Your home has plenty of parts and add-ons, including ones we’ve already discussed like window screens, summer backyard products, and porch screens, but we haven’t discussed a main component of every home: doors! Specifically, the front door is a first impression of a home in a lot of ways. If they didn’t matter, you’d see mansions with basic, flat, wooden doors, not ornate, rare wood, inlaid with platinum, surrounded by a moat of lava and equipped with a laser defense system. Okay, so maybe that’s more like a bond-villain lair than a realistic home, but the point still stands that a front door is important. Here are some of the main reasons to invest in a quality front door:

It Adds Value to Your Home

When looking at any home, it’s likely that your eye is drawn to the entrance. You can improve its curb appeal by adding a quality front door to your home. If you are working on selling your house, having a front door that fits the style of the dwelling is very important. Not only will it add value to your house, it can leave a good impression on potential buyers.

You’ll Have to Maintain It Less

Oftentimes, the front door is the most-used door in your house, so it makes sense that you’d need to maintain it more often. Each type of door material requires different maintenance so it’s important to know what special care you should take with each.

Wood doors can be very beautiful and make a home much more stylish, but they need more upkeep than most doors. For example, they’ll need to be cleaned and refinished every few years, but last a long time.

A popular choice are steel doors which can still look great and are typically cheaper. However, they have lower durability and are typically less efficient in insulating a home. They are a better choice if you don’t plan on permanently staying in your current place.

Doors made from fiberglass are typically some of the best doors, but will also commonly cost more as well. They offer excellent insulation, durability, and are easily paintable and stainable to customize to your taste.

You’ll Have Better Home Security

Home security means a lot—you’ll sleep better knowing you’re safe with a solid front door. One of the most common ways home burglaries happen is by getting through the front entrance. You can prevent this by getting an outswing door (i.e. it swings towards the person opening the door from the outside of the home). There are also plenty of locks out there to install to keep your house safe. Some of the best are the Kwikset series, which are known for their resilience to being picked or tampered with. They also allow you to rekey your own lock with the SmartKey program so you can always stay secure.

Invest in Doors With Door Screens for Even More Functionality

Are you frequently coming in and out of your front door during the spring and summer? Then you’re just allowing plenty of bugs to also wander in as well. Instead, invest in door screens to protect from unwanted pests. You can even get retractable ones so you can still show off your front door in all its glory.

Doors are important, your front door even more so. Invest in a high quality one, and with some care, it could easily last many years.