Inswing vs Outswing Entry Door — Which Way a New Door Should Swing

Almost every front door in Minnesota swings in, and there are two reasons. Snow: a door that swings out is blocked by a drift on the step, and a January morning with the door frozen against a snowbank is a bad morning. The storm door: it swings out, so the entry door behind it has to swing in. Inswing doors also keep the hinges inside, out of the weather, and they take the common hardware and thresholds. That is why a prehung entry door off the rack is inswing.

Outswing has real advantages that fit certain entries. Wind pushes an outswing door into its stops and weatherstrip instead of away from them, so it seals harder on an exposed wall. It takes no floor space inside, which matters on a split entry landing, a narrow back hall or a small cabin. It clears a coat hook or a boot bench that an inswing door would hit. The trade-offs are the ones above: the step has to be kept clear of snow, a standard storm door cannot go in front of it, the hinges are outside and should be the security type with fixed pins, and the threshold needs an outswing sill that sheds water away from the house. Outswing is a good fit on a door under a deep overhang or a covered porch, on a garage service door, a cabin door, and a side door that opens onto a cramped landing.

Whichever way it swings, the door is a prehung unit, from options such as Therma-Tru, ProVia, Masonite, JELD-WEN or Pella, and the install is the same: sill pan, flashing lapped to the housewrap, frame plumb, foam, sealant, trim. Changing from inswing to outswing is a new door and frame, not a rehang, because the stops, the sill and the weatherstrip are built for one direction. Painting is quoted as a separate line — or leave it primed and caulked and paint it yourself.