i don't like the idea of 18" double doors. Sounds like a hassle to enter/exit. It's the same reason I changed my pantry doors from 18" doubles to a full sized single.

That's a closet door, not a door to a home. As far as the stone, get rid of the high waisted old man pants look. There's too many materials and too many gables. Simplify the whole idea.

Every tried to enter the house with an arm load of groceries or anything else with an 18" door?

Ever tried to secure your house with a double front door?

In other words this is not a good idea.

Good luck with your project!

Although you probably carry groceries from your back door and not the front, a double 18" door would mean HAVING to open BOTH doors ALL the time. So you might only access the front door for yourself to get the mail and to receive visitors, but you would have two doors instead of one, to open, unlock and lock back, both doors, every single time. The locking mechanism for the locked door side might be easier on the inside face of the door instead of the inside edge of the door, but you would still need a double lock to secure both doors which would mean bending down and reaching up to do that. Sounds like a hassle to me, but might be ok if you don't actually use it often or could get the locking mechanism that works the top and bottom stationary door lock at the same time. Also, you would have a little less actual clearance with a double door than you would with a single.

Maybe you like the looks of a double door? You could make it LOOK like two 18" doors together as one single 36" door. Maybe that would work? It is popular here to replace regular doors with antique doors, but they will often have odd sizes. I had seen a beautiful set that were 27" each for an opening of 54". And the single sided 27" door seemed small but passable to me (for most but not all), since a typical entrance door is a 32" or a 36". But at 18", you would have no choice but to open both all the time. So that would be a trade off on looks vs function to me and how often I'd actually use it.

Regarding the exterior elevation, it would help if we could see the other elevations but I think for the entry 'tower', maybe something different than another gable would balance better. And make it look more of an 'entrance' impact especially since it's on the corner. Also it bothers me (at least just from this outside view) that the lower right windows are the only one of its kind, but again maybe that's just this side and it is balanced from another direction.

Color and stone combinations (along with the roof type and color), will depend on what look you are trying to create.

Narrow double doors were popular with wealthy homeowners in past centuries when they had servants to carry things for them so they could use both hands to open the doors at the same time.

They could also afford the expensive top latching hardware with exposed or concealed operating rods at each door that allowed the doors to latch to the frame head.

For a front door bottom latching might also be necessary for security which would greatly increase the cost. You might use them at porches and patios where there is less traffic and they might be left open in good weather.

What is the attraction of a pair of narrow front doors?

Mostly a moot question.

The International Building Code, adopted in many US states, requires a minimum width of 32". In my Province, the front door minimum width is 810 mm (31.8897 ") (OBC 9.6.3.1).

This post was edited by worthy on Wed, Jan 15, 14 at 13:11

The IRC only requires one exterior door to have a 32" clear opening width (measured between the door open to 90 degrees and the opposite stop which means it must be a 36" door) but the local inspector might insist on that one egress door being the front door and then insist that a double door doesn't satisfy the wording of the code section. At the very least, you would need to install some sophisticated hardware in order to avoid illegal top or bottom manual bolts.

"R311.2 Egress door. At least one egress door shall be provided for each dwelling unit. The egress door shall be side-hinged, and shall provide a minimum clear width of 32 inches (813 mm) when measured between the face of the door and the stop, with the door open 90 degrees (1.57 rad). The minimum clear height of the door opening shall not be less than 78 inches (1981 mm) in height measured from the top of the threshold to the bottom of the stop. Other doors shall not be required to comply with these minimum dimensions. Egress doors shall be readily openable from inside the dwelling without the use of a key or special knowledge or effort."

The inspector could determine that the need to use two knobs requires special knowledge and/or effort in a dark smoke filled house. When you turn a door knob in an emergency situation you should then be able to pass freely to the outside.

At any rate, it would not be a wise thing to do.

Thanks for the interesting clarification. That's certainly a more useful width when it comes to moving furniture and appliances in and out.

In the Code I work under, width is the width of the door. The matter often comes up in retrofits where clients want a double door in the same opening as their previous single door plus sidelite(s).

The double doors will be more much difficult to seal against air intrusion and will be less resistant to breakins.

Reno's point about egress codes was the first thing that came to my mind as well when talking about 18" front doors used as a double door. Bus_driver also brings up a good point as double doors without a good size overhang are very often a leaker and poor performer in regards to water and air infiltration.

I have heard multiple times that double front doors are not as secure. Is there any way to make them more secure? Could you have the one side be non-mobile basically just for looks and only one operable?

Lwo, you crack me up! And I want those doors.

Dreambuilder, the way to secure double doors is to use top & bottom bolts operated with concealed or exposed vertical rods. The exposed ones are often called Cremone bolts. Concealed rods are often used on pairs of emergency exit doors.

Homeowners often don't want to pay for these expensive devices or see a bolt hole in the floor.

Using manual top and bottom bolts on one leaf is possible but less secure and too dangerous to justify IMO unless the operable leaf is 34" wide. If it is your house it will be your family who needs to escape in an emergency so use your own judgement before consulting the building code or inspector.

Is there a reason you felt the need to bring up a 3 year old post to show off your double doors?

An oldie but goodie.

I have seen 6 and 7 year old posts reopened. ??

Well, I’m here almost 7 years later and THANK YOU Leslie. Glad you piped up and shared your personal experience with photos! That’s exactly the information I was looking for.