When most homeowners plan improvements to the outside of the house, they think big: Repainting or residing, replacing all the windows or even a complete face-lift. Smaller changes can have an impact as well, on both your home’s curb appeal and your lifestyle. One logical place to start: doors and windows. Here is a collection of new products — from inexpensive to a hefty investment — that offers solutions from increased security to a smarter look.
Breezy solution
Homeowners who don’t want to cover up a beautiful front door or patio door with a screen door — yet still want to improve ventilation — have another option: ThermaTru Doors has introduced vented sidelights for some of its door product lines. The screened sidelights swing open to the interior, allowing fresh air to pass through.
Info: thermatru.com; starting at $900
Trim and fit
Andersen Windows says that installing trim for the exterior perimeter of windows gets easier with its line of snap-on window trim, which it says can be installed in six minutes. Requiring no sawing, mitering, nailing or painting, the exterior moldings (available in 11 colors) snap onto metal tracks that are part of the window; the trim fits two Andersen window lines. The material is a composite made from 40 percent pre-consumer wood waste from Andersen’s wood-window factory.
Info: andersenwindows.com; starting at about $10 per linear foot
Instant balcony
It’s a window. No, it’s a balcony. Actually, it’s both. The Balcony Window from Fakro America works by opening the upper sash, then sliding out the lower sash to reveal its side barriers. When the window is closed, the barriers are concealed in the frame.
Info: fakrousa.com; $3,300
A good look
OK, so this one isn’t exactly an exterior product, but it’s a close relative: Brinno’s digital PeepHole Viewer fits over an existing, un-techy (and low-light) peephole and uses two AA batteries to provide a 21/2-inch flat-screen view of who’s standing at your door.
Info: brinno.com; $99
Locked
and secure
Security alarms typically work by sounding the alert when a door is actually opened. Schlage’s alarmed lock sets off an alert when it senses merely that something is going on — an intruder has kicked the door or is tampering with the lock, or even that a young child is trying to leave the house. The locks have three alert modes, depending on which kind of worrisome activity you direct it to watch for — child alert, lock-tamper detection and kick-in/break-in. The lock is battery-powered and requires no wiring; it replaces existing door hardware and installs without drilling holes, the company says. Two designs will be available; the Camelot style is shown here.
Info: schlage.com; no price set yet as the locks will not be available for a few months
