Windows & Doors
CONTENTS:
Choose The Right Energy Efficient Doors
| After deciding to upgrade your door for better comfort, energy efficiency, or security, the next step is selecting the style that best fits your home. | The right style depends on where the door is located, how you use the space, and the features that matter most to you. | This section will introduce the main types of exterior doors commonly found in homes and guide you through what to consider for each option, helping you choose a style that works well for both function and appearance. |
Common Styles of Exterior Doors
Pro Tip!
A storm door should always be less tightly sealed than the main door — not more. If the storm door is sealed more tightly than the main door, warm, humid interior air becomes trapped in the cavity between the two doors. When temperatures drop, this moisture condenses or freezes on the interior of the storm door or the exterior of the main door, causing damage over time.
Additionally, if the storm door has a large glass area and faces south or west, the cavity between the two doors can overheat on sunny days — potentially damaging decorative elements or dark-painted surfaces on the main door. A storm door with a screen option or a vented panel helps manage this risk.
Storm doors are not currently included in Canada's ENERGY STAR® Certified or NRCan certification programs — there is no certified products list for storm doors. When shopping, focus on frame material, glazing quality, weatherstripping, and Low-E glass options rather than looking for an ENERGY STAR® Certified label.
Key Door Components & Energy Efficiency Features
Pro Tip!
If you are keeping your existing door frame, ensure all hardware is properly aligned and securely installed. Misaligned locks or latches prevent the door from compressing its weatherstripping properly when closed — leading to drafts, reduced security, and increased wear on the door and frame over time.
Door Security Considerations
Pro Tip!
The weakest link
A Grade 1 deadbolt is only as strong as the frame it is mounted in. The most common point of forced entry is not the lock itself but the strike plate and door frame.
Security grade
Smart locks vary significantly in their underlying mechanical security. The electronic features add convenience but do not necessarily improve the lock's physical security.
When evaluating a smart lock, check its ANSI/BHMA grade — the same grading system used for traditional deadbolts.
A Grade 1 smart lock provides both strong electronic convenience features and robust physical security. A Grade 3 smart lock with app control is still a Grade 3 lock mechanically.
Choose A Door Frame Material A high-quality door can lose much of its benefit if it is installed in a poorly-insulated or low-quality frame. | When selecting a new door, consider what the frame is made of and how it will handle Manitoba’s weather. | Choosing the right frame can help reduce drafts, prevent warping, and make your home more comfortable. In the following sections, we'll cover the most common door frame materials and what to keep in mind when deciding which one is best for your home. |
Frame Materials
Pro Tip!
| Pairing fibreglass frames with fibreglass doors creates a long-lasting, weather-resistant combination that performs well in Manitoba's cold climate — and eliminates the thermal bridging risk associated with metal frames. Choose a steel frame that is coated or painted to prevent rust and always ask whether it includes a thermal break. In Manitoba's climate, a thermal break is not optional — it is essential for acceptable energy performance and condensation control on any steel exterior door frame. For a lower-maintenance option, consider a wood-clad frame. These frames feature real wood on the interior for aesthetics but are covered with a weather-resistant material such as aluminium or fibreglass on the exterior — offering the beauty of wood with significantly less upkeep. | If you are considering aluminium, always ask for thermally broken frames. These incorporate an insulating barrier — typically a polyamide strip — between the interior and exterior metal sections of the frame, reducing heat transfer significantly. In Manitoba's climate, a thermal break is not optional for any aluminium exterior door frame. Vinyl is an excellent frame material for windows but is less commonly specified for exterior doors in cold climates. If you are considering a vinyl-framed door, confirm the frame's cold-temperature performance rating and ask whether internal reinforcement is included — particularly for wider or heavier door slabs. |
Comparing Exterior Door Core Materials
Choose the glass and glazing (If Your Door Has Glass)
Not all exterior doors include glass, but many do. | Glass is a weaker insulator than an insulated door slab, the more glass your door has, the more important it is to choose high-performance glazing. A door with a high-quality insulated core can lose much of its thermal performance advantage if paired with a poorly specified glass insert. | The good news is that the same high-performance glazing technologies used in windows — double and triple panes, Low-E coatings, argon and krypton gas fills, and warm-edge spacers — are available for door glass inserts and sidelights. The principles are the same; the application is specific to doors. |
Pro Tip!
If energy efficiency is your top priority, choose a door with the smallest practical glass area — or no glass at all.
Every square metre of glazing reduces the overall insulating value of the door assembly. If you want natural light at your entry, consider sidelights beside a well-insulated opaque door rather than a full-lite door with a large glass panel.
Glass and Glazing Options
Pro Tip!
| The more glass your door has, the more important it is to choose double or triple panes. For cold climates like Manitoba, triple-pane glass is often worth the investment for long-term comfort and efficiency — particularly for full-lite and half-lite doors where glazing makes up a significant portion of the total door area. If your door has a large glass area or faces direct sunlight, Low-E glass is especially valuable. It lets in natural light while maintaining indoor comfort — and blocks up to 95–99% of ultraviolet radiation that causes fading in furniture, flooring, and fabrics near the entry. If you are investing in double- or triple-pane glass, ensure it includes an argon gas fill. This simple, invisible upgrade meaningfully improves your door's insulation without affecting its appearance or requiring any maintenance. | Impact-resistant glass is a smart investment for entry or patio doors with large glass areas. It provides added protection against forced entry and weather without changing the appearance of the door. In Canada, tempered or safety glass is required by the Manitoba Building Code in certain door glazing locations — particularly where glass is near the floor, adjacent to door hardware, or in doors subject to human impact. Confirm with your supplier that the door you are purchasing meets applicable safety glazing requirements for your installation. |
Pro Tip!
| ENERGY STAR® Certification — an important practical note When a door, sidelight, and transom are sold together as a combined entry system, ENERGY STAR® Certification applies to each unit individually — not to the combined system as a whole. This means that when you are comparing products or confirming rebate eligibility with Efficiency Manitoba, you need to verify that the sidelight and transom each carry their own ENERGY STAR® Certification for Manitoba's climate zone (Zone C), not just the door. Verify each unit on the NRCan Searchable Product List before purchase. Privacy and glazing type Sidelights are a common location where privacy glass is specified — particularly for street-facing entries or townhouse configurations. All privacy glass options are available in sidelight and transom configurations, including frosted, textured, decorative, and silk-screened glass in ENERGY STAR® Certified sealed units. | A note on vented sidelights Some manufacturers offer operable sidelight configurations that function as narrow swinging or casement panels, allowing ventilation without opening the main door. These are an uncommon but practical option for entries without operable windows nearby. If specifying a vented sidelight, confirm that it carries its own air leakage rating (max 1.5 L/s/m² for ENERGY STAR® Certified) and that multi-point locking hardware is included — ventilation and security are not mutually exclusive. If natural light is the goal but thermal performance is a concern, consider the alternative of a solid high-performance door paired with one narrow sidelight rather than a full double-sidelight configuration. A smaller glazed area is easier to specify to a high performance standard and reduces the thermal liability of the entry assembly overall. |
