Doors and Windows - Entry Doors - What Are Mine Called?

Hi,

I have a set of entry doors that look like double doors from the outside, but is actually a single door from the inside of the house. In other words, when you approach the house from the outside, you're headed to what looks like a set of double doors. When you enter the house through the left door, you would think that you would see the right door from the inside. To the contrary, it's a wall. Drywall where a door should be.

Does anybody have any idea what this type of door is called? Fake Double Doors? Faux Double Doors? A crazy idea drummed up by some door manufacturer?

I'm asking these questions because I intend to replace them in the near future, but can't find any reference anywhere on the web regarding the door type that I have.

Thanks in advance.

Jim

baklobsters,

Welcome to DoItYourself.com and the Door forum.

Don't know, but your guess sounded as good as mine! Maybe take pictures of it to a door shop, or a lumberyard that sells doors. They can probably tell you the answer.

What are you thinking about replacing it with? Same thing? A regular single door? A real set of french doors?

Any would be possible, but you will have to determine exactly what the present rough opening width is. It may be as wide as both doors -- the real one and the dummy, or it may only be as wide as the real door.

Looks like I will have to do as you suggested and take pics of my doors.

Ideally, I would like to replace them with a new set of double doors (the real kind, not the kind I currently have). Wooden with glass inserts (forgive me if my door lingo doesn't meet standards). The problem with this option is the inside. The entryway, once you walk into the house, is raised and tiled and extends roughly 12 feet away and about 4 feet across with a railing that is attached to the wall where the fake double door is. Putting in a new set of double doors will result in having to extend this raised entryway across the breadth of the double doors, relocating the railing and either finding the exact same tile that was used for the entryway (yeah, right) or just replacing the whole tile job altogether.

Getting a single door (also wooden with glass inserts) would make the house look somewhat aesthetically unappealing from the outside since the fake double door part is cosmetically identical to the trim job of the house and, really, it wouldn't look good next to a wooden door. Believe me.

The hard part is to convince my wife that we need to do it now. With 2 toddlers and another on the way, she's not thrilled with the idea of having contractors around to disrupt the day(s) to get this done.

Thanks for your response.

Jim

No name that I know of, however, it's generally called a facade.

Facade doors (single, double, with or without side panels, and other frills) fall under the category of architectural facades and millwork.

Facade doors & hardware, even rubber barbed wire, exist. The motion picture industry uses them.

Unless you know exactly what you're looking for, and generally who makes it, or the name of an importer, the internet will be frustrating.

Vist a higher end door & hardware shop. Be prepared for 20 questions: wood & species or fiberglass, flush, style & rail, ect... If you need to explain it, say: " the inactive leaf is a fixed inoperable panel". "The purpose is decorative illusion of paired doors".

If you feel the need for frustration look to Texas, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, New York, and British Colombia (Major millwork specialty houses. The major wood species used should be obvious). Florida (An Importer. Honduras Mahogany & Brazilian hardwoods, frp, transoms & sidelights), Georgia (An import warehouse with almost every conceivable global door & hardware product), California (Worldwide importer / exporter. A major source for Philippine Mahogany, with strong emphasis on Oriental imports, including hand carved), and Washington (Malaysia and China for the most part). .

Since I'm on a stupid suggestion jag don't forget to visit Lowes or the Home Depot.

Jim,

Now that you've described what's going on INSIDE the house, my gut reaction is to tell you to forget it. I was thinking that the big (spelled EXPENSIVE) problem was going to be the header if you went to a set of real double doors. That hasn't changed, but dealing with the floors is going to be as expensive, if not more!! Sight unseen, you are looking at a $20K or $30K project here. (I could be off $5K or $15K one way or the other!!)

If you want to change the front door, but keep the same look, that's not a problem, and not going to be that expensive. (Double exterior doors start at about $300 and go up to whatever your wife wants and the budget can afford.) The expense will be in changing things around to make them both operable!