broken exterior door with interior doors using the same technology, and you have a collection of surfaces that thermally separate each room from whatever lies outside.

How Does a Thermal Break Work?

Despite the thermal breaking concept being so new, the idea behind it is simple. Almost every material used to make doors conducts heat. Iron, steel, aluminum, wood, and concrete can all contribute to energy loss through heat conduction. In other words, the heat in your home heads towards the cold surface of these materials, which absorb the heat and transfer it outside.

You get a colder house.

And the outside world gets an injection of heat that will barely register.

We call these materials "thermal bridges."

If you have used a thermal bridge material for your front door, you face this energy transfer challenge. Worse yet, practically every material used to make doors is a thermal bridge. That goes for PINKYS iron doors as much as it goes for doors made using other materials.

Breaking that bridge is the role of a thermal break.

Thermal breaks act as a barrier that stops energy from making its way across a thermal bridge. In short, your door becomes less conductive. Instead, it's insulated against the world outside. With thermal breaks built into your new door from PINKYS, you have a powerful weapon against unwanted energy transfer.

When Might You Need Thermally Broken Doors?

We've already touched on the key benefit of thermally broken doors. If your home is exposed to cold weather for sustained periods, a thermally broken door keeps warm air inside and stops cold air from getting in.

But it's not just improvements in thermal performance that these doors deliver.

Here are six reasons why thermally broken iron doors are a great choice for your home.

Improved Energy Efficiency

What happens when your front door can't stop energy transfer?

That number on your energy bill starts climbing, for a start. You have to use more energy to heat your home because you're in a never-ending battle with your door. Whenever you turn the heating on, your door starts to conduct heat, and you have to spend more money to keep your home at a comfortable temperature.

That energy efficiency makes thermally broken iron doors an excellent choice for your home.

Then, add the shrinking of your carbon footprint into the mix. A door with low thermal conductivity allows you to keep more heat in your home, meaning you don't have to keep the heating on as long. So, you're using fewer fossil fuels. With thermally broken doors installed, you protect the planet just as well as you protect your bank balance.

Strengthen Your Door Frame

Why did you buy an iron door?

Maybe the intricate design astounded you, or you wanted a door that meshed the modern with the traditional for your entryway. But for many, the reason for buying iron doors is simple:

Strength.

And strength is what you get with custom doors that incorporate thermal breaks. For example, a PINKYS door that features a thermal break becomes 1/8-inch thicker than the equivalent door without a break. That's an extra 1/8 inch of strength and protection to bolster the security your iron door offers.

Spice Up Your Curb Appeal

First impressions matter, whether you're trying to sell your house or want to wow anybody who happens upon your front door.

It's that all-important curb appeal.

The nicer your home looks on the outside, the better the first impression people have of your design choices.

While installing a thermal break into a door is a more demanding application from the manufacturing perspective, it places no limits on door design. No matter what your aesthetic of choice, you can still get an iron door made with a design of the highest quality.

Ward off Extreme Temperatures and Harsh Weather

"Extreme cold" is a vague term.

For somebody from our home state of California, the cold feels like it gets extreme if the weather is anything other than sunny and warm. But for those who live in states that experience truly cold weather, extreme means dipping below freezing or falling to the level where it's genuinely dangerous to stay outside for too long.

Thankfully, PINKYS makes it easy for you.

We believe that any weather below the 25-degree Fahrenheit freezing point is extreme. If you experience those types of temperatures where you live, a thermally broken door guards you against falling victim to temperatures at the lowest end of your thermometer.

Less Noise

It's not always the heat and cold that causes problems in your home.

Sometimes, the noise from outside pierces thin doors, meaning you have to deal with a constant din while trying to enjoy your home. That's a definite problem for those living near busy roads. Every car that drives by and every siren that blares disrupts the peace in your home.

Thermally broken iron doors solve this problem because of their thickness. In the case of PINKYS thermally broken doors, that extra 1/8 inch really matters because it stops excess noise in its tracks.

Avoid Condensation

Condensation occurs when warm moisture gas makes contact with a cold surface. Water forms and starts to drip, leading to potential water damage in your home.

But material damage isn't the only threat that condensation presents.

If left unchecked, condensation can lead to the formation of black mold around your door and window frames. When mold starts to form, your home becomes a danger to your health. If you have allergies, exposure to black mold can cause a host of problems:

• Puffy, red, or itchy eyes
• Runny noses
• Blocked noses
• Skin rashes
• Sore throats

And let's face it - nobody wants black mold gathering on their interior walls and frames.

The thermal break built into a thermally broken door stops condensation in its tracks. Your door maintains a more even temperature because the heat the iron absorbs isn't transferred outside. A warmer door means that evaporated moisture doesn't come back to haunt you.

How PINKYS Creates Thermally Broken Doors

When PINKYS makes an iron door, we pour our collective hearts and souls into the design. But when we make a thermally broken door, we combine our creative juices with functional manufacturing to create iron doors that stand up against the elements.

We do this is two ways.

Thermal Bridges

When we create a thermally broken door, we split an iron door in half. This process creates two sheets of metal, which would normally serve as a thermal bridge.

Our goal is to ensure those two pieces of metal don't touch.

So, we insert a thermal break into the gap between them.

We end up with a door made using a composite material. The iron (or steel) we use for the door surrounds a material that offers low thermal conductivity.

We use carbon.

Carbon is a poor conductor, which is precisely what we need to create thermal breaks. With carbon in between the two sheets of metal, the cold air from outside can't cool your door to the point where it attracts the warm air from inside. Better yet, any warm air inside your home that gets attracted to the door is prevented from getting outside because it can't travel through the carbon.

T-Bars

T-bars allow us to hold (or hang) wide parts in place. They're used in doors to hold them to their pocket hinges, though we also use them for custom designs that require the hanging of several narrow components from a single point.

When making thermally broken iron doors, we go a step further and add a thermal break to each T-bar we use.

Now, this makes the T-bars thicker, which has a small impact on the door design. Ultimately, your door will be thicker because of the bar's extra girth. But if you're battling extreme temperatures, a couple of extra degrees of an inch of thickness is a small price to pay for a more energy-efficient door.

The Steps for Installing a Thermal Break Door

Before we get into the steps for installing a thermally broken door, we have a recommendation to make:

Hire a professional.

The right contractor will understand what role a thermal break plays in your iron door and ensure you get the energy efficiency you need.

But let's say you want to go it alone. A DIY job is possible as long as you follow the right steps before and after the job.

Before Installation

• Install your door jamb before you fit your iron door.
• Check that the door threshold is level with the ground it sits upon.
• Install and tighten the washers used for your door's hinges (and fit the hinges).
• Fit your iron door.
• Check again to ensure there are no issues with the threshold after you've installed the door.
• Confirm that the door opens and closes properly.

Take a Thermal Break with PINKYS

A thermally broken door reduces heat conduction and keeps your house warm.

But at PINKYS, we know that many factors influence your door-buying decision. That's why we combine the practicality of thermal breaking technology and its ability to guard against extreme weather conditions with stunning designs inspired by our Southern California roots.

Please, take a moment to explore our collection of fine thermally broken iron doors. If you have any questions, contact our team to learn more about how you can take a thermal break from cold weather with a PINKYS door.

If you are unsure, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us.

Email us at info@pinkysirondoors.com or call us at (844) 843-6677 for more information.